What is the scrog method?
It is a technique that helps gardeners grow cannabis plants in a more homogeneous way. With this form of cultivation, feminized cannabis plants (mostly sativa and hybrid varieties are preferred) grow and bloom with their central stem and lateral branches horizontally. This is produced thanks to the mesh that it puts in the upper part of the plant from growth.
If this is the first time you are going to do a scrog, pay attention! Here, we share step by step instructions. This method requires a bit of daily effort and you must be careful to put the branches of your marijuana plant under the mesh to create all the magic.
Step 1
First, it is important to carry out a fim or pruning type pruning to achieve horizontal growth of the plant and to prevent it from having the typical vertical growth. This helps the plant to produce a good number of lateral arms. The central stem of the plant generates a multiplication of the number of tips. This helps your cannabis seeds develop perfectly during growth. In addition, in flowering, marijuana plants flourish by absorbing large amounts of light in indoor crops and by avoiding pests, fungi, and different diseases in the flowering stage because this technique allows for good aeration of the plants and gives them greater freedom.
To show you how it is done, we take our Chocolopez plant as an example. These marijuana seeds are mostly sativas and therefore tend to have a spiky tree-like growth. Here, you can buy this cannabis variety to make an incredible scrog. In this case, Chocolopez was pruned with an apical cut. That is, its central stem was cut in a state of juvenile growth to allow a greater generation of tails by the plant. These tails will be placed underneath the Scrog mesh so that later they grow as if they were central stems, making the most of the potential of this sativa weed strain.
Step 2
Second, it is necessary to have the correct measurement of the distance between the plants and the mesh. The above for important reasons such as the power of light in the garden and also the space you have to grow. By having a good distance between the plants and the light, the plant receives the lighting in a more direct and homogeneous way, enhancing its horizontal growth and also its flowering.
You can see in the image how Chocolopez has grown at a certain distance from the mesh where its lateral arms began to tangle and grow as if they were the main trunk. It is important that the holes in the mesh have a considerable space and that they are not too small or too large. This is because when the Chocolopez tails get fat in flowering, they need space to develop well. Don’t forget that this variety, despite being mostly sativa, is highly productive and its tails tend to be robust and full of flowers that fill the entire space of the scrog mesh.
Step 3
At this point, you need to be careful with the plant. We say this because it is necessary to bend the branches and in some cases, they tend to break. To prevent the branches that are located under the mesh from breaking, you can first locate the branches of the upper part of the plant that are closer to the mesh. In case some branches are a little shorter, give it one more week to stretch as much as possible.
When the branches are well located under the mesh and have covered all the surfaces, you can pass your plant to flowering. It should be noted that in the first two weeks of flowering, the branches will tend to extend because at this time, the plant maximizes its size up to 3 times. As it encounters stress underneath the mesh, it will have to explode through its side branches. If you want, you can use a plastic tie gently to help you control the plant. Then, with this control, the side branches will start to rise as if they were main tails on your cannabis plant. As you can see in the photo, Chocolopez is 95% sativa genetics and tends to glean in a good way. For this specific crop, the farmer did not use tails. The above speaks of how easy the feminized seeds of Chocolopez are to grow despite its slight stretch.
Step 4. When to put the plants in bloom?
To avoid excessive planting, it is recommended to go to flowering after a maximum of 3 to 4 days after the tails exceed the mesh so growers can avoid stretching problems. As you can see in the image, the feminized seeds of Chocolopez have delivered a great plant. This feminized cannabis plant from Chocolopez begins to take shape in flowering with tails that stand out with the growth of its flowers.
When flowering progresses, you should check each tail to prevent it from breaking due to the weight and to help it receive the necessary light. Remember that a good ventilation system for both air intake and extraction is necessary. The above because the plant always needs fresh air to be able to maintain itself, even more so with a scrog system.
Step 5
As you can see in the image, the tails are slightly tilted. This is why you may need help from some kind of tie. You can fasten the tails to the mesh with some type of plastic tie or similar. This provides support and helps the tail to bloom with ease. If you are a breeder who likes to experiment, you can put stakes between the tails and the mesh. This must be done very carefully so as not to damage the crop.
At this point, it is important to highlight how the Chocolopez plant managed to occupy the spaces of the mesh. That tells us that this mostly sativa strain is perfect for scrogging. This is why when starting this tutorial, we recommend sativa or hybrid varieties because they are the ones indicated for scrog. Indica is more complicated because you need more plants to fill the space of one mesh. We must point out that more than one indica plant is required for Scrog cultivation because its short internodes and arms are generally short in indoor cultivation and are not enough to fill a mesh.
Step 6
It is essential to water the cannabis plants with care. We say this to avoid overwatering or water shortages. Some farmers use hose irrigation systems when scrogging. Others utilize showers with long dispensers in order to irrigate their marijuana plants. Chocolopez is a variety that requires medium watering in the growth phase and during flowering and can be maintained with a medium dose of water.
Don’t overdo it with fertilizers because it can damage your crop. We recommend that you test the plant and if you grow in substrate, observe the soil and try to feel it or extract samples to measure its humidity. Another important point is that in the lower part of the plant, you can defoliate to remove the lower branches and leaves that do not serve a greater purpose. We say the above, because if the lower part of the plant does not get adequate lighting at all times, there is no development. Once the cultivation is finished, you can carefully cut the upper tips of the tails without damaging the fruits of the tails. After this, you can cut the rest of the plant. We do not recommend removing the mesh with the tails full of flowers because you can damage the crop.
Blimburn Seeds Bank wishes you the best in your garden and we hope you achieve great harvests.
Also, we hope this scrog guide for your feminized marijuana plants will be of great help to you. Do not forget that you can buy your cannabis seeds directly on our website where you can also find the best content to help you grow large XXL crops.
