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Scrogging is the way to get more out of your weed plants with little effort. You use a rack or ScrOG net to force the branches of your weed plant through. This spreads the branches out over a larger surface area, which means that your plant catches more light. And more light means a bigger plant. How to scrog at home and what to look out for, you can read in this article.
ScrOG - Screen of Green Growing Method
By forcing the branches of your weed plant through such a rack or net, you increase the surface area. You could say that an even green surface is created. This is where the technique gets its name from. With Screen of Green growing you increase the surface area of your weed plant that catches the light. Therefore you can use the technique both indoors and outdoors.
If you use a ScrOG net indoors you can make the most of the limited space you probably have. In the MiniGrow Box for example, you can fill the whole surface as quickly as possible. In this way your plant will not only grow faster, but will ultimately be bigger too.
When to Scrog?
The ScrOG growing technique is a bit similar to LST (Low Stress Training). Actually, it is even a form of Low Stress Training, since by pushing the plant in a certain direction, you determine the direction of growth. With LST you also make the plant grow horizontally in order to get more light on the side shoots/nodes. This causes all the hormones to go from the tip of the branch to the node, so that a new branch grows out of the node more quickly. This results in more buds. Because scrogging causes little stress to the plant, almost every kind of weed is suitable for it. From fast-flowering auto flowers to tree sativas.
The best time to start with ScrOG is when your plant is about 20 centimeters tall. At the end of the growing phase. So that is the difference with LST, where you try to spread out the first flexible branches with binding wire. You use LST much earlier than scrogging. You can scrog until you have about 70% of your scrog net filled. Then you can move on to the flowering phase schedule (12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness). The subsequent growth spurt will fill the rest of the net.
The result of scrogging: can you count the buds?
Making a ScrOG Net Yourself
With a little skill, you can easily and cheaply make a ScrOG net yourself. The idea is that you make a square of aluminum, PVC or wood. Then you stretch rope or fishing line to create a mesh-like structure.
Whatever material you use, make sure the square is sturdy. The last thing you want is for your homemade ScrOG net to collapse and destroy your harvest. The trick lies in securing / tying the rope. You can use screws, nails or staples on each side. Place these every 5 cm and tie the rope or wire around them. Start at an angle and, just as you can thread laces through trainers, you can also wrap the wire around two nails or screws at a time. When you have completed the length, start with the width. This creates a net with meshes of 5 x 5 cm. This size is highly recommended because at the end of the growth phase you can easily guide your plant along and through the net.
You can put the screen on legs, but it is even better if your ScrOG rack is adjustable in height. Then the screen can grow with the plant and you can continue to guide your weed plant through the rack.
Starting with ScrOG
Finished your ScrOG net? Then you can get started. Hang your ScrOG net about 20 centimeters over the pot. Only when the plants have reached this height can you start guiding the branches. Every branch or top that starts to stick through the net, you force it back through the net and let it grow horizontally; under the net. Because the branches naturally want to grow towards the light, each new branch (node) will also want to grow through the net. The moment this happens, you pass those branches under the net as well. This process is repeated until the whole net or rack is full. So scrogging is basically pushing the branches back under the net so that the weed plant grows horizontally. With fast-growing weed plants you can scrog 2 to 3 times a day!
Is Topping Necessary?
Topping, or cutting off the youngest branch on top, is not necessary for scrogging. By topping off your weed you cause it more stress, but you do create more branches. With scrogging you do more or less the same. Because more energy goes to the nodes and they grow into new branches faster, you get more buds.
You can then send these in different directions through the ScrOG net or ScrOG rack. Topping is often done in combination with LST, so you can also combine topping and scrogging. Note that not every type of weed plant is suited to dealing with a lot of stress. But if all other circumstances are in order, it is no problem to perform topping. You just need be careful when the plant already lacks nutrition and gets little water. Then it is not wise to give her extra stress.
It also depends a bit on the purpose of scrogging. If you have limited height in your grow space then a combination of topping and scrogging is ideal. Then you make the plant as wide as possible. Also if you want to prevent the bigger weed plant from peeking over the fence into the garden of the neighbours, it is advisable to combine topping and scrogging.
Is Thieving / Lollipopping Necessary?
Thieving is the cutting away of leaves on the bottom of the weed plant that receive no or little light, so that the energy of the plant can go to the parts where it can really make a difference. Perhaps you can imagine it. You have been scrogging for a while, and the Screen of Green is so even and dense that it casts a dark shadow on everything under the net or rack. Because there is no more light coming in, especially with indoor growing everything under the net or rack is cut away. You can do this perfectly well with garden weed too, although the sun has more light intensity than most growing lamps. Moreover, a weed plant often has more breathing space outside.
By thieving your plant, it looks a bit like a lollipop. That is why the cutting away of leaves that are always in the shade is also called lollipopping. Thieving is not necessary if your plant gets enough light at the bottom. For example because your grow space has reflecting walls.
Thieving is the cutting away of leaves that do not receive light.
Scrogging with multiple plants
Often several plants are put together to fill a growing space completely. So it is quite possible to set up a number of plants under the same large ScrOG net. Our advice is to even out the space between the pots and the walls. Seen from above, it is just like a gas cooker. If you place one plant in the middle of the growing space, then for four plants place the pots approximately as in the picture below. Then you make the best use of the available surface area.
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3D Scrogging
Some weed plants can become huge, especially outdoors. 3-4 meters is achievable with sativa-dominant plants, but only when the growing conditions are very good. The disadvantage of these weed trees is that it is difficult to reach all the places for harvesting. Sometimes you see a sort of ScrOG net being used that is wrapped all the way round the tree. This is called a trellis. The idea of a trellis is exactly the same as that of a flat ScrOG net. It increases the surface area that absorbs light. This is why a trellis is also jokingly called a 3D scrog.
Trellis
We hope this article will get you started in making a ScrOG net and that the Screen of Green method is understood. You can read about some of the techniques mentioned and other advanced growing techniques in this article: How do I Maximize my Cannabis Harvest?