SCROG question, another one!

[Jon]

I'm growing Humboldt Pineapple Upside Down Cake this grow. I know that it's tall and I know it stretches a lot for about 14-18 days. I'm going to try a scrog with these plants in a 5x5 this time. I am pretty confident in terms of placement of the scrog screen and how to train the plants to fill it out. So I'm going to try and keep the plants in veg as long as possible, or as long as it takes to fill out the scrog screen, then once it's filled, flip them to flower. All that is pretty standard stuff. But now it seems to make sense to me to put a second scrog screen above the first, maybe a foot or 18" higher than the first, and let the stretch take the canopy to this second screen. In two weeks of stretch with these plants I believe that would make it fairly easy to fill the second scrog screen to a nice, full, flat canopy by the time they start showing buds and then just let them go.

Is this a commonly used scrog technique and is it a good idea? I can't think of a downside. But I'm relatively new to growing. Any hlep?

 

[JamesBong502]

I'm growing Humboldt Pineapple Upside Down Cake this grow. I know that it's tall and I know it stretches a lot for about 14-18 days. I'm going to try a scrog with these plants in a 5x5 this time. I am pretty confident in terms of placement of the scrog screen and how to train the plants to fill it out. So I'm going to try and keep the plants in veg as long as possible, or as long as it takes to fill out the scrog screen, then once it's filled, flip them to flower. All that is pretty standard stuff. But now it seems to make sense to me to put a second scrog screen above the first, maybe a foot or 18" higher than the first, and let the stretch take the canopy to this second screen. In two weeks of stretch with these plants I believe that would make it fairly easy to fill the second scrog screen to a nice, full, flat canopy by the time they start showing buds and then just let them go.

Is this a commonly used scrog technique and is it a good idea? I can't think of a downside. But I'm relatively new to growing. Any hlep?

Roll with it, you can’t go wrong

 

[Jon]

Roll with it, you can’t go wrong

Thanks. I just observe in all these grow videos that people fill their scrog screen and then just let the plants go. That's all well and good, but to me it seems it sort of defeats the whole scrog idea. Mostly because every single plant, unless you're lucky enough to be growing identical clones (I'm not, lol), is going to stretch differently. So people end up with some buds getting more light than others, obviously defeating (to some extent) the scrog idea. I have seen that many people control the stretch by tying the branches down to the originial scrog sreen THROUGH the stretch, and that works too. BUT - then you kind of have to leave space for that in the scrog screen to begin with, right? Otherwise you end with an out of control screen. Forget that. I want a perfect level full canopy from the moment they start showing buds and the stretch is presumably over or mostly over. From there if there was more stretch at different rates it's a simple matter to simply tie the branches down a little bit to the second scrog screen.

 

[MrG1979]

I'm growing Humboldt Pineapple Upside Down Cake this grow. I know that it's tall and I know it stretches a lot for about 14-18 days. I'm going to try a scrog with these plants in a 5x5 this time. I am pretty confident in terms of placement of the scrog screen and how to train the plants to fill it out. So I'm going to try and keep the plants in veg as long as possible, or as long as it takes to fill out the scrog screen, then once it's filled, flip them to flower. All that is pretty standard stuff. But now it seems to make sense to me to put a second scrog screen above the first, maybe a foot or 18" higher than the first, and let the stretch take the canopy to this second screen. In two weeks of stretch with these plants I believe that would make it fairly easy to fill the second scrog screen to a nice, full, flat canopy by the time they start showing buds and then just let them go.

Is this a commonly used scrog technique and is it a good idea? I can't think of a downside. But I'm relatively new to growing. Any hlep?

I used the technique you described, you can take a look in my current journal how much streching from the first screen. Some people flip when the screen in 75% full then continue tying down during the stretch. I decided to take advantage of the overhead space and let them grow taller. Im also doing two strains so its not a level canopy but its a full one.

 

[Jon]

I used the technique you described, you can take a look in my current journal how much streching from the first screen. Some people flip when the screen in 75% full then continue tying down during the stretch. I decided to take advantage of the overhead space and let them grow taller. Im also doing two strains so its not a level canopy but its a full one.

I just checked out your grow. SWEET. It's funny. I have the exact same 2x4 frame for my 5x5. I have the posts sized so that the screen is 2'4" off the floor or about 18" above the base of the plants. I have the exact same black stretchy screen as well for a 5x5. It appears you kept the height of the second screen a bit static, ie, you started with it on top of the 2x4 and moved it up, yes? Your grow looks amazing. I just tried Jilly Bean for the first time. Nice strain. Someone told me it was a favorite of Phil Lesh's wife. (old Deadhead here) Yep, looks like it has worked out real well for you. I didn't see any shots of your defoliation job under the screen. Do you defoliate up to just the lower screen and then just the leaves that block bud sites from there?

 

[MrG1979]

Yes thats right I just moved the second screen as needed. I cleaned up to the screen for the most part. Id love to see what you got growing on.

 

[Jon]

Yes thats right I just moved the second screen as needed. I cleaned up to the screen for the most part. Id love to see what you got growing on.

I'm starting up in about seven or eight days. 2 5x5s. One with blurples (by necessity) which is for autos, this time 3 Cinderella Jack and 1 Gorilla Zkittlez, in 3 gallon pots, and the other with a serious LED (can't name here) for photoperiod plants, and that'll be Humboldt Pineapple Upside Down Cake and Humboldt Jelly Rancher, in 5 gallon pots. Everything from seed, and all in soil. I'm using 50/50 mix of Fox Farms Ocean Forest and Fox Farms Happy Frog, then amending that mix so that each five gallon pot has four gallons of soil to one gallon of chunky rinsed perlite, ie, 20% perlite. All will begin in Dixie cups (even the autos, I don't buy the transplant shock thing, and even if true I think the root development more than offsets it) and when I transplant I will add Great White to help root development. Then it's the Fox Farms nutrient trio of Grow Big through Tiger Bloom. I will add blackstrap molasses to every watering beginning when I see flowers forming, including all the way through flush to the end. I have CalMag Plus available as needed and likely will use intermittently. The tent with the high end LED is the one I will scrog with my frame and setup just like yours. I'm gonna post them both as a single grow journal when I start up, and since I'm just moving to a new place I was thinking about beginning at the VERY beginning with photos. (Everything is in boxes right now for the move) If I did that, I could show people my set up step by step. Now this will only be my second grow and I'm not sure such a journal would have value for the experienced grower, but it would be a real good setup guide of sorts for the beginner. I got lucky in that I have the ear of a professional Oregon grower who coached me with my setup and systems and such. It's real solid with a couple (I think) pretty cool tweaks. My one hesitation in doing it that way is that there are so many REALLY good and experienced growers on here that I don't want to come off like anything other than what I am - a dude on his second grow. Lol. Do you think a journal from start (unboxing of everything, tent setup from scratch, hanging of fans, filters, lights, ducting, etc) to finish (HARVEST) with photos would have value and not come off like I think I know something (I really don't)?

 

[Jon]

I'm starting up in about seven or eight days. 2 5x5s. One with blurples (by necessity) which is for autos, this time 3 Cinderella Jack and 1 Gorilla Zkittlez, in 3 gallon pots, and the other with a serious LED (can't name here) for photoperiod plants, and that'll be Humboldt Pineapple Upside Down Cake and Humboldt Jelly Rancher, in 5 gallon pots. Everything from seed, and all in soil. I'm using 50/50 mix of Fox Farms Ocean Forest and Fox Farms Happy Frog, then amending that mix so that each five gallon pot has four gallons of soil to one gallon of chunky rinsed perlite, ie, 20% perlite. All will begin in Dixie cups (even the autos, I don't buy the transplant shock thing, and even if true I think the root development more than offsets it) and when I transplant I will add Great White to help root development. Then it's the Fox Farms nutrient trio of Grow Big through Tiger Bloom. I will add blackstrap molasses to every watering beginning when I see flowers forming, including all the way through flush to the end. I have CalMag Plus available as needed and likely will use intermittently. The tent with the high end LED is the one I will scrog with my frame and setup just like yours. I'm gonna post them both as a single grow journal when I start up, and since I'm just moving to a new place I was thinking about beginning at the VERY beginning with photos. (Everything is in boxes right now for the move) If I did that, I could show people my set up step by step. Now this will only be my second grow and I'm not sure such a journal would have value for the experienced grower, but it would be a real good setup guide of sorts for the beginner. I got lucky in that I have the ear of a professional Oregon grower who coached me with my setup and systems and such. It's real solid with a couple (I think) pretty cool tweaks. My one hesitation in doing it that way is that there are so many REALLY good and experienced growers on here that I don't want to come off like anything other than what I am - a dude on his second grow. Lol. Do you think a journal from start (unboxing of everything, tent setup from scratch, hanging of fans, filters, lights, ducting, etc) to finish (HARVEST) with photos would have value and not come off like I think I know something (I really don't)?

Yes thats right I just moved the second screen as needed. I cleaned up to the screen for the most part. Id love to see what you got growing on.

I got it. I'll do the journal that way, and I'll call it A Journal BY a beginner FOR beginners! Lmao.

 

[Jon]

So I grow in a place where the roomies don't like the smell when it's obvious. No problem for the grow, I have plenty of filtration/ventilation. BUT, when it comes to drying, I have zero options. I have to dry the weed in the tent itself, because hanging buds to dry anywhere else (my closet, the garage, etc.) creates too much odor for others. So for my first grow, all I did when I harvested was, I slid the stretchy black upper screen (now free) about two or three feet up and taped it at the corners to the tent posts real well to keep it in place. Then I removed the wooden frame scrog screen to free up the space underneath. I kept the pots of soil in the tent while I dried because I was told the drying soil will absorb moisture and help the dry, which indeed it did. Then I hung my buds to dry from the stretchy black screen, which gave me unlimited options in terms of placement (in case I wanted to keep each plant together for comparison purposes, for example). It was easy. And I found that drying inside the tent with the exhaust fan/filter going and fans circulating the air inside (but not directly on the buds), along with keeping the pots in the tent, worked REALLY well. I was able to keep the temperature in the low 60s (I have AC at my disposal, I will show how I do that in the grow journal - great cheap man's way to have AC in the tent, which is useful for many reasons I found). And with AC it kept the humidity nice and low.

 

[Jon]

So I grow in a place where the roomies don't like the smell when it's obvious. No problem for the grow, I have plenty of filtration/ventilation. BUT, when it comes to drying, I have zero options. I have to dry the weed in the tent itself, because hanging buds to dry anywhere else (my closet, the garage, etc.) creates too much odor for others. So for my first grow, all I did when I harvested was, I slid the stretchy black upper screen (now free) about two or three feet up and taped it at the corners to the tent posts real well to keep it in place. Then I removed the wooden frame scrog screen to free up the space underneath. I kept the pots of soil in the tent while I dried because I was told the drying soil will absorb moisture and help the dry, which indeed it did. Then I hung my buds to dry from the stretchy black screen, which gave me unlimited options in terms of placement (in case I wanted to keep each plant together for comparison purposes, for example). It was easy. And I found that drying inside the tent with the exhaust fan/filter going and fans circulating the air inside (but not directly on the buds), along with keeping the pots in the tent, worked REALLY well. I was able to keep the temperature in the low 60s (I have AC at my disposal, I will show how I do that in the grow journal - great cheap man's way to have AC in the tent, which is useful for many reasons I found). And with AC it kept the humidity nice and low.

The only thing is that it forces me to harvest every bud on every plant at the same time, which might not necessarily be the preference. But it is what it is. I'm thinking about making a drying closet so that this limitation ceases to exist.

 

[Jon]

The only thing is that it forces me to harvest every bud on every plant at the same time, which might not necessarily be the preference. But it is what it is. I'm thinking about making a drying closet so that this limitation ceases to exist.

The picture below shows the setup from the first grow when I hung the buds as described above and before I removed the lower frame that's exactly like yours.

 

[MrG1979]

I think your hournal would have value for sure. Your plan sounds spot on to me and I would love to follow along. Hey, im on my second indoor grow also and had the same thoughts as you but I figured why not I could win a light.

 

[Jon]

I think your hournal would have value for sure. Your plan sounds spot on to me and I would love to follow along. Hey, im on my second indoor grow also and had the same thoughts as you but I figured why not I could win a light.

Win a light? Cool. I'm in. I'll link you when I start. Thanks.

 

[MrG1979]

Its only for people using mars hydro.

 

[MrG1979]

Keep your eye out in the contest section though. You can enter in plant of the month etc.

 

[Jon]

Keep your eye out in the contest section though. You can enter in plant of the month etc.

Gotcha. I guess they're the only light sponsor here?

 

[MrG1979]

Ohhh gosh no... 420mag has lots of sponsors just go to main menu and check out the sponsors page.

 

[Jon]

Yes thats right I just moved the second screen as needed. I cleaned up to the screen for the most part. Id love to see what you got growing on.

Hey man I'm sorry I don't know how to tag you. I started my grow journal. It's in the Grow Journals, and it's called Jon's Second Grow - First Grow Journal - Autoflower/Photoperiod Grow. If you're interested I'd love to have to check it out. Thanks.

 

[SoGnotSOG321]

@Jon use the @ symbol in front of the persons name, it will bring up a list that starts off alphabetically you just click that name or type it out normally. If you look around other threads you will see tags on a person with awards an such. I recommend you read some of those which have journal of the month to see the type of reading/writing style it would take to match up with that standard if that's what you're aiming for. GG

 

[Jon]

@Jon use the @ symbol in front of the persons name, it will bring up a list that starts off alphabetically you just click that name or type it out normally. If you look around other threads you will see tags on a person with awards an such. I recommend you read some of those which have journal of the month to see the type of reading/writing style it would take to match up with that standard if that's what you're aiming for. GG

Thanks. Some other folks hipped me to it to, I appreciate it. I'm not trying to win any awards or grow journal recognition. I'm only on my second grow ever. I just do what I do and if anyone wants to check out my journal then they are welcome to have at it. But I'm not afraid to show everyone all my mistakes as I make them in real time, so I guess I have that going for me. Lol.