Howdy One and All,
First off thx for making me feel so welcome from the git go. I can't tell you what it's meant to me. Gardening is wonderful, but it can be lonely also. This community is a rare treat, for which I'm most grateful.
I've sought out some advice and was told to start a new thread. When I tried it said my "BB code" was wrong, or off, or something I don't know how to fix. So I'll start here and make the best of it.
My background is in farming and gardening, but now I'm back in the city, so time to adapt and overcome. I've adapted my experience to the city by doing what I call Edible Landscaping. One of my fortes is espalier, or training (usually) fruit trees into different shapes, often fences. My SCRoG idea is a hybrid of this with an eye towards greater efficiency in the use of: light, electricity and CO2.
Basically, this would be a VSCRoG, flat up against a wall w/reflective material on the wall. The bush would only be 2-3" from the wall to maximixe the available light. Beneath and sort of around would be a skirt to retain CO2 right near the plant.
My great-Aunt taught me a training technique which my family uses for training tomatoes, zucchini cucumbers and the like. For the main stem tie a fat loop of twine around the base of the plant and do a wrap (or turn) up between each node. As the plant grows, add a turn of the twine. For side branches: tie to the twine on the main stem (not the stem itself) approximately where the branch juts out and proceed wrapping out to the end and tie to something stout. This firm, but gentle, training technique will produce a plant which is 2-dimensional/flat against the wall.
Advantages: (theoretically)
All SCRoG advantages but less stressful to the plant.
Fewer fans necessary as each branch is supported.
Plant energy focused on bud formation, not strong branches.
Skirt would keep expensive CO2 where it's needed, not pooling on the floor.
I drew a crude drawing on MSPaint, but I can't seem to attach it w/o an URL. I'm sure URL's a nice guy and all, but we haven't been introduced. I'll keep trying and 'til then hope my clumsy prose is enough to give you the gist.
Any and all comments would be muchly appreciated. Is this a viable technique or just plain dumb?