questions about scrogging

[ruufuus]

hey guys, i am currently 2 weeks from sprout into my 3rd grow, and just transplanted the largest of the ladies into 3gallon grow bags. i plan to do a hefty little scrog on them to maximize my yield, but i need some advice on when to put the screen in place and start the process. i plan to veg them another few weeks until they have some branches i can clone and flower to determine the sex. after this is done, how tall should they be before i start scrogging them? i only plan to veg for about 2 months before flowering. any advice on this matter will be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

You can put the screen over them any time. I start scrogging as soon as the growing tips start poking their little heads through the screen. You do not want to let anything grow above the screen until you are ready to flower.

 

[4u2sm0ke]

and lots of air movement

 

[Couchlocked]

I would suggest cloning and sexing before you spend 4 months filling in a screen that turns out to be male. Keep the screen around 18 inches above the surface of the soil.

 

[M3diciNaL_MaNiPulaToR]

I agree with couchlocked on this one, when you put that much time into a plant or plants its good to know its female!

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Good call couchlocked. I don't know why I just assumed (yeah, yeah, I know what they say about assuming) they were clones. In a properly done scrog, it would be almost impossible to get rid of the male(s) without damage to the girls.

 

[Hushpuppy]

I am by no means a pro or even that experienced with scrog but If you look at my signature Blueberry Punch grow, I just turned my 2 girls over to scrog in one of my cabs. I actually waited longer than I should to start the scrog but I had been having problems that I had to get straight. Before I set my screen which is about 14-16inches above the planters, I had to do the supercropping technique as the branches were so stiff that I couldn't just bend them over.

The screen is actually bent around 1/2" pvc pipe and attached to it with zipties. I have some 2"x2" wood blocks screwed to the walls that the screen and pvc are sitting on.

I will continue to let them grow and just push the growing tips back under the screen until the screen is more filled with growth. Should be a few weeks at least, and I will clean out some of the undergrowth that is below the main canopy as it goes along. Then when the screen is mostly full I will flip em

 

[ruufuus]

so basically i should start the scrog once i have determined which are my females and have pulled the males, which was my original plan. how far from the plants should i put the screen exactly? im going to make somewhat of a half circle with the screen to absorb as much light from my 400w hps cooltube as possible. also will this be plausible with only about a month to veg them into the screen?

also should i do some lst to start bushing them before i implement the screen?

 

[Couchlocked]

If you know the plants are going to be scrogged, trim away. Start low, 2nd or 3rd node of full leaf-sets. Pound away on it with 6500 CFL light and cut it/them at every new node thereafter. 6-8 weeks and transplant into the final pot that the plant will be in while filling the scrog. I wouldn't worry about the screen until the plant is as big or bigger than the pot it is contained inside. Keep the screen about 18 inches above the soil. Some people say 12, I prefer 18 because I have big hands and need room to move them among the branches. I have recently tied down my main branches to the container in order to open the plant up and force the sub-branches to grow. It has worked out well and I have been able to cover an area that was bare due to a misguided swipe of a razor. A bonus to scrogging is the number of healthy clones you can take at one time and the canopy remains semingly untouched. In my opinion, scrogging is greatly under-appreciated in its efficiency. Good luck with your girls.


I had to remove this screen because it was too low. Do not be afraid of keeping your screen well off the plants.

View attachment 180930

 

[kiksroks]

It would probably benefit you to tie the tops down before you screen them but it sounds like you will be topping them anyways which will allow the side growth to get going.

It really depends on how many plants you're doing and how large your screen is. Any training will ultimately slow the growth so more plants will allow more training as they wont have as much growing to do to fill the screen before you flower.

 

[Couchlocked]

4 weeks is not enough time. Scrogging is a patient persons game. Imo, 4 weeks is not enough time to veg any plant other than a 100% sativa that is going to take 20 weeks of flower like some Thai's will. Even in pots with a 4 week veg, you are limited on your yield. This is probably a little off-center but I got involved in something called the slow-food movement back in '03 or so. It is about people taking the time to prepare and enjoy meals rather than asking for fries and a shake. Half health-oriented, half spiritually-oriented. I crossed that over to cannabis. Make good choices with your ladies, treat them well, and watch them grow and show off in front of you. I wish you the best. I will watch your efforts.

 

[Hushpuppy]

I would say at this point that you have time to study this further, given the age of yer plants. Even in a single method like scrog there are multiple ways of doing things. The exact method yu choose most likely will not be the method you settle on for future grows as each of us have to adjust any method to our unique situation, and environment. Take a look at the different methods that people use and try to determine which will best fit what you need rather than trying to find "the best method".

 

[ruufuus]

i plan to veg the plants 8 weeks not four. is this long enough to do a scrog? and i do agree that this may not be the best method for me, but it seems very yield increasing, and also seems like it would maximize the use of my lighting. i guess i will have to wait and see, but i will definitively start with some lst to get the ladies nice and bushy.

 

[Hushpuppy]

I'm not saying that scrog may not be yer best method, rather just the particulars of doing the scrog will be different for most everyone who uses it. Just like with mine. I would have liked to start the scrog as soon as my girls were about 10-12" tall by doing some lst to get them going, but I had some issues and ended up being several weeks delayed.

I did an initial FIM on them then as they started to shoot up I tied them over to pull the 2 plants away from each other. After several weeks of keeping them in stasis with cold temps and low nutrients, I turned up the power and got them growing, but then had to actually supercrop the taller branches before I could even put my screen on them.

I suspect that I will have to veg mine for at least 4 weeks from this point as they are already at my screen. Yours will be different as it will be according to your setup and how you setup your screen, but 8 weeks I would think is quite doable.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

so basically i should start the scrog once i have determined which are my females and have pulled the males, which was my original plan. how far from the plants should i put the screen exactly? im going to make somewhat of a half circle with the screen to absorb as much light from my 400w hps cooltube as possible. also will this be plausible with only about a month to veg them into the screen?

also should i do some lst to start bushing them before i implement the screen?

I would not even attempt a scrog with males in the mix. By the time you have sexed the plants, they will most likely be too tall and the branches too stiff to keep under the screen. I really really recommend clones of the same strain for a scrog.

I do not understand the half-circle part and it absorbing light?????? If you are scrogging, you do not need to lst and lst does not make them bush out.

I checked out couchlocked's attachment. While this is a great looking plant, this is not a scrog. With a scrog, none of the branches are allowed to grow through the screen. The are pushed below the screen and trained to grow horizontally below the screen. When it comes time to flower, you let the buds only grow up through the screen. I have a DIY scrog in my sig you should check out.

 

[ruufuus]

great info, thanks guys. i will keep you all posted on the grow situation.

 

[Couchlocked]

Here is a better photo if it under the screen before I removed it. You can see the bare spots in the screen. I took the screen off, tied her main branches down and forced her sub-branches to grow and bush the plant out.

View attachment 180798