Stltoed
Well-Known Member
Hello. I wanted to go through how I build and use a scrog. It's not really very hard, if you do it once you should be good to go.
Scrogging is basically the same thing as LST (Low Stress Training). Oh, and it's not called Quadlining. Quadlining is just a cute name someone on this forum came up with. If you go to your local hydro store, or join another forum and call it Quadlining they wont have any idea what you're talking about. Its LST. Both scrogging and LST work great. I believe a scrog is just easier.... set it and forget it. Try them both.
If you plan on moving your plants during your grow, a scrog may not be for you. This method is only for folks who leave their plants in the same spot they were started. This method is for most grow methods except for maybe SOG, I'm sure there are others, but I'll leave that for you to decide.
Be sure to consider your room. If you need to get to the back corner for water and your scrog will cover it, you may want to take this into consideration. Once your plants are rollin, you wont be able to move your plants or the screen
You should consider how big you want to make your scrog first thing... I usually make it as large as I can, so I'm not locked into an area that might confine the plant. My main grow area is approximately 4x6, my scrog is 4x6. I will say that 4 feet wide is just about max for me. I'm a bit over 6 feet and reaching to the very back of my net is a hardship. So, if you can't walk all the way around the frame consider how far you can reach across the net. When I'm cleaning up around my room after a grow, my scrog can get in the way. What I've done is connect it to the wall with some velcro. So all I need to do is fold it against the wall. I only need 2 legs, just out of frame sorry, in the front the velcro will handle the back.
Theres a reflector panel in the way on the left, but you probably get the idea.
I make my frames out of 1.5" PVC. You can use whatever you like but the smaller stuff can be like working with a wet noodle. I only glue the PVC together when the scrog frame is large the rest of the time I hammer the joints together and it stays together nicely. Theres a cutter at your local hardware store that looks like an overgrown tree pruner that is made to cut PVC... get it. It makes life so much easier when cutting larger diameter pipe. The main reason to use bigger pipe is because the tension on the screen can be a real problem. I like it pretty tight. Here are a couple scrog frames I made for a friend in Northern Nevada. He was doing a soil grow of 12 Northern Lights. The issue was he let the plants grow to 3 feet tall before putting them under a screen. This made setting the screen a real bitch. All the branches that were gonna bend had to be reinforced so they wouldn't split at the crotch. But it could be done. Let's talk if you want to scrog a taller plant. In the pictures with plants you can see we had just set the screen pretty ratty.
I dont get too fancy with my screen material. I look for 5 inch squares in nylon cord. They are usually 6 Inch squares, but there are other sizes. I dont want them so small that it's hard to get the branches through, but I also dont want them so big it takes weeks to get to the other side of the next square I've seen people use barrier netting, plastic lattice, all sorts of stuff. Last time I bought it I think it was $17 for 60 feet. Dont overthink it. As I said I stretch the net tight, I do this by wrapping a corner of the net over a corner of the frame and zip tieing 1 whole side, then I do the adjacent side to make an L. I then pull the screen tight and zip tie the other 2 sides. As I said my scrog is 4x6. I put a tube across the middle of the 4 foot width to keep the frame from blowing in.
This is the only plant I've grown with no scrog. It worked ok, but as you may expect the lower stuff is a little airy
In my opinion the best height for a scrog is around 12 inches above the grow media. Mine is lower right now because the height was set for cloth pots and now I'm running hydro.. I was just too lazy to move it up. I dont believe it matters all that much. It will just take a shade longer to fill for net if it's too high. I think most folks that have done this for a while have their own opinion.
Another thing to think about is ventilation. I trim my leaves as needed. I dont trim in the 12th day of flower, it's on a case by case basis. I pull leaves that are covering new tops and that's about it. I grow in RDWC (usually) so I get tons of leaves. This can be an environmental issue by blocking airflow. I will set up a large fan above and a small 6 inch fan below the screen. I do this because I've cleared all the growth below the screen. Well, maybe not all the growth... The fan leaves that get so big at the bottom of the plant will be food storage for the plant during the last couple weeks
These 2 plants were mothers, but I wanted to flower them. I added the scrog to seperate it a bit, as they were monster cropped and crazy dense. This is happening as I write this, so I can't really comment on results. But, you can see what's going on here.
Some set up 2 scrogs. One to spread out the plant above theother to hold the buds when they're. I did this on my very first grow but didnt see a benefit. I was pretty new though so maybe I missed it.
I usually set up a new screen every grow. I usually cut it up at harvest. But I've also reused old screens on occasion... theres that laziness again. You can see that in a couple pics... the ones where the screen isnt in squares anymore.
Here are some pics of scrogged plants...
The bottom line with this method is to spread your plant out and make the canopy even so each branch can get at the light. A Christmas tree style plant that hasn't been trimmed, or topped well get much better light on the center bud and taller side branches, but the stuff at the bottom gets much less and will show in your bud as larfiness. Just imagine topping the Christmas tree as a youth then giving each branch the same amount of light. You may not see 1 20 inch bud in the middle, but 30 smaller ones. each of those scrogged branches will have the best case scenario and will grow accordingly. I top once at the 5th node usually, I then set the scrog so the plant grows into the screen without effort.
Tucking branches... so you have your new scrog. It's set over your young plants and ready for action. Your plants have grown slightly past the screen level and a couple branches are ready for some screen time. Simply push the branches under the closest string in the direction you want it to grow, and keep doing that until your screen is about 75% full of horizontal branches. Next step is flower.. boom done. I will say that you shouldn't push a branch under a string if it just barely fits. Give it a few days to get a little longer so the top is free to go verticle the next day. I will also say that I kinda suck at this. I'm always trying to get that branch under before its time... this is bad. It slows down growth on that branch, but you'll also wind up with a bunch of tattered leaves if this is a normal practice. Some people weave branches through the net. It seems to me that unless you are changing directions as to where you want the branch to go, theres no need. All you really need to do with scrogging is hold the branch down... just my opinion
I once grew two plants and set them in a way that required the branches grow in the same direction. To be clear, one had the branches all going left the other all going right, the lights were in the middle. The plants did very well, but I'm not completely sure it was my super slick idea of directional scrogging. I just wanted to share that. I cut this scrog from the plant on the right... a little experiment, I dont think that's a good idea. Pics...
This is my present grow. You can see I've added a sheet of reflector film on one side and have a short reflector panel in the from. I'm trying to maximize my light. This is half of my system. I'm only growing one plant in hydro right now.
.
I'm sure I missed a bunch of really important items in this little ramble. I'm sorry... I smoke pot. Haha. It probably could have used a couple more pictures also. Never fear, I'm pretty quick with replys and have plenty more pictures should the need arise. Good night and have a pleasant t tomorrow
Scrogging is basically the same thing as LST (Low Stress Training). Oh, and it's not called Quadlining. Quadlining is just a cute name someone on this forum came up with. If you go to your local hydro store, or join another forum and call it Quadlining they wont have any idea what you're talking about. Its LST. Both scrogging and LST work great. I believe a scrog is just easier.... set it and forget it. Try them both.
If you plan on moving your plants during your grow, a scrog may not be for you. This method is only for folks who leave their plants in the same spot they were started. This method is for most grow methods except for maybe SOG, I'm sure there are others, but I'll leave that for you to decide.
Be sure to consider your room. If you need to get to the back corner for water and your scrog will cover it, you may want to take this into consideration. Once your plants are rollin, you wont be able to move your plants or the screen
You should consider how big you want to make your scrog first thing... I usually make it as large as I can, so I'm not locked into an area that might confine the plant. My main grow area is approximately 4x6, my scrog is 4x6. I will say that 4 feet wide is just about max for me. I'm a bit over 6 feet and reaching to the very back of my net is a hardship. So, if you can't walk all the way around the frame consider how far you can reach across the net. When I'm cleaning up around my room after a grow, my scrog can get in the way. What I've done is connect it to the wall with some velcro. So all I need to do is fold it against the wall. I only need 2 legs, just out of frame sorry, in the front the velcro will handle the back.
I make my frames out of 1.5" PVC. You can use whatever you like but the smaller stuff can be like working with a wet noodle. I only glue the PVC together when the scrog frame is large the rest of the time I hammer the joints together and it stays together nicely. Theres a cutter at your local hardware store that looks like an overgrown tree pruner that is made to cut PVC... get it. It makes life so much easier when cutting larger diameter pipe. The main reason to use bigger pipe is because the tension on the screen can be a real problem. I like it pretty tight. Here are a couple scrog frames I made for a friend in Northern Nevada. He was doing a soil grow of 12 Northern Lights. The issue was he let the plants grow to 3 feet tall before putting them under a screen. This made setting the screen a real bitch. All the branches that were gonna bend had to be reinforced so they wouldn't split at the crotch. But it could be done. Let's talk if you want to scrog a taller plant. In the pictures with plants you can see we had just set the screen pretty ratty.
I dont get too fancy with my screen material. I look for 5 inch squares in nylon cord. They are usually 6 Inch squares, but there are other sizes. I dont want them so small that it's hard to get the branches through, but I also dont want them so big it takes weeks to get to the other side of the next square I've seen people use barrier netting, plastic lattice, all sorts of stuff. Last time I bought it I think it was $17 for 60 feet. Dont overthink it. As I said I stretch the net tight, I do this by wrapping a corner of the net over a corner of the frame and zip tieing 1 whole side, then I do the adjacent side to make an L. I then pull the screen tight and zip tie the other 2 sides. As I said my scrog is 4x6. I put a tube across the middle of the 4 foot width to keep the frame from blowing in.
This is the only plant I've grown with no scrog. It worked ok, but as you may expect the lower stuff is a little airy
In my opinion the best height for a scrog is around 12 inches above the grow media. Mine is lower right now because the height was set for cloth pots and now I'm running hydro.. I was just too lazy to move it up. I dont believe it matters all that much. It will just take a shade longer to fill for net if it's too high. I think most folks that have done this for a while have their own opinion.
Another thing to think about is ventilation. I trim my leaves as needed. I dont trim in the 12th day of flower, it's on a case by case basis. I pull leaves that are covering new tops and that's about it. I grow in RDWC (usually) so I get tons of leaves. This can be an environmental issue by blocking airflow. I will set up a large fan above and a small 6 inch fan below the screen. I do this because I've cleared all the growth below the screen. Well, maybe not all the growth... The fan leaves that get so big at the bottom of the plant will be food storage for the plant during the last couple weeks
These 2 plants were mothers, but I wanted to flower them. I added the scrog to seperate it a bit, as they were monster cropped and crazy dense. This is happening as I write this, so I can't really comment on results. But, you can see what's going on here.
Some set up 2 scrogs. One to spread out the plant above theother to hold the buds when they're. I did this on my very first grow but didnt see a benefit. I was pretty new though so maybe I missed it.
I usually set up a new screen every grow. I usually cut it up at harvest. But I've also reused old screens on occasion... theres that laziness again. You can see that in a couple pics... the ones where the screen isnt in squares anymore.
Here are some pics of scrogged plants...
The bottom line with this method is to spread your plant out and make the canopy even so each branch can get at the light. A Christmas tree style plant that hasn't been trimmed, or topped well get much better light on the center bud and taller side branches, but the stuff at the bottom gets much less and will show in your bud as larfiness. Just imagine topping the Christmas tree as a youth then giving each branch the same amount of light. You may not see 1 20 inch bud in the middle, but 30 smaller ones. each of those scrogged branches will have the best case scenario and will grow accordingly. I top once at the 5th node usually, I then set the scrog so the plant grows into the screen without effort.
Tucking branches... so you have your new scrog. It's set over your young plants and ready for action. Your plants have grown slightly past the screen level and a couple branches are ready for some screen time. Simply push the branches under the closest string in the direction you want it to grow, and keep doing that until your screen is about 75% full of horizontal branches. Next step is flower.. boom done. I will say that you shouldn't push a branch under a string if it just barely fits. Give it a few days to get a little longer so the top is free to go verticle the next day. I will also say that I kinda suck at this. I'm always trying to get that branch under before its time... this is bad. It slows down growth on that branch, but you'll also wind up with a bunch of tattered leaves if this is a normal practice. Some people weave branches through the net. It seems to me that unless you are changing directions as to where you want the branch to go, theres no need. All you really need to do with scrogging is hold the branch down... just my opinion
I once grew two plants and set them in a way that required the branches grow in the same direction. To be clear, one had the branches all going left the other all going right, the lights were in the middle. The plants did very well, but I'm not completely sure it was my super slick idea of directional scrogging. I just wanted to share that. I cut this scrog from the plant on the right... a little experiment, I dont think that's a good idea. Pics...
This is my present grow. You can see I've added a sheet of reflector film on one side and have a short reflector panel in the from. I'm trying to maximize my light. This is half of my system. I'm only growing one plant in hydro right now.
.
I'm sure I missed a bunch of really important items in this little ramble. I'm sorry... I smoke pot. Haha. It probably could have used a couple more pictures also. Never fear, I'm pretty quick with replys and have plenty more pictures should the need arise. Good night and have a pleasant t tomorrow
and getting a Awesome yield 
