Why doesn't everyone grow SCROG?

BillyBobJoe said:

Yeah ok, so I see everyones points. I understand that not everyones particular arrangment allows them to grow SCROG and that not everyone is looking for max potential yeild. I guess I should have asked, "Why wouldn't someone wanting max yeild and and having plenty of room for a SCROG setup, grow SCROG?"

Fuck that now anyway. Now that I think of SCROG as just another way to LST and given my already cramped growing quarters, I'm leaning more to LST. My only problem is that I'm growing in plastic totes which don't really allow an easy way to tie the limbs down. Guess that was one reason I was drawn to SCROG, which is basically a inverted LST. Guess I'm back to the drawing board. Maybe I can use little eye bolts in the tote lids? Hmmm....

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Just wrap something like sturdy twine or vinyl covered wire around the outside top of the tote and use it as a tie down. Other option would be to just drill a few holes in the top of the tote where you need to tie off at.

Mike@420 said:

I do a perpetual scrog, and its starting to kick ass.

3 weeks in the bubble cloner
1 week in cups (20/4 mh 400)
4 weeks of heavy LST in pots (20/4 mh 400)
4 weeks scrog (12/12 HPS 400)
4 weeks scrog (12/12 HPS 600)

Im still fine tuning the veg schedule to fit my screen perfectly. Thats the key. If you dont veg enough to fill youre screen, youre wasting light. If you grown them too big before 12/12, you will quickly run out of room in the screen.

The pic below shows 2 crops that I only vegged for 3 weeks, next crop going in will be vegged for 4 weeks. They're a month apart.

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See those branches in the back of the right side of the pic? I dont know if those are part of one of the other plants you scrogged but when scrogging and LST'ing the idea is to keep them all at the same height for one being even light distribution but the other more important reason is so you get buds that are all close in size. If one branch/bud site is higher than the others on a particular plant, that branch/bud site is going to become the dominant/main cola and the plant is going to focus its energy into making it the big bud. But because you scrogged you more than likely topped and LST'ed and all that so there is naturally going to be more usable bud sites. But having one cola thats bigger than the others will cause the smaller buds to be just that...smaller. If all the branches are fairly even in height, you'll get all nice uniform nugs and depending on how long you veg (strain specific of course) the bigger they will be, amongst other things obviously like how big of a root zone, strain, and a million other things.. If one pops its head up above the others, tuck that bitch under and bring it up through another hole.

A good book (that I havent gotten yet but got to read a little out of a magazine) that teaches the way of the scrogg on a massive scale is "secrets of the west coast masters" I think its called, its all about massive yields from low plant #'s, talking much more than a gram per watt. From the bullshit article I learned quite a bit, the plants ability to understand which branch is highest by the use of gravity was one of them. That book is crazy though, these guys scrogg with higher yielding strains to begin with and run 1 plant 4x4 scrog's with a 1k HID per. There is some awesome things about LST'ing and topping as well seeing thats the backbone of a scrogg. Other than that it looks like you got it going on fairly well though, good luck. I have my first going as well but I just flipped the lights a day ago so I have nothing worth showing yet, however I started with the intention of doing 4 scrogged plants under 2 1k lights but that didnt work out. I had too many plants and not enough space (newb mistake) and only one ended up filling the screen so I have that one and 3 others that are LST'ed pretty nice as well as 6 more that I topped and just pulled down the top 2 branches and thats it, they've been vegging for almost 2 months now so they should produce some decent buds anyhow. Next time I take some pics I'll post up a couple. Good luck dude....

If you want max yield in limited space you should look at going vertical. It changes the whole way you look at growing.... Heath threw down 1288 grams @ 2+ gpw in a 4x4 cab and 72 plants with 1 600w hps...

BillyBobJoe said:

Yeah ok, so I see everyones points. I understand that not everyones particular arrangment allows them to grow SCROG and that not everyone is looking for max potential yeild.

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Your thinking and understanding is being held up by your belief that SCROG outperforms other methods of growing, that it always yields more regardless of each person's growing situation and that people just choose to use it because it yields more than other growing methods, rather than in many cases being forced to use it due to height limitations and lower wattage lighting that would keep them from using a more productive growing method.

SCROG is a way to get the highest yield possible from low plants grown in a height limited space, an area that will limit their total possible production/yield compared to what they could achieve if not grown in a restrictive space or when someone's lighting is insufficient and will not allow them to maximize their grow space/height.

That is not the same as saying that if someone has the needed lighting, height and space, that topping plants and having four colas per plant and growing larger taller plants, or LSTing, or even just growing larger taller bushes will not outproduce SCROG.

SCROG was the answer for how to get a decent yield from a restrictive limited growing space that otherwise would give very little or not give anything at all. It was not the answer for how to maximize yield in each and every growing situation.

I guess I should have asked, "Why wouldn't someone wanting max yeild and and having plenty of room for a SCROG setup, grow SCROG?"

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Because with the proper setup and none of the limitations and restrictions that force some people to use the SCROG growing method people can outproduce SCROG growing using other methods of growing.

The more accurate question to ask would be, why would anyone choose to grow SCROG when not forced to due to limitations in their setup or grow space when they could yield more using other methods of growing?

Drill some holes in the top of your totes and tie down there....

I drill holes all the way around my plastic pots..

You'd think this was a scrog but there's no grid.

BillyBobJoe said:

I would think more people would go this route.

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for what???

just thought id chime in. I dont do a scrog because i have a perpetual that is flowering 12 plants at a time. They are in a separate room from where they veg. I wanted to lst but damn its a lot of work if you do what i do. SO I use topping to get a bushier canopy. I also use super cropping to help even it out. Since i realize that i dont need to keep them so low, topping is enough for me. I THINK that people used screens as a way to simplify there lst and light distribution. mostly in small grows to fill up the foot print

SCROG is a big favorite of people who live in harsh penalty states.

Can someone post a great link to the best techniques of LST?

Lucius Vorenus said:

Can someone post a great link to the best techniques of LST?

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........ no

some prefer the big buds of SOG, but mostly its personal tastes. yield is geno-dependant. you can only squeeze so much bud out of any geno, so its really down to how you enjoy doin' your thing. and some like their popcorn for hash. but, i am a total scrogophile.