Many of you marijuana growers have probably heard the term “ScrOG” before. Much like many growing techniques, scrogging marijuana strives to make the process a little bit easier and a lot more beneficial. The term “ScrOG” is an abbreviation of “Screen of Green.”
The idea behind the scrog method is to optimize your lights and to bring lower buds up to the top of the canopy where they could produce higher yields.
It’s a method that has been around for a while (prior to high-intensity discharge—HID—lamps) and has been used effectively, even with basic fluorescent lights.
Don’t want to read? Watch the video!
What is scrogging? This is scrogging!
The term “SCROG” in scrogging actually comes from “Screen of Green.” Scrogging is a type of training for marijuana plants that involves securing a screen above the canopy of your plants, and then tying the growth from the plants onto the screen as time goes on.
Proper scrogging works best if you also use other methods, such as topping. Topping basically involves cutting off the tops of your marijuana plants, so they grow outwards rather than upwards. This helps them grow more branches and become bushier, and scrogging helps every part of those branches and leaves to get exposed to sunlight, making for an extremely efficient use of space.
Flowering week 1
Flowering week 3
Flowering week 5
Scrogging is especially useful for people who would like to grow large Sativas in a smaller space. It lets them manipulate the growth until every bit of light is hitting the plants somewhere, rather than being wasted by hitting the floor instead.
How to build a grow room for more information
In terms of equipment for the actual act of scrogging, you will simply need a screen, scissors, and some large pots. Let’s look at some of the details behind each of these.
The screen
This is the most obvious (and perhaps the most important) piece of equipment you will need for scrogging. The actual screen is not as important as how you use it, however. Keep in mind that you will just need to be able to tie the branches of your marijuana plants to it several times. It will eventually create a blanket of leaves and buds all at the exact same height.
Scissors
Although any sharp scissors will do, you shouldn’t just pick up scissors from your office and start using that. Instead, make sure it is very sharp, then clean and sterilize it before using it on your plants. Much like you would be careful around a wound on a person to prevent infection, the same precautions are necessary on the “wounds” you will make on your marijuana plants.
Large pots
Assuming you won’t have a large number of plants to grow (since scrogging is usually used by people who can only grow a limited number of marijuana plants), large pots are the way to go. Larger pots will allow the yield to be maximized as much as possible when you are using the scrogging technique.
Bergmanslab.com
First of all, fill the large pots with soil after placing them inside the tent. Then put the plants into the soil and make sure they are adequately covered — usually, cuttings that have developed a root system or plants that are roughly a month old are the best way to go.
Use large pots
Place clones
Ready to grow
After that, water your plants with water that is at a 6.0 pH level and doesn’t have any added nutrients. Don’t overwater them — 8.5 ounces near the stem of your plant is perfect. It is easy to overwater a small plant in a big pot, so be sure to be extra cautious of that. All the soil in the pot should not be wet.
Water the clones
around the base of the stem
and spray them with water
Next, cut a screen to fit the area of your grow room (or tent) and hang it, so it’s about 15 inches above your marijuana plants. Only do this if you have between 20 and 25 more inches of space above that, since that is where the lamp will need to hang when your plants are as tall as the screen. Use cable ties to attach the screen to allow for some movement.
Place the screen
attach to tent poles
And you’re ready to grow
Once the branches of your plants grow through the screen by four inches, begin tying it and retying it as it continues to grow. It should create a blanket of sorts at one single height.
This is particularly useful for individuals who either have limited vertical space or limited light emission. Having a screen over the top of the plants, keeps them lower, but it also allows the light to concentrate more evenly on each of the plants. In addition, horizontal growth will still produce useful plants in the long run.
This screen is perfect
Place screen at +/- 25 inches
Let plants grow to the screen
If plants are 10 inches tall
Cut off the top
Just like this
You’ll want to continue to take each branch from each plant and move them over to the next hole so that horizontal growth can continue relatively unimpeded. Or bend and attach all the branches to the screen with some wire horizontally.
Wait until top branches hit the screen
Prune all useless shoots
Just like this
The process of taking the branches out of one hole in the screen and placing them in a hole farther away from the plant base is often referred to as “tucking.” This should be carried out with the utmost care as any breakages can cause your marijuana plants to reduce growth.
Some marijuana growers like to make their screens adjustable so that they can raise the “ceiling” if the growth becomes too abundant. This is really beneficial if you want to keep your plants in vegetative state for as long as you can.
If branch grows through the screen
Attach with clip or wire
So it grows horizontally
Another way to ensure that the plants produce higher yields is by maintaining a relatively even canopy all the way across. This will involve cutting off the top portion of a plant to shorten it and also make room for deviations in the branches.
The more branches you have, the more you can continue tucking. Since the growth is diversified and the light is hitting every viable part of the plants, the yield will increase when harvest time comes around.
If the branches keep growing
Repeat the previous steps
Till you get a nice horizontal field
3 weeks of flowering
5 weeks of flowering
7 weeks of flowering
Forcing flowering is something that almost takes an intuition. You can see when the plants have sort of maxed out in their vegetative state. You will obviously want to visualize how much the plants will continue to grow once they enter flowering. When you decide to go for it, put the plants on a 12/12 light regimen.
Then, growth will start to increase as the plants begin to flower extensively. Carefully train all branches and shoots through their individual slots in the screen. I always force my marijuana plants into flower just before they start to grow through the screen.
Scrog example
Only two plants
Crate of scrog
Scrog veg week 2
Scrog flower week 2
Pictures powered by Bergmanslab.com
Scrog flower week 4
You can also bring down the lamp to the lowest possible level (since there isn’t one taller plant that would get burned), therefore maximizing the light intensity. Of course, be sure the temperature doesn’t get higher than 77 degrees Fahrenheit!
You can see the benefit of scrogging during the actual flowering phase as well. Any branches that didn’t make it through the screen should be pruned, meaning your plant won’t develop any buds that aren’t receiving much light. That means that all of the buds will be top quality, with no fluffy or soft buds that never ripen left to waste your plant’s resources.
Ultimately, scrogging can increase your marijuana plants’ yield by up to 20%. It takes a bit of fine tuning before you’ll be consistently getting these yields, but of course the effort is certainly worth it in the end!
The idea behind the scrog method is to optimize your lights and to bring lower buds up to the top of the canopy where they could produce higher yields.
It’s a method that has been around for a while (prior to high-intensity discharge—HID—lamps) and has been used effectively, even with basic fluorescent lights.
Don’t want to read? Watch the video!
What is scrogging? This is scrogging!
The term “SCROG” in scrogging actually comes from “Screen of Green.” Scrogging is a type of training for marijuana plants that involves securing a screen above the canopy of your plants, and then tying the growth from the plants onto the screen as time goes on.
Proper scrogging works best if you also use other methods, such as topping. Topping basically involves cutting off the tops of your marijuana plants, so they grow outwards rather than upwards. This helps them grow more branches and become bushier, and scrogging helps every part of those branches and leaves to get exposed to sunlight, making for an extremely efficient use of space.
Flowering week 1
Flowering week 3
Flowering week 5
Scrogging is especially useful for people who would like to grow large Sativas in a smaller space. It lets them manipulate the growth until every bit of light is hitting the plants somewhere, rather than being wasted by hitting the floor instead.
How to build a grow room for more information
In terms of equipment for the actual act of scrogging, you will simply need a screen, scissors, and some large pots. Let’s look at some of the details behind each of these.
The screen
This is the most obvious (and perhaps the most important) piece of equipment you will need for scrogging. The actual screen is not as important as how you use it, however. Keep in mind that you will just need to be able to tie the branches of your marijuana plants to it several times. It will eventually create a blanket of leaves and buds all at the exact same height.
Scissors
Although any sharp scissors will do, you shouldn’t just pick up scissors from your office and start using that. Instead, make sure it is very sharp, then clean and sterilize it before using it on your plants. Much like you would be careful around a wound on a person to prevent infection, the same precautions are necessary on the “wounds” you will make on your marijuana plants.
Large pots
Assuming you won’t have a large number of plants to grow (since scrogging is usually used by people who can only grow a limited number of marijuana plants), large pots are the way to go. Larger pots will allow the yield to be maximized as much as possible when you are using the scrogging technique.
Bergmanslab.com
First of all, fill the large pots with soil after placing them inside the tent. Then put the plants into the soil and make sure they are adequately covered — usually, cuttings that have developed a root system or plants that are roughly a month old are the best way to go.
Use large pots
Place clones
Ready to grow
After that, water your plants with water that is at a 6.0 pH level and doesn’t have any added nutrients. Don’t overwater them — 8.5 ounces near the stem of your plant is perfect. It is easy to overwater a small plant in a big pot, so be sure to be extra cautious of that. All the soil in the pot should not be wet.
Water the clones
around the base of the stem
and spray them with water
Next, cut a screen to fit the area of your grow room (or tent) and hang it, so it’s about 15 inches above your marijuana plants. Only do this if you have between 20 and 25 more inches of space above that, since that is where the lamp will need to hang when your plants are as tall as the screen. Use cable ties to attach the screen to allow for some movement.
Place the screen
attach to tent poles
And you’re ready to grow
Once the branches of your plants grow through the screen by four inches, begin tying it and retying it as it continues to grow. It should create a blanket of sorts at one single height.
This is particularly useful for individuals who either have limited vertical space or limited light emission. Having a screen over the top of the plants, keeps them lower, but it also allows the light to concentrate more evenly on each of the plants. In addition, horizontal growth will still produce useful plants in the long run.
This screen is perfect
Place screen at +/- 25 inches
Let plants grow to the screen
If plants are 10 inches tall
Cut off the top
Just like this
You’ll want to continue to take each branch from each plant and move them over to the next hole so that horizontal growth can continue relatively unimpeded. Or bend and attach all the branches to the screen with some wire horizontally.
Wait until top branches hit the screen
Prune all useless shoots
Just like this
The process of taking the branches out of one hole in the screen and placing them in a hole farther away from the plant base is often referred to as “tucking.” This should be carried out with the utmost care as any breakages can cause your marijuana plants to reduce growth.
Some marijuana growers like to make their screens adjustable so that they can raise the “ceiling” if the growth becomes too abundant. This is really beneficial if you want to keep your plants in vegetative state for as long as you can.
If branch grows through the screen
Attach with clip or wire
So it grows horizontally
Another way to ensure that the plants produce higher yields is by maintaining a relatively even canopy all the way across. This will involve cutting off the top portion of a plant to shorten it and also make room for deviations in the branches.
The more branches you have, the more you can continue tucking. Since the growth is diversified and the light is hitting every viable part of the plants, the yield will increase when harvest time comes around.
If the branches keep growing
Repeat the previous steps
Till you get a nice horizontal field
3 weeks of flowering
5 weeks of flowering
7 weeks of flowering
Forcing flowering is something that almost takes an intuition. You can see when the plants have sort of maxed out in their vegetative state. You will obviously want to visualize how much the plants will continue to grow once they enter flowering. When you decide to go for it, put the plants on a 12/12 light regimen.
Then, growth will start to increase as the plants begin to flower extensively. Carefully train all branches and shoots through their individual slots in the screen. I always force my marijuana plants into flower just before they start to grow through the screen.
Scrog example
Only two plants
Crate of scrog
Scrog veg week 2
Scrog flower week 2
Pictures powered by Bergmanslab.com
Scrog flower week 4
You can also bring down the lamp to the lowest possible level (since there isn’t one taller plant that would get burned), therefore maximizing the light intensity. Of course, be sure the temperature doesn’t get higher than 77 degrees Fahrenheit!
You can see the benefit of scrogging during the actual flowering phase as well. Any branches that didn’t make it through the screen should be pruned, meaning your plant won’t develop any buds that aren’t receiving much light. That means that all of the buds will be top quality, with no fluffy or soft buds that never ripen left to waste your plant’s resources.
Ultimately, scrogging can increase your marijuana plants’ yield by up to 20%. It takes a bit of fine tuning before you’ll be consistently getting these yields, but of course the effort is certainly worth it in the end!
