SCROG versus tomato cages for training huge trees indoors

[DooberDanko]

Hey everybody,

I've got a question here for the monster growers. This question is aimed at fellow members who scoff at the notion of a ScrOG possessing any more than 4 plants per screen...

So... I have a vision of a 4,000 watt room. It will have 8 or 9 plants total. (15 gallon soil pots)

The question is, should it have 4 ScrOGs (each measuring 4.5x4.5 FT with 2 plants), or should it have 9 independent tomato-caged TREES (with 3 rows of 3).

And any advice on how to tie down, train, manipulate, etc. these plants would be greatly appreciated.

I feel like SCROG would be even more labor intensive, while also restricting room area. It seems like it would be nice to be able to maneuver through rows of tomato-caged plants, and to have the ability to move these plants (as opposed to having a stationary SCROG).

Seriously, it would be awesome to hear from some veterans here. Anyone experienced with growing large plants indoors.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Dr Fish]

I pretty much scoff at the idea of more than one plant per screen... I've settled on one 315 watt light, one waterfarm, and one plant per screen... What kind of yield are you looking for from 4000 watts? Two waterfarms with 30" x 24" screens, yielded a total of 26 oz using two SS 315 watt lec lights... The grow was done with less than 700 watts... Scrog grows are faster, start to finish, and yield more in the same amount of time than trees would..

 

[Honz]

I have a 4000 W room with a 3' x 6' scrog wih with six plants under it. Right next to the scrog I have six plants in 5 gallon pots. I'm into my second week of flower and the room is very crowded! On my next grow I'm going to lift the screen off the floor and put it on a table to make watering easier.
Two lights are over the screen the other two lights are over the other six plants. Of course they're adjustable because I have to keep them at different heights. I got two week clones and then vegged for four weeks maybe five before flipping. All 12 are true OG and they're huge.

I am doing an experiment to see which group of six produces the bigger yield.

My room is about 8.5 x 8.5. So getting around to scrog is very difficult. During the next screen when they're on a table that will make watering much easier.

 

[DooberDanko]

Thanks, Doc.

Your numbers are awesome. I'm personally hoping for a # per light. Must've been a very long veg for that yield?

I have a question on ScrOG training for you... Would you advise LST first, and then dropping a screen on top later on? Or start the plants under a screen?

 

[Honz]

I added a second screen about 10 inches higher than the first to help support colas.

 

[Weaselcracker]

- I'm flowering in a (roughly) 8' x8' room. I have up to 8 individual screens going which are 24"x19". 4 screens can be joined together to make one, but I haven't done this. As you can see, my space is functional, but maxed out and the far corners would be too hard to reach without being able to move at least one plant/screen. I have grown larger plants in there but because of space constraints it's easier to grow them 4 to a screen and have the mobility.
If you have space to access the plants from all four sides you could grow them very large in a scrog.

 

[DooberDanko]

Nice setup Honz!

I'm gonna throw some questions at you, if you don't mind. I'm hoping to start a first grow and could use all possible advice first...

1st: if you had to speculate, how much longer would veg be if you had started from seed, rather than your clones?

2nd: what did your veg training look like for both groups? Topping + LST?

3rd: did you veg the 12 plants under 4000 watts as well?

 

[Honz]

Hey DooberDanko, thanks. This is my first grow also. Both my wife and have medical cards that allow us to grow up to 12 plants each. With that said, my plan is to always have 12 plants in flower and 12 in veg. My veg room is 3x8.5 and flower room is 8.5x8.5. Veg room has two 8-lamp T5HO fixtures. Flower has 4x1000w HPS.

This will probably answer all your questions:
I was told that my clones were 2wks old which I believe was correct just based on their size and the clones I have since taken.. I vegged for a month, transplanting from rock wool cube to Dixie cup then to 1gal then to 5gal during that month. I moved them to the flower room after a month of 24/7 then went 18/6 for a few days, then gas lantern for a few days. I put 6 plants under a simple 3' x 6' scrog positioned just 4" above the pots. I carefully bent and pulled the entire plant under the screen then arranged the stalk and branches to cover as much area as possible. They stayed on the gas lantern schedule for two weeks during which they really filled out the screen. That's when I flipped. So as I type this I realize that they were in veg for something like 8 weeks. No wonder they are so friggin big. I used zip-ties loosely tying the stall and branches to the screen. Every few days I had to pull back and tuck branches further out. The plants always rebounded with a few hours.

The other 6 plants were each super cropped in about 6 places. This helped to open things up so light could penetrate deeper. I never topped.

My screen frame was made with 2x3 and srew-eyes positioned on 3" centers. I used thin nylon string to thread the eyes, first left to right, then weaved the up/down direction like a loom. That way, the screen has more resistance to the plant pushing up the string.

Next time the scrog is going on a plywood table that I will build. This will bring them level with the other six and give me storage space underneath. Definitely get a wand for watering. I rigged up a 5gal bucket with a 2" drain in the bottom that is reduced down to a simple 3/4" garden hose valve that my hose connects to. Hang the bucket high on the wall and you have plenty of pressure (gravity fed).

I can barely get around the perimeter of the room because the plants are so big. The 6 pots not in the scrog are now over 4' tall. The bottom of the air cooled lights are at 51/2'. I suspect I'm going to have to raise them again.

Good luck with your grow!

 

[Honz]

I think that popping seeds into seedlings then teens would take you to to three weeks.

 

[Dr Fish]

I started with 1000 watt lights, then downsized to 600 hps... I've found the waterfarm is a perfect fit for the ss315 lec.. If i had used a 32"x 32" screen, another week in veg would have filled a screen that size...

The difference in stretch between the plants is what you get when you run two different strains together.. The screen was way to low for the Blue Mystic..... Used Teflon tape to tie it up...

 

[Honz]

Hey Dr Fish that one hellofa bunch of colas in that small space. I sure hope my harvest looks that abundant. Here is a pic immediately after I put six under the scrog.

Danko, here you can see how I trained each plant to spread out beneath the screen.

Here it is today as I enter the 3rd week of flower.