Why I Chose Scrogging For My Small-Scale Grow

Today we’ve got a special treat. Northern Scrogger has kindly written a guest post on the basics on scrogging for everyone who wants to try it

How is it possible to train a potentially 4-6-foot high indoor plant to be 18-
inches tall? And why would you want to do that in the first place? My name is Troy and scrogging is my passion. If you don’t know much about scrogging, let me explain…

Where to begin

I train my plants to grow horizontally using a scrog screen/frame. The frame is 18 inches high, and 5-feet by 5-feet in width/diameter. At the top of the frame, I have a scrog screen made up of 3-inch by 3-inch squares.

Rather than using a weaving technique to train my plants to grow along the
bottom of my scrog screen, I tuck my plants under the net. I try not to weave unless absolutely necessary! This minimizes a wave like canopy. I do some, but very little, topping as a part of my scrogging technique.

I’m not going to lie… Scrogging looks cool!!! I love seeing what looks like a
valley of beautiful pine trees (or at least that is my perspective when looking at it from eye-level.) I may or may not have a bit of OCD, so I find training the plant to be therapeutic.

Why scrogging?

The main reason why I scrog is because I have a limited grow room size (and a limited number of plants that I am legally allowed to grow). Rather than squeeze four, Christmas-tree looking plants into my small grow room, I use the scrogging technique to maximize the foot print of my one light. I want all of my plants to be on an even level (canopy.)

This tricks the plant into thinking that all of its side branches are also top branches. Therefore, all the nodes on that branch become other branches in the veg stage for me to scrog. Once I flip to flower, they all become bud sites. This horizontal technique of growing also results in very little larf (making trimming much easier)!!! The end result is a bigger harvest and higher quality bud. We are here to grow bud, not leaf and sticks…

If you are limited on space and are considering using this growing technique, do your research and don’t be fooled by many photos on the internet that claim to be pictures of scrogs. A trellis net placed high above the floor with loosely woven netting is NOT the same as a scrog screen, and weaving your plant rather than using a horizontal tucking technique to train it under the screen will not produce a nice even canopy. You want your canopy even to maximize your light footprint evenly among all of the tops.

Final thoughts

Like I said, I am just an average guy and definitely NOT a growing expert!!! Having learned from trial and error, my goal is to share scrogging tips and tutorials with people like me, who are looking to get the best results out of small, at-home grows.

There is definitely a lot of work associated with scrogging… but the hard work pays off in the end!!! I consider trimming plants that have been properly scrogged to actually be fun, like who doesn’t enjoy trimming top colas.

For more scrogging techniques, visit www.northernscrogger.com and follow me on Instagram at www.instagram.com/northernscrogger. Thanks and happy scrogging!