first flush

first flush (plural first flushes)

1. (horticulture) The first growth of buds, flowers, seeds, or whatever is harvested from a plant.
   • 1979, S. P. Wells, Chilling requirements for optimal growth of Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir seedlings, page 2:

     But, because the first flush of growth is from a preformed bud and subsequent flushes are from buds developed during the current growing season, chilling directly affects only the first flush.

   • 1996, University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Blackeye Bean Prduction in California, page 4:

     Planting dates, soil moisture, nutrition, and pest management should be designed to protect the first flush of floral buds, flowers, and pods.

   • 2006, Rose Marie Donhauser, Little Tea Book, →ISBN, page 14:

     The first harvest, from the end of February to early April, is called the "first flush" and is when the tea with the finest aroma is collected.

   • 2010, Craig Wallin, Golden Harvest, →ISBN, page 53:

     After harvesting the first flush, clean up all the withered pinheads and debris on the surface of the block.

2. (by extension) The beginning; the period of time when something is first starting.
   • 1836, Allan Cunningham, The Cabinet Gallery of Pictures by the First Masters of the English, page 189:

     When however the first flush of our surprize is over we cannot fail to perceive that amid all this legerdemain there is a vast deal of nature united with that astonishing splendour of colouring which so many have tried to emulate.

   • 1849, Herman Melville, Redburn - His First Voyage:

     And though his money was now gone again, all but a sovereign or two, yet that troubled him but little, in the first flush of being at sea.

   • 2001, Charles Suhor, Jazz in New Orleans: The Postwar Years Through 1970, →ISBN, page 112:

     Raeburn also quotes Rudi Blesh's rhapsodic praise of “the first recordings of pure New Orleans jazz made in modern times . . . pure, uncommercialized jazz . . . as it sounded in its first flushes of classicism . . . the music of the men . . . who never lost faith in the pure melody that speaks to the heart."

   • 2011, T. Lindsay Buick, New Zealand's First War: Or, the Rebellion of Hone Heke, →ISBN, page 164:

     He had not been there more than a few minutes when the attack was made, and in the first flush of the onslaught he received a gun-shot in the thigh which completely shattered the bone and left him helpless upon the ground.

   • 2015, Andrew O'Hagan, The Illuminations, →ISBN, page 142:

     You're not old, Major, but you're not in the first flush.

3. (wastewater management) The flow of wastewater at the start of a storm or season, when runoff has the highest concentration of pollutants.
   • 2005, Allen P. Davis, Richard H. McCuen, Stormwater Management for Smart Growth, →ISBN, page 148:

     Several published data sets have been collected to evaluate the occurrence of a first flush of pollutants from urban watersheds.

   • 2006, Zaini Ujang, M. Henze, Municipal Wastewater Management in Developing Countries, →ISBN:

     For most catchments, first flushes must be expected.

   • 2016, Gary Grant, The Water Sensitive City, →ISBN, page 133:

     The amount of first flush that should be diverted varies considerably depending on how much dust has accumulated on a roof.