about SCROG

this is my first SCROG and have a few questions. first off the strain is mazar fem at about 13" tall, i have been training her with the screen and also been tieing her growths to the screen, heard this from ICMAG. how long until i should stop training her to the screen, she is at one week flower. i figured i will train up until the second week of flower. is this a good idea or should io stop tonight. i have been letting her grow about 3 inches and tie that shoot back down, i have about 9 tops right now. thanks for the help

money shot

I'd keep up with it till the screen is full.That way you get a greater yeild.more buds,is more weed,indeed!

Ga Grown

depends on the size of the light. The more powerful the light, the further it penetrates the canopy. For example, if you have a 70W hps and one plant SCROGged, you should keep it under the screen until you think just the bud will be above. I would only let about 2-4 inches of growth occur over the screen. If you have a 1000W HPS, you are looking at about 12 inches of penetration and should let the plants grow over the screen after about 8 days or so of flower. That will make them considerably taller.

One thing i should say, there is little reason to use any kind of "tie" method. Just use a screen and push them underneath. Once you think you will reach your target height, just quit pushing them under and let them come through.

You may be thinking about this a little wrong also. Instead of thinking about it as 9 tops, think of it as grow sites. If you have a "top" that will consist of 20 or 30 mini sites that grow together to make one large bud, you can just lay that entire bud over on its side and presto, you have 20 or 30 sites that are all perfectly distanced from the optimal amount of light. They will make a lot more bud then one large bud. Now think of that on the scale of 9 "tops" and you will now see the entire theory behind SCROG.

Ask away on SCROG. I have done it a large number of times and have tried all kinds of methods. I actually will grow no other way anymore. It is too much hassle to deal with the falling over and shaded buds of standard grow methods.

I've a few questions reguarding scrog. I remember scw talking about it many years ago, I wish I'd paid closer attention to him. And now that OG is gone, I miss thier extensive FAQ guides.

My main confusion comes as to when to switch to 12/12. Do I do it when the plants hit the screen and let them "strech into it", or do I fill most of the screen then switch to 12/12?

Strains is another concern. I prefer indica. I have a Snow White mother and just got in an order of Aroura Indica and Citral from Nirvana.

Jaxxx

Jaxxxom, you are asking a question that is very difficult to answer. I will explain what i do and why you can do it differently.

I like low plant numbers and don't mind if it takes an extra 2 weeks of veg to have very few plants. Just as an example, I have a 3x4 space and I would use a single plant to fill the entire thing. I would allow the plant to fill the screen to about 80% full and then switch to 12 hour. This is the tricky part, you have to choose how tall you want your buds to be up from the screen based on how much light penetration you will get.
So if you are growing under a:

100W HPS/MH, you would want the buds to be about 3-4 inches tall when they are done. So you push them under the screen until you think they will get 3-4 inches taller and then quit.

400W HPS/MH, you would want the buds to be about 6 inches tall when they are done.

1000W HPS/MH, you would want the buds to be about 12 inches tall when they are done.

Basically, you have to consider how far into the "canopy" the light will penetrate and try to guess your buds to that tall. The first time you SCROG a strain this is kind of tough and i have a tendancy to make them too short instead of too tall because i just get into pushing them under and I love an even canopy.

So, there is no exact time for you to quit pushing them under. If you are growing aero and with a 1000W light for strain x, it is going to be completely different then growing DWC under a 400W light for strain y. I hope that makes sense.

No matter what you do it will be great. SCROG is awesome and it just takes once to hook you.

ask if you have questions.

Good luck

oh, the example.

So if i was using a 3x4 area and just one plant with a 400W light.

I would fill the screen to about 80%, switch to 12 hour and keep pushing it under until 100% of the screen was full and then I would let it go. But once again, that is for a slow growing strain with little strech.

Thanks for the tips, I sorta understand now. I sappose it would be better if I told you what kinda set-up I'll be doing. I've changed designs yet again and I think I'll stick with this...

I'm gonna hid my micro box grow in speaker stands. I have some book shelf speakers that I can set ontop. Basic size, 4' tall, 2' deep, and 2' across. I love to wood working and think I can really make this look like a nice piece of furniture with the sheets of birch vaneer plywood I have.

Anyways, I'll be using cfl's. One, maybe two of those 150w 5900 lumen bulbs and two oder bulbs. Minus the router cuts and thickness of the plywood, I'm figuring on about 3sq ft of screen. Give or take some. Want some space around the screen for good air flow. The cfl's will be on a movable shelf so I can keep them right above the canopy. Oh, and I'll mount them horizonally with mylar above and on the sides of the inside.

I could go into more detail if you need, but basically I'm looking to grow one plant at time in a bubbler. That should give me enough for myself, wife and some left over for entertaining guests, eh?

Jaxxx

There are as many ways and times to do your screen as there are growers with screens. It also depends on your variety. To the best of my knowledge this is one thing that can't really be taught. I tried to learn first but it was impossible with the resources available today. You need to practice and experiment to see what works best for you, but here is what I do:

Do not fill the screen before blooming, this is nonsense. Plants sometimes double in size once blooming starts. Where is all that plant matter supposed to go if the screen is already full?

I have not done it right once, but I am getting closer each time. The idea is ultimatly to have one cola coming up each hole in your screen, making a carpet of colas. I am currently growing AK-47. I want to have about half the holes accounted for on my screen before I go to flower. The rest, or at least most of the rest of the holes will get filled in as the main stalks grow past them, and you let the secondary stalks come through and start a cola. There always seems to be a problem with the cola on the main stalk growing bigger, but I try to keep these to the outside, thus making them the ones that get the least light.

After the plant is done stretching, you will know because all of sudden the growth rate will slow down dramatically. This is when I stop moving stuff around and tieing stuff down, and just let all colas come up through. This is normally after about 1 month of flower, and most of the holes on your screen should be accounted for.

This is not easy to do right. But you know about practice...

Good luck and keep us posted.

Thank you Opie. That was a great explanation.

It's a good point for those of us who live in areas where there are penalties for having more than x number of plants.

Tell me, if you were to grow in soil ( you're hydro, right?) what size pot would you use? Is there some gallons of dirt per square feet of screen rule?

I'm sure there is a rule of thumb about this, but I don't usually go by those unless I know nothing about it. I usually just guess at what seems right, kind of like the basic rule for determining what speed to drive. This way usually works out quite nicely for me because I tend to over do instead of under do. (An ounce of prevention and such).

I think the gallon per rule is probably more per plant than per area of screen, but I bet there's rules both ways, I just don't know what they are. In general you want as big of a container as you can stand using. If the plants get root bound under your scrog, once everything is all tied down and grown into the wire, you are screwed. It will be a total pain in the ass to change them. If I had a 3 x 3 area, and were growing 8 plants, I would divide that area by 8 and try to get pots with the tops that size, so I could fit as much dirt under the screen as possible. It would also help to get deep pots.

Sorry I don't know specific numbers. Hope that helps a little.

I also think I would try to get square pots, that way space is used more efficiently. More space can be filled with dirt.

Or use rectangular planters, but then you don't have control over individual plants.

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Originally Posted by Opie Yutts

I also think I would try to get square pots, that way space is used more efficiently. More space can be filled with dirt.

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I use 3 gallon square tubs that are deeper than they are wide. They have wire handles too- very easy to deal with.

I've got to give scrog a try one of these days. I bet each tub could easily support a 3x3 area of trained plant.

Probably, but I would be more likely to use two or three of those for that space. You can't give your roots too much room to play.

True Dat.