SCROG during flowering is never a white or black thing. You never want much stress on the plant during flowering because any stalling in growth can affect your yield immensely.
SCROG involves placing a net over the plant so the new shoots grow through it. As the stems push through the net, you weave them back— bending them horizontally for greater exposure to light.
New growth will spring from the many nodes along the bent stems and shoot upwards. Weaving the new shoots to form the canopy ensures even canopy and better light access by the plant.
Can You Scrog During Flowering?
You can SCROG during flowering because the plant continues to grow for up to 3 weeks into flowering. Scrogging during flowering helps to encourage horizontal growth, improve light exposure to bud sites, and increase yield.
The first three weeks will see the plant almost double its size. It’s called the stretch— when the light schedules have changed, but the plant continues to grow.
A SCROG done well during the first weeks of flowering can give you a massive yield.
As the stretch forces the shoots to grow upwards, weaving them below the screen exposes more bud sites to the light, thus more buds.
But a SCROG during flowering doesn’t lack in risks. Most branches will be stiff and can snap when you force them to bend to form a screen during this time.
To avoid such accidents, deal only bend the new growth— shoots that are still pliable and can bend without the risk of snapping.
SCROG can continue until the plant stops growing. Once you cast the SCROG net, weave the new shoots until the plant can’t develop new ones anymore.
Scrogging is very effective when you’re using CFLs that don’t penetrate the foliage well. Creating the screen improves the exposure of the small bud sites to light.
As such, once you decide to SCROG during veg, you shouldn’t stop until the growth stops. The goal is to enable all worthy bud sites to access light.
SCROG works best when all your lights are above the plants because the light doesn’t have to be intense to reach all the growth points.
How to Improve Air Circulation During SCROG
The SROG technique aims at creating an even canopy and increasing light exposure.
Since it involves pulling the taller shoots down and pulling the shorter shoots up to form a thickly woven solar panel of a canopy, it can interfere with air circulation.
Without air circulation, you risk losing your plants to bugs that now have a thick, dark layer to hide.
Common plant fungi, like white mildew and bud rot, also thrive in a grow room where air doesn’t circulate freely.
During SCROG, increase air circulation in the plant by cutting the growth beneath the canopy. Even when you think they have bud sites, they will not amount to much because the light can’t penetrate the canopy.
If the shoot can’t be pulled up to join the canopy, it should be cut.
Does Scrog Increase Yield in Cannabis?
The SCROG technique improves yield massively when done right. When the plant’s canopy is even, more bud sites can access the light, and thus more buds are produced. In addition, SCROG helps the plant produce more buds of uniform size as opposed to a few big colas and many tiny buds.
SCROG encourages horizontal growth and helps in controlling the vertical height of the plant. Thus, no taller branches will cast a shadow on the low-lying bud sites.
The technique also limits the plant’s resources to fuel only the worthy bud sites. Anything that lies below the canopy is chopped, saving the plant’s energy and maximizing buds’ growth.
When Should I Start Scrog Method?
You can start the SCROG method as soon as your plant has grown between 0.65ft – 2ft above the growing pot. The plant’s strain will determine how fast you begin. Indica strains are shorter, and so you start when they’re a little under 1ft, while for Sativa, begin SCROG when the plant is little under 2ft.
The height is excellent with SCROG since it’s tall enough to allow space beneath the net for the foliage to form a canopy and short enough not to risk light burn.
Distance between the canopy and the light matters every day, but with SCROG, you need to take extra care because the canopy is uniform.
If light burn occurs, all your buds will be affected because they lie at the same distance between the light. Place the SCROG net as high as you’d like. Then tuck the growing shoots into ‘holes’ further from the plant’s base.
Most people keep the net at a specific height and never change it, while others make the screen adjustable.
Keeping the screen adjustable can be helpful when the foliage grows faster or when you intend to vegetate the plant for long.
Set the screen at a favorable height. Then begin tucking the shoots as soon as they reach the SCROG net.
How Tall Should The Plants Be Before Scrog?
The height to keep before you begin the SCROG is highly dependent on the strain you’re growing. Some strains grow taller than others. For indica strains, begin SCROG when the plant has grown 20cms above the grow pot. For Sativa strains, 45 cms is fine, while for Haze, begin at 60cms.
Your plant will be ready for SCROG once it has grown a few centimeters above the grow pot.
To be safe, keep the height at 6o cms, but different strains will require different heights before SCROG. For indica varieties, begin at 20 cms because they grow shorter, while for Sativa varieties, you can wait till the plants are 45 cms.
What Can I Use For A Scrog?
When it comes to SCROG, most people use chicken wire. But it isn’t the best because you will have to cut the buds to release the twine come harvest.
Using string is better because you can lace it up on the mount, then cut the strings when you harvest.
Other materials used include plastic fences, hemp twines, and fishing line.
If you decide to use a fishing line, make sure the width is a little fat. The 12 lb. is a little sharp and might hurt the branches when they heavily lean on it.
I find strings the best to use because they afford you flexibility come harvesting and offer gentle support to the buds without hurting the branches leaning into them.
How Do You Harvest Scrog?
Harvesting SCROG shouldn’t be a problem because the buds will grow on top of the screen, and you can cut them individually. But it depends on what you use to make the screen. If you use strings, you can cut them and remove the screen so that you get a better reach for the cut.
Removing the screen completely allows you to cut the buds at the main branches or even the whole plant. This makes it easier to decide the length you need for hang drying.
If you use stiff materials for the screen, like chicken wire, you can only harvest by cutting the buds atop the screen.
In summary, SCROG is one of the most used low-stress techniques to increase yield. SCROG can be done during flowering in the first three weeks as the plant still grows.
