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You might have heard about SCROG before and was curious to try it. However, you have no idea how to SCROG. Scrogging works to make the plants grow more luxuriant and utilize their space more methodically. Even if you do not have the direct experience of growing cannabis, you may have seen images of these crops with huge buds cultivating in a nylon screen. This is the SCOG.
SCROG is a shortened term for “Screen of Green”. It is a technique that boosts the lights by carrying bottom buds up to the apex of the canopy. The better distribution of lights helps to generate higher yields.
This method has been utilized for quite a while already. Cultivators have been employing it since before the introduction of high-intensity lamps. It can develop the yield of your cultivation, even with the usage of the regular fluorescent lights.
To be particular, scrogging is a way of training the plants by acquiring a screen on top of the canopy of the plants, then binding the development from the plants into the screen as time passes. Accurate scrogging is most effective if you also employ other available methods, like topping.
Topping primarily comprises the trimming off of the tops of the cannabis plants to make them prosper in outwards direction rather than upwards. This makes them develop numerous branches and become more luxuriant, while the method of scrogging assists each portion of those leaves and branches to be denuded to sunlight, resulting in very effective utilization of space.
Remember that every plant is unique, and there is no particular calculation for how distant or how close every branch or plant must be. Scrogging embroils reading the plant to determine what it requires and commonly needs some adjustment. However, with a bit of patience and rendering your time, the plants can grow healthy and abundant.
So, how to SCROG? To begin, get a set of plants, preferably of similar size and height. It will be difficult to scrog the plants of various sizes since the screen requires to be even across the entire canopy to distribute the light equally.
The mesh sizes of nylon screens are varied, commonly around 4 to 6 inches square. For confined cultivation, consider using a 4-inch mesh.
Scrogging is more manageable if the plants stay in the same location throughout the entire lifespan, starting from the vegetative phase to flowering. However, depending on the kind of setup, it might be necessary to move the plants.
In this case, you may simply install the screen once you completed the topping and allow the plants to prosper into it. You may have to patch up the screen several times during the next coming weeks to ensure that the branches are smoothly spaced out and not very congested.
See to it that the plants are already in the final location because you can no longer move them the moment they are under the screen. Cannabis plants also require to be relocated to a suitable pot size.
Plants should be positioned in a way that they are not congested, but not too distant that there are large gaps seen in the canopy. You will like some space between the branches if they are brought up via the scrog – cannabis plants can still thrive and stand in a bit since they have 8 weeks at the very least to undergo the flowering period.
As a ground rule, for a 4 x 8 feet tray, consider introducing 18 to 21 plants in 5-gallon containers. That will provide you 3 rows of either 6 or 7 plants and will provide you the awareness of the total plants that can fit together. You may accustom accordingly, according to the tray and the size of the pot.
Once the entire plants are already placed in position, it can work to fold back the branches a bit to condition them for the screen. You must be cautious when carrying out this step! It is easy to break the branches.
Fold the branches out and far from the primary stem, just like a flowering coming out or skinning a banana. Also bear in mind that certain strains are stiffer than other strains and can endure more bending.
You will have to secure four contact points at the very least to install the screen on. Many growers will employ an upright extension that can endure some pressure, such as the T-post or two-by-four, at every end of the canopy.
You can utilize two ways to install on a screen:
Once the screen is set up, wobble it down until such time that it is on the top of the cannabis plants. Preferably, you like the screen around 6 to 9 inches over the very base of the plant’s branching – this is the primary topping you provided the plant as well as the first instance which the plant begins branching after the stem breaks from the soil.
The moment the screen is established in position, see to it that it is firm, particularly the ends. The firmer it is, the more capable it is to sustain the shape and endure the weight of forming buds. Zip ties are accessible here.
You can get a portion of the screen and restrain it and zip-tied to a post to stiffen it up. Every point must be stiffened around the same volume so the screen will not come out unbalanced. Be cautious not to stretch the screen very tightly as it can break.
The branches found in the screen must interlace with the other branches surrounding it. Consider spreading out the hands and placing the fingers of your two hands in between them.
An essential inquiry to verify before placing the branches into the setup of a scrog is – where do branches prefer to go? If the branch does not like to stay in place specifically to where you put it, you may have to position it elsewhere. Do not pressure it.
Consider to occupy every square mesh with one branch – prevent placing two branches in a single square and consider not leaving the square empty. It will guarantee its best potential. You might not be capable of carrying these out based on your available plant material. However, they are effective ground rules to obey.
Extend a branch out the farthest it can go, fetch it up with the screen, and lay it on the screen. If it fizzles, draw it back a single mesh nearer to the primary stem. An ideal spot to begin on the scrog is an edge, at one of the existing posts. Carry the task one of the corners to the following post, then execute another end until all ends are occupied, then do the center.
Work systematically, placing the branches into the screen before proceeding to the following plant. If you are having difficulty with a particular branch, one strategy is to flip the whole plant – by grasping the pot and reversing it – so the fallible branch is now fronting where you like it to go.
Once you are done, it will be ideal to see under the screen to ensure you did not disregard any branches. If that is the case, simply blow them back to the screen.
Scrogging may cause stress to the plant, expanding all the branches around. You may observe that the plants appear a bit saggy. But you should not be anxious about it – exposed to an immediate light, they will recuperate quickly, and placing them in the scrog can be worthy through time.
It will be good to water the plants during the first 24 hours from scrogging them to provide them a minimal improvement to leave the stress of the step. It will also be good to monitory the scrog after 2 to 3 days to fix it up. The cannabis plants may have thrived into the screen a bit in those several days. You will then have a better perception of where every branch prefers to go as well as where the buds will prosper.
Learning how to SCROG can be very favorable for cannabis plants. The technique has been effectively employed by hobbyists and business growers. It is demonstrated to be very efficient for commercial and domestic cannabis cultivators.
SCROG needs a little more experience and may have a lengthier vegetative period but lesser plants. The method is not only about setting up the screen and seeing your plants prosper. Although very minimal work ais needed in general, you will have to execute it with great caution if you like to SCROG the best way.
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