Scrog - Remove Zip Ties Before Harvest?

[echdk3]

Hi guys. I’m about a week into flowering in my first grow and I’m doing a scrog. I have lots of zip ties keeping my girls’ branches tied to the trellis net. Is it common practice or in any way recommended to remove the zip ties well before harvest? Like maybe after the flowering stretch is over? I guess I’m worried about buds growing into and around the zip ties? Any advice? Here’s a small example of what I’m talking about. Thanks!

[MeEasy]

Yes you can cut any and or all ties, plants are done growing between 4-6 weeks into flower they start 100% concentration on collecting pollen which means growing big sticky buds hoping for some pollen to blow by if they catch pollen they switch from bud production to seed production.... I hope my coffee induced rambling will help you out... good luck 🌳 😎

[RetiredGuy]

You probably already know this but thought I would remind you. I was disappointed in my first scrog because my top buds never got very big and were quite short. In hindsight I did not trim the larfy buds and limbs under the scrog nor did I defoliate enough. Next time I will pay much more attention to these items. I hope you get a great harvest.

[Poppa]

For me it depends on if when they are removed does the part of plant they where holding stay where I want it. And some times they just can't be removed or gotten too until some of the harvest is done to gain access to them for removal. For this reason I looked for items that would be able to be removed and repositioned, unlike a zip tie that will need to be cut to remove easily. When reading through GWE about plant training there were a couple of products I chose to try. Both are reusable which gives you the ability to loosen to see if plant stays where you want it or can be repositioned. I have made each small circles that would do just like you have with the zip ties or midsized where they go from side to side of a opening like in the picture to longer ones that go from the stem I'm holding down to a point on net or frame to hold. Including a pic I just took of the scrog frame from my 4 clones in a tote grow which I still have not got around to removing the soft ties I used to keep stems centered in their openings in the scrog net. And a picture of both the types of soft ties I use.

[bboyfromwayback]

This is why I say the ScrOG tutorials online make zero sense. The weaving and tying branches down isn’t necessary and only creates a headache later on. Next time just keep tucking everything under the screen and into the next available opening. That keeps everything growing under it and easy to manage

[echdk3]

I intended to do that at first because it sounds easier, but if you go under instead of on top, then you can’t train branches to follow parallel portions of the net in-between the orthogonal portions. Like in the pic I posted, you can see that I have a branch following a portion of the net as it goes down. This would not be possible if I just tried tucking under without any kind of ties.

[echdk3]

Great responses, very helpful. I’ll probably wait until the stretch is over and remove them all, or until I see that there are buds growing into the zip ties. Thanks!