by Greg Green
Screen of green (ScrOG)
This is like a SOG (Sea of Green) grow except fewer plants are used in conjunction with a screen to fill the grow area out with heavy top colas, hence its name – ScrOG (Screen of Green).
This screen is simply a large wire mesh put between your light and the plants. Again clones from a female plant are used like in the SOG method, but we allow at least 1 square foot per flowering plant in the ScrOG method.
The plants are not flowered until as such time as they have covered the entire mesh with green. As the plants grow up through the wire mesh they are trained and worked around the netting to form a very even canopy. The top colas and side branches are all trained under the screen.
There are many variations of the above two methods. They all still contain the same principles. SOG and ScrOG’s were originally set-up to get the most out of poor quality fluorescent lights. Today’s growers, since HID’s came along, using a 600 watt HID bulb have literally taken these set-ups to a new level.
The veteran fluorescent user would line the roof of the shelf or the box with fluorescent tubes to try and get the most out of their grow with this method. Now with the HID lights they can really push their buds to the limit. Some people even grow top colas that are the size of soda bottles or large corncobs!
RealHigh is a ScrOG lover and has been growing ScrOG style for some years. He has added a bit to the ScrOG method through his experience with the process. This should help you understand more about the ScrOG method and what people have learned with this new technique.
This is like a SOG (Sea of Green) grow, but a screen is used to train the plant to grow horizontally creating a canopy of buds beneath the light. The screen is simply 2” chicken wire, or 2” nylon poultry fencing, or one can use hooks and 20 lb. fishing line to make their net.
The screen is at a set height above the plant medium. This height varies from 8” to 24” depending on the size light used to grow with. The light should be hung by chains and adjustable so that one can raise it if needed.
Clones are used again like in SOG style, because we do not want a hole in the canopy were a male was removed. This is why we use female clones for SOG and ScrOG grows. It does not take as many plants for ScrOG grow as compared to SOG. One should allow at least 1 square foot per flowering plant in a ScrOG grow.
This method also takes anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks longer per grow because we will be in a vegetative stage longer than a SOG grow. The plants are trained to grow horizontally under the screen until they are 2 weeks into the flowering cycle. At this point you let the tops grow vertically through the screen. One should always train the main growing tops to the outside of the screen. They always grow the tallest, and we want the tallest to be on the perimeter of the screen. As the tops grow vertically, push the large fan leaves down under the screen, allowing the light to get to all the developing bud sites. If leaf growth is excessive, one should first cut the finger in half making a shorter leaf and allowing light to get to the bud site. Leaving half the leaf on the plant still allows it to make energy for the plant to grow. Taking a whole fan leaf away in one go can stunt growth.
In a week take off the rest of it. Some do not remove leaf at all, but I do it to help with air movement, reduce chance of mould or fungus, and to allow light to penetrate the bud sites. Just remember to remove a little at a time if you do remove leaf.
At this point flowers are forming and growing vertically creating a carpet of bud above the screen. Now we go below the screen and remove all the lateral branches and stray bud sites. The canopy has thickened up enough now that light is blocked from reaching this lower growth. It is only sucking away your plant’s energy from the buds under the light. Remove all branches that have not made it to the screen and the stray bud sites. We want the plant to concentrate all it’s grow energy on the developing flowers above the canopy.
The main 3 differences between a SOG and ScrOG grow is the number of plants grown, the screen, and the slightly longer grow cycle of the ScrOG. Both methods can be done under the same light and in soil or with hydroponics. There are many variations of the ScrOG grow, but they all contain the same principles. There are the V-ScrOG, Stadium ScrOG, Flat ScrOG, and the Cylinder ScrOG grows in today’s homes. I think you can picture what these look like. They work the same way but just have a different shape.
One of today’s strains has earned a place in the ScrOG garden and this is C99. One will find a pure indica or indica dominant cross will produce the best in a ScrOG grow. A good ScrOG grow will average 2 ounces of bud per square foot of screen, but one can not expect this the first few grows, for it takes proper timing and the correct strain to accomplish this.
ScrOG was originally designed for grow area’s limited in height and fluorescent lights were used to light the grow area. Today’s growers are using HID (High Intensity Discharge) lights for growing ScrOG. They have taken it to the next level with these lights and are generating great results.
Today’s grower is always trying some thing new to better production of their favourite plant.
So there we have RealHigh explaining to us how he has worked with the ScrOG system. As you can see he has added much more to the basic ScrOG than we have mentioned. All this comes with experience, practice and experimentation.