First Time Indoor SCROG - CFL Maybe

[Sonzor]

Whats up all,

With all my bug issues outside, decided to take it indoors. I know its a cheesy setup but what are you going to do. Going to give it a try and see what happens and if all goes well will maybe invest in some lights. Might even get a 250 or 400w HPS in the next couple of days to take some of the guess work out of the final result.

What strain is it? Lemon Bubble Haze
Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? Mostly Sativa not sure percentage
Is it in Veg or Flower stage? Just turned the timers to 12/12
If in Veg... For how long? Veg for a little over a month
If in Flower stage... For how long? Switched to 12/12 on Feb 15
Indoor or outdoor? Indoor with a splash of outdoor
Soil or Hydro? Soil
If soil... what is in your mix? Sunshine Mix, Compost, Perlite, Worm Castings, Blood Meal, Bone Meal, 5 - 5 - 5 organic slow release plant food, Bat Guano
If soil... What size pot? Whatever the size of a Home Depot bucket is, I think its 5 gallon
Size of light? At this time I have 8 60w cfl's. Considering 250w or 400w HPS in the next couple of days
Is it aircooled? Air
Temp of Room/cab? around 70 light on and 60 light off
RH of Room/cab? Not sure.
PH of media or res? Don't check it too often but it usually stays in the mid 7's
Any Pests ? I sure hope not, Had a few gnats but under control
How often are you watering? Every two to three days at this point.
Type and strength of ferts used? Compost teas and liquid fish fert. I am going to find some sort of Organic Bloom Fert in addition to the teas.

All seem to be going OK at this point, growth is kind of slow. I think that may be the CLF's but what do I know.

This pic is a pic of the two stronger ladies I picked out, before the screen.

I had a screen I put on them which was chicken wire but I think the holes where way too small about a inch at the most, so I took that off and made some generic one with string. I know it looks silly but I think it will work. (maybe)

And here is a picture of the underneath. I groomed it for airflow. May have done it a bit early but live and learn, we will see.

So with all that said all the help you guys can give will be much appreciated. I have done a lot of reading on scrog, but there are lots of opinions on how it can and should be done. So, I am at the very least a little confused.

About the lights, if I do decided to go out and get them what would be you guys recommend for my grow space.

width is 20"x20" by 6 ft tall, so approx. 4 sf.


Thanks again for taking a look and all help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mmmmick]

Hi sonzor, good to see you've got things rolling. Man that scrog will do just fine. Won't be able to see the screen soon anyway. I'm all for what works, pretty can come later.
My canopy got a little too thick, looks great but too many dead air spots for PM to hide in. You're wise to start trimming early.

Good luck!!

 

[OldMedMan]

Hi sonzar !


Looks great my friend! Glad to see you at it again!

 

[Sonzor]

Hi sonzor, good to see you've got things rolling. Man that scrog will do just fine. Won't be able to see the screen soon anyway. I'm all for what works, pretty can come later.
My canopy got a little too thick, looks great but too many dead air spots for PM to hide in. You're wise to start trimming early.

Good luck!!

Hello Mmmmick,
Thanks for stopping in, Yes not to happy with the screen but the one that looked a lot better was not going to work with the the holes being so small so I put together this one really quick. But I will trust you opinion that it will work. Lets hope that screen vanishes soon... Thanks again...

Hi sonzar !


Looks great my friend! Glad to see you at it again!

Hello OMM,
Glad to have you stop in.. Hope all is well with you...

 

[Sonzor]

Hello all, looks like the screen is filling in nicely. Has been on 12/12 for 8 days now and is sprouting pistols everywhere. Plants look healthy and green. Gave them a top dressing of bat guano and fed them yesterday with some tea and liquid karma to help them along a bit. I never have tried this product, so we will see how it goes but it says its organic and I think it will give the plants a little boost.

Another thing, the bottom left of the screen look like it may never fill. Is this OK to have a part of the screen not filled?

Take a look and any comments and suggestions are always appreciated.

 

[whitey78]

Looking good dude..... and there definitely is nothing wrong with that screen bro, it looks like its working just fine to me....

Good luck and happy growin.....

 

[Sonzor]

Looking good dude..... and there definitely is nothing wrong with that screen bro, it looks like its working just fine to me....

Good luck and happy growin.....

Hello whitey78, thanks for stopping in and your comments. Much appreciated. + rep

 

[Light-1-up]

Alright Sonzor back growing again!! Looking good bro, you might want to start to pull some of those branches back under the screen. But other than that everything looks great my friend.

I'm subscribed and

 

[Sonzor]

Alright Sonzor back growing again!! Looking good bro, you might want to start to pull some of those branches back under the screen. But other than that everything looks great my friend.

I'm subscribed and

Hello Light-1-up, thanks, good to be back. I have been pulling them down and just started to let some poke through. Wasn't sure if letting some go was a good idea but I guess you answered that for me. I will pull them down. Thanks again and + rep for the good advise....

 

[Light-1-up]

I'm far from an expert but you want to keep your branches under your screen and just bend-em kinda like when you supercrop, just don't go that far. You want to get as many branches as you can to fill up your screen, then let them grow tall. Thanks for the reps.

Not a problem my friend, I'll help out any way when I can....

 

[OldMedMan]

Liquid karma is good sonzor

All my girls, indoor and out seem to love it. That screen will fill up for you, I'm sure. Doesn't have to be full anyway. L-1 is right, let them go horizontal for a while and they will fill in.

Hope all is well with the family!

 

[whitey78]

So what you 2 guys are saying is to pull them sideways kinda like an LST but just dont let them grow right threw, turn them and let them work their way around the bottom before going up?


Edit:

I agree 100% with organic growing (I am not there yet however) but do you really think its safe to have dead leaves in there like that? To my understanding that will encourage pests in general, especially your pulled fan leaves as they were alive and are decomposing in your buckets. I feel ya on the organic though but thats just scary to me..... My biggest fear on my grow is pests/insects....

 

[placerville]

The one of the main objectives with a scrog , other than training, is to keep the canopy the same height. It appears that your screen is more than 80% full, so IMHO I would let them explode upwards. I will pull the higher cola's down and train during the flowering period. I usually veg until 70-80 of the screen is full the flip to 12/12 and let the ladies streek towards the light. I didn't see anyone answer your question about lighting. Most req. 50 watts per sq. ft. more the better.

 

[Sonzor]

I'm far from an expert but you want to keep your branches under your screen and just bend-em kinda like when you supercrop, just don't go that far. You want to get as many branches as you can to fill up your screen, then let them grow tall. Thanks for the reps.

Not a problem my friend, I'll help out any way when I can....

Thanks again Light-1-up, You are more of an expert than I for sure. So any help is much appreciated. I have been bending and tucking. My question is when do you need to stop tucking? I switched to 12/12 9 days ago and I would think you need to stop way before the stretch stops even if the screen is not full.

Liquid karma is good sonzor

All my girls, indoor and out seem to love it. That screen will fill up for you, I'm sure. Doesn't have to be full anyway. L-1 is right, let them go horizontal for a while and they will fill in.

Hope all is well with the family!

Thanks OMM, Liquid Karma is pretty much the only organic thing I found with low enough NPK numbers that I feel comfortable adding to my teas and soil. Not sure if I will get the screen filled but that is not my biggest concern for my first SCROG fun. I just want to get some nice buds. I did pull all the tops under today. I think that will be the last time and I will see how it goes from there.

So what you 2 guys are saying is to pull them sideways kinda like an LST but just dont let them grow right threw, turn them and let them work their way around the bottom before going up?


Edit:

I agree 100% with organic growing (I am not there yet however) but do you really think its safe to have dead leaves in there like that? To my understanding that will encourage pests in general, especially your pulled fan leaves as they were alive and are decomposing in your buckets. I feel ya on the organic though but thats just scary to me..... My biggest fear on my grow is pests/insects....

I am not sure about the leaves to tell you the truth. With my outdoor I always take the leaves and work them into the soil. I have not seen any bugs yet, but you are probably correct. I should remove them. One of the main reason I moved indoors was to stay away from these bud worms that love to eat my buds so staying away from bugs is a concern of mine also. As for organic I try to keep it 100% and am still working out the best way to do it. I will get it eventually. Thanks for stopping in.

The one of the main objectives with a scrog , other than training, is to keep the canopy the same height. It appears that your screen is more than 80% full, so IMHO I would let them explode upwards. I will pull the higher cola's down and train during the flowering period. I usually veg until 70-80 of the screen is full the flip to 12/12 and let the ladies streek towards the light. I didn't see anyone answer your question about lighting. Most req. 50 watts per sq. ft. more the better.

Hello placerville; This is where it get confusing. So many different opinions. I have read a lot on doing a scrog and each person has if different opinion. I switched to 12/12 9 days ago I would think its time to let them go also. But what do I know. Tucked them this morning for the last time. I am running out of room on the edges to bend and tuck anymore. I do have on spot that probably will not fill on one of the corners. I think that will be OK. Its my first attempt at a scrog and will have a much better idea what to do on the next run.

As for the lights thanks for the information. I was thinking about going out and getting a 150 HPS that puts out 16,000 lumens. Since my space is approx. 22"x22" which is a little less than 4 sf. this should be plenty. The question I have is if I go by the 50 watts per sf. It seems to me the 100w CLF lights I have now put off approx. 800 watts total and approx 9360 lumens, would it better just to keep the CFL's? I know there are many opinions on this also, just wanted to get you take on it. Thanks for stopping in and you suggestions and comments.

 

[placerville]

I let my ladies grow through the scrog as soon as I flip to 12/12. Many growers use only cfl but I think your need a certain color spectrum to cover the needed light (only guessing since I do not use cfl's).

 

[Sonzor]

I let my ladies grow through the scrog as soon as I flip to 12/12. Many growers use only cfl but I think your need a certain color spectrum to cover the needed light (only guessing since I do not use cfl's).

Hello placerville; I have heard pretty much that the HPS are the way to go. I have only been an outside grower until now and the cfls where fine for veg. Might just let it go and see what happens. We will see. Thanks for the comments.

 

[Siscokid]

Hey bro! Good going with the new grow man. Looks great and good luck

Oh, and I would try a 400-600w hps...

 

[Sonzor]

Hey bro! Good going with the new grow man. Looks great and good luck

Oh, and I would try a 400-600w hps...

Hello siscokid, nice to have you stop buy. I thought about going that big. I just think its a little overkill for my small space. My electric bill is already way over the top without any indoor grow so I have to keep it mellow. Who knows, tomorrow is the day I decide what I am going to do about lights.

Thanks for stopping in and your comments...

 

[Siscokid]

Just fyi I found that my grow room may have put 40 bucks ontop of our monthly bill, but has not moved higher since I switched to HPS, and added a blower.

Good to be here and take care.

 

[whitey78]

If you think about it even a 1000 watter, thats 10 100 watt bulbs.. Not that its cheap to run that many 100 watters all the time but if its that or not growing.........

This is how I rationalize every piece of electric equipment, thats 100 watt bulb, thats a 60 ok that isnt too bad....