I feel I should mention a few things on how to properly scrog for production,
It is best to have all the same plant under the trellis to make the canopy even from the start for proper air and light penetration.
Two layers of trellis are the best to spread the colas apart for air and light penatration , this will also stabilize the cola destressing it .
With only one layer of trellis the upper section of your colas will still use energy to support itself instead of diverting the energy for bud development.
The plant should be viewed as energy.
If a plant loses a branch the energy is still there within the plant and it just diverts the energy from one point of the plant we do not want it, to another point of the plant we do want it.
The idea is to have the plant develop energy next to the terminal stalk where the largest amount of water and nutrients run through.
This is done by trimming all the side branchs off of the terminal stem or stalk and leaving the fan leaves in place to develop the energy ( bud) next to the terminal stalk.
Plants should be set into place with about 30 colas each under a 4x4 area , give or take a few depending on strain .
So if you have 12 2 gallon containers you would start topping them early to make the terminal stalks longer with around 3 stalks each.
When set into place under your light cut all the tops off the plants even with one another so the canopy remains even through out the bloom cycle.
Trim all the side Branch's off of the terminal stem that shoot away from it more then a couple of inches leaving the fan leaves and pinching the top of the terminal stem every time you trim the plant for about five weeks once a week.
By pinching the top of the terminal stem it will force the plant to divert energy to repair the wound, this will force water and nutrients along the terminal stem making the Buds bigger and fatter along this stem forming colas like bats along it, also slowing verticle stretch and bring nodal spacing closer together forming colas that are long and fat.
By trimming this way it allows light penetration deep into the canopy along with lite steady air flow through the canopy will develop the buds deep into the canopy, with a ,,1000 watt around three feet deep into the canopy.
Most of the scrog growers here are filling in the top of the net with buds ( mostly side branch buds) that will not develop very large losing their depth of production near the terminal stem where the real production happens,
Man I love what I am reading and very interested in understanding this but sonethi g about trimming all of the side branches off is getting me. What exactly do you mean by this? For some reason, I understand what you are saying and how this method will make your plants turn out to have long solid baseball bat colas, but I'm missing the point in how. I am a hard learner and that's me being sincere. My Lyme disease really screws with my tendency to comprehend written instructions.
Since you brought it up though, about trimming and all I would like to share a method that was taught to me from a local old school hippie grower that honestly does work.
What he taught me is kinda strange, and it does take practice and I have NEVER hears of this before he showed me.
But what you do, he recommends taking a seedling around 2 weeks into its life which has developed around 3 nodes high. You have to use a "thin" freshly sharp razor blade, he recommended to me to take the razors out of a bic disposable razor, they work great and are paper thin.
Here is what you do... And I swear this works if you do it right. It is VERY unique and unheard of.
Step one: Take your blade in one hand and your plant in the other. Grab the plant at the very top, the tip of the main branch where the leaves form into a "Y". Take your razor blade and simply, but carefully and gently, slice down one side "directly through the middle of the top between the (Y)" and slice down about halfway through the plant and then slice that off and STOP in the middle. Your (Y) "normal shape of the top of the plant" will now only have one side of that (Y) shape.
What this does is makes the plant continue the rest of its entire life growing into a huge, solid and single bud plant. It is crazy and works amazing for sea of green.
If anyone can't exactly grasp the idea of this method please let me know and I will draw it out and upload a pic. I have never seen anything like it and you have to be very careful when doing this to get it right. But you will find it is VERY simple once you do it successfully a couple of times.
