Possibly one of the most popular indoor autoflowering cannabis growing method is the Screen of Green method or simply ScrOG or scrogging. This method uses a wire mesh or screen that will keep the growth of autoflowering feminized cannabis seeds down giving you a sea of green weed yielding great amounts of marijuana for profit.
The ScrOG method controls the growth of cannabis plants so that these grow in neat rows of plants. There are many advantages of scrogging making it popular for many indoor growers. For one, you will be able to control the growth of your plants to an even sea of green; this arrangement lets indoor artificial light to reach all your buds evenly. You will also be able to manually train your plant to grow in a nice canopy of green and prevent burning. Scrogging is a type of low stress training for plants with a goal of maximizing light.
ScrOG Basic Components
- Female autoflowering cannabis plants
You must be sure that you are only keeping female autoflowering plants from feminized seeds or clone from a female plant. Screening and training your plants will have to start during the vegetative state; there is no room for mistakes and unnecessary movement that can only stress your plants once the screen of green has been set up. If you are still unsure if you have male or female plants because you used regular seeds then you may have a huge problem. Removing any male plant that you have mistakenly set up is not that easy more so, removing a plant leaves a hole in the thick garden which can affect your total yield.
Therefore you must be certain that you are only breeding female plants so make the most of this set up. Just remember, once the net is set, there is no turning back.
- Screen
The screen is set on a wooden frame and is made from crisscrossed wire or string. You can choose string, twine or hemp, plastic fencing or chicken wire or fishing line.
String is the most popular choice because this laces up quickly and all you need to do is to cut it and throw it away when you are done. Twine can be as easy as string but you could get hairs on your buds.
Using chicken wire is a good idea but buds grow into it and therefore this will cut your yield. You can cut chicken wire into smaller pieces and use it however it hard to remove compared to string. Fishing line is the worst thing to use because it is generally sharp. It could cut your plants and even injure you as well.
- Frame
This is a wooden frame preferably set with eye hooks or small nails. This is where you will tie your string or wire. You must design your frame in such a way that the height must be the ideal height that you want your plants to grow. You can make an adjustable frame so you can lift it and adjust it accordingly (seeing that different cannabis plants have different height limitations). You can also settle with frames with legs if you want a more secure frame and to avoid any accidents.
- Growing supplies
This includes your growing lamp, ventilation systems, feeding and watering systems and more.
Arranging your plants
Before you set up the string or screen on top of the plants, you must initially arrange your plants while they are still at the vegetative state with at least a foot of space between plants. This amount of space will give your plants a lot of room to brush out as you train them to remain short and bushy plants.
As your autoflowering plants grow
In the ScrOG method you are keeping your plants in the vegetative state until they have filled the screen area with green. At some point you will see parts of the plant poking through the wire or screen. All you have to do is to gently place them back into the screen. You can also tie the part down using wire. Each time that this happens, correct your plant by gently bending it back inside the screen. In time, you will be able to see buds growing up in even rows. You will see that because you have decided to maintain your plants in a screen of green, it is now easier for your buds to get enough light.
Your plants in the flowering stage
Autoflowering plants will continue to bloom and will be ready for harvest in just a matter of 8 days. Continue training your plants using low stress training methods like gently moving and bending until these enter the flowering stage. Once you see buds opening then your plants are already in the flowering stage and at this time it’s okay to let the flowers peek through. Continue training your blooms and let the ones located at the edge of the screen to grow taller than the ones directly underneath the light. The ones under the light must be kept short at all times. Why do this? This arrangement maximizes the amount of light in your grow area. Pretty soon, you will have a lovely blanket of buds growing above the screen.
Some Important things to Remember
There might be some point in your scrogging that you will bend and break a branch in an effort to keep it behind the screen. Expert growers don’t worry about this at all and just immediately repair the break in an effort to mend the branch. You can either use duct tape to quickly repair this or you can just use the broken branch as a cutting or clone. Just be sure to be careful next time.
Tucking is used to keep the branches from stretching. Remember to always do this slowly and cautiously. If you must use zip ties or small wires then do so. Do this one square of the screen at a time until you have placed the branch where it has to be underneath your screen.
