When I grew herbs in a bubbler system(basically a DWC type system in a glab disposable tub with an air stone) my nutrients were only miracle grow and epsom salts. I picked fresh off the vine frequently (grew italian parsley and basil) and never thought they had an 'off' flavor.
Here is my recipe:
make a concentrated solution of 2 TBSP of 15-30-15 general use miracle grow + 1 TBSP of epsom salts in 1 cup of water.
The general hydroponic solution was 1 tsp of the concentrated solution per cup of water. I then adjusted the EC down by adding additional water. I think it ended up being about 1tsp per 1.1/2 to 2 cups of water. I kept the EC in the 1.2-1.6 range.
Make sure to shake the concentrate between batches.

The link below will let you see a handy conversion chart for various volume measures in case you need to make bigger (or smaller) batches.

Here is a link that might be useful: Conversion Chart

Cool thanks - yea I think I heard you on another thread saying about miracle grow and epsom salts - I was surprised to hear you can do hydro like this with all the hub-bub about a complete nutrient formula needed / lack of micronutrients in soil fertilizers (like miracle grow), etc.... I'm saving this link, may try it someday.

I guess I don't know much about miracle grow though so I need to start there. Thanks!

Its not a complete fertilizer, though it does contain some micronutrients. herbs are notoriously shorted lived crops so the effects of lacking micros doesn't really stifle the plant.
If you plan on keeping them alive for an extended period of time, I'd recommend adding some african violet fertilizer as it does contain all the micronutrients. I haven't calculated how much is needed in the concentrate though, so you're on your own.

I must say that, despite my utter disdain for organics, and even putting aside my blinding love for pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides, I can't wrap my head around the concept of 'flushing'.

I could not imagine harvesting lettuce from my regular garden, shaking off the dirt from the roots, and then starving it by giving it only water for a week before eating it, and expect it to taste better.

Do we not all agree that the chemical nutrients we are putting in our hydroponics systems are only refined versions of what is in the ground already? I thought we all believed that those chemicals were GOOD things. Where am I going wrong here? If anyone thought the nutrients were bad for humans, they'd stick with regular gardening, right? Why do hydroponics in the first place if you believe well fed plants don't taste good or are somehow bad for you?

iliketoast: I don't know my stance on the issue of taste as-of yet. I am told that a tomato, for example, can have a somewhat metallic taste to it without flushing, and it would be sweeter if flushed first. I'm just saying what I've been told mostly, because my experiment was not accurate enough to say anything for sure. To be sure I'd have to have two identical hydroponic systems and flush one and not the other.

Perhaps there is still something about organic dirt gardens vs. our standard hydroponic setups that is different from a standpoint of flushing and taste. I don't know.

Here is a website - I haven't read it all yet but maybe it's a description of what needs to be checked out:
http://www.1-hydroponics.co.uk/transcript-growth-cycles.htm

Quote:

"
You will find at this point, 3 weeks before harvest, the plants are going to be sucking up a whole tank at least a tank a week. So, youÂre going to be filling up that tank possibly on a daily, or a bi-daily basis. And once youÂve filled it up over the course of the week, then go back on to your [picks up bottles] Bloom A and your Bloom B and not using your PK13/14 anymore. At that point, when youÂre 1 week away from harvesting, 1 week away from cropping your plants, what we highly recommend doing is emptying out the reservoir, filling the reservoir up with nothing but clean water, ph adjust it to a ph of 6 and then feed the plants nothing but clean water for 1 week. This is what they call flushing.

It benefits multi levels. One it benefits the system because it gets rid of any nutrient build up in the pebbles themselves, two it benefits the plant because it actually encourages the plant to take all the nutrient out of it, itself. If youÂre growing fruit or veg, or any plant that is consumed, if you donÂt flush it at the end in a hydroponic system, you end up [picks up bottles] with an excessive amount of nutrient build up in the plant and that can make the plant taste quite bitter. So itÂs fundamental to flush the system and the plants for 1 week before harvest and that point youÂre ready to crop the plants and start again. Job done.
"

plantboy_grower thanks for sharing this info

I will give this a try once my tomato plant / or lettuce are ready (in a month or two)