First time SCROG question

[Finckensteine]

Hello everyone! New to the forum and somewhat new to growing. I've got two grows under my belt and am setting up for my next try. For the first grow I used HID's and for the second CFL's. During both I used FIM, LST, HST and Defolliation. Grew them in a mixture of potting soils, fed them Tiger Grow and Tiger Bloom with 24hrs light till the flip. Ended up with plants approximately 30" wide and 26" tall covered in buds. Most fun I've had in quite awhile!

So now I am going to try a SCROG but after reading the tutorials a few times I still have a few questions. My screen is approximately 30" x 24" with about 60 3" usable squares. Is there a rule of thumb for how many plants one would use for this size? Also, once the plant is placed under the screen do you only have to worry about pulling the main branches to the next square available and the rest will take care of filling in the squares you just vacated? When you switch to flowering how many of the squares should still be left to fill?

Thanks for any advice you could throw my way.

[TenX2]

I've never done Scrog but it looks like an awesome system for growing that id love to try one day!
(sorry, no practical help... 😒)
Good Luck!

[bboyfromwayback]

The number of plants depends on how long you want to veg. Most strains could easily fill a 30”x24” space with one plant after a 4-6wk veg but some really compact strains like Purple Kush would need 2-3 plants to fill that space. My advice for your first time trying a ScrOG read this tutorial and follow along, keep your screen low (no more than 10” above dirt) and if you have any questions along the way message me and I’ll help the best I can. One thing I’ll add is that I don’t weave the stems in and out of the screen or tie them down to it, those methods seem stressful and harmful to me which doesn’t make sense to me. I keep everything growing under the screen until it’s full then I allow all those beautiful colas to come up at the same time. Kinda like the Night King standing there with his palms up looking at John Snow while all the dead rise up.

https://www.growweedeasy.com/scrog-tutorial

[Finckensteine]

Thanks BBoy! So you don't pull the ends of the main branches thru a hole? Just keep them growing horizontal? As you're doing that the other minor stems grow up through the squares? And those will produce buds when flowering?

[bboyfromwayback]

The concept is to keep everything growing horizontally under the screen which allows all those lower colas on the stems that don’t get much light when grown normally to get equal light which allows them to become main colas. As each stems grow out they’ll produce side branches which will grow their own colas. Once they grow up 3-4” through the screen they’ll be long enough to tuck back down and put into the next opening so you just keep doing that with everything growing out and redirect as needed to fill the screen out. The goal is to have a cola growing up through every square in the screen. Sometimes you’ll come up short, other times you’ll outgrow the screen. I have a Chocolope now under a 18”x18” screen that didn’t stretch as much as I anticipated so out of the 54 squares available I have 16 empty. Still though, I counted 64 colas coming up last night that are all 5-6” tall. You can’t get that from one plant any other way

[Finckensteine]

Ok, I think I got the picture now! Will read tutorial again anyways. I'm going to try it with Barneys Farm Gillato 41 and see how it goes. Thanks for your help and you'll probably be hearing from me once I get the seeds and get them started.
,

[bboyfromwayback]

I can see some parts of that tutorial being confusing for someone who’s never ran a ScrOG before but it’s a good start. You’ll figure it out quickly once you get started

[SommerVirelli]

Scrog is where it’s at!

[bboyfromwayback]

Are those autos? My next auto run will be under screens

[SommerVirelli]

No they aren’t autos. I just ordered some for after this run tho. Don’t worry about topping autos for a scrog run if you choose to, Finckensteine. Just bend the main branch sideways and continue tucking as usual.

[Finckensteine]

I'm finally ready to Flip these plants after almost killing them! I made a grievous error right from the start. After the seeds germinated I planted them in 4" pots containing FFOF. That's right, the hottest organic soil out there! Lol. Seems I missed the one line that referred to this as being something that you shouldn't do.

So after weeks of nutrient lockout/burn and immediately being replanted into FFHF the shock was severe. I almost threw them out but at the last minute decided to keep going. 10 days later they started showing signs of healthy green throughout. They have been grown under the screen this past month and have filled 2/3 of the holes.

I have a question concerning the fresh air intake. What is a good way to stop the light from getting thru? I have it covered with four layers of this black rubberized netting that has small perforations throughout. When stacked together it does a decent job of blocking but probably not one hundred percent. I wanted the fan which is mounted inside the closet in front of the hole to beable to draw a good amount of air. Any suggestions?

[grouchyoldman]

Good recovery on the overly hot soil.

How's about a few pics of the grow before harvest?

Cheers,

-Grouchy

[Finckensteine]

I'll get my son to take some pics for me. Going thru an Artic front right now and have been busy trying to keep them warm. I live in a fifth wheel and it is an ice box. Was worried the lines would go from the ice storm. A little stressed from the whole grow! But I like growing and I'm a stubborn SOB!!!

[grouchyoldman]

I can relate regarding this damned winter! The black ice and snow here finally melted yesterday, but there's another big snowstorm coming this afternoon, and the city power just cut off. *sheesh* Thank gawd I sprung for an emergency backup generator!

If you decide to scrog, look at the recent grows by bboyfromwayback & SommerVirelli for some excellent advice. The Bboy offered a design for a simple screen design that I'm using for my current grow. Pics below. This is a White Widow BU2B PPP manifold defoliated during veg.

[bboyfromwayback]

Lookin good Grouchy! You’ll be amazed what you’ll get per plant under that screen. I avg 3-4oz per plant from a 3 gallon pot with 4wks of veg

[grouchyoldman]

Thanks Bboy, she's in week 2 of the flowering stretch and the screen is about 70% filled. Destined to be a smallish plant tho, the cold and dry winter is takin its toll.