Growing Tips

How to ScrOG: 6 Steps to Maximize Your Yields

Written by Millerruan

Last updated: November 6, 2024

Looking to increase your yields and grow fuller, healthier buds? The ScrOG (Screen of Green) technique can assist you with that! By training your plants using a metal or plastic screen, you’ll ensure each bud site receives ample light exposure.

However, there are some important details to consider: is ScrOG right for your plants? When should you start, and how to ScrOG?

In this guide, we’ll take you through what ScrOG is and provide step-by-step instructions on how to ScrOG effectively. With this easy-to-follow guide, I hope you can grow higher-yielding and more potent buds.

Main Content:

1. Understanding ScrOG (Screen of Green)
2. Why ScrOG
3. What is the Perfect Timing to Start ScrOG
4. How to ScrOG: Step-by-Step Guide
5. Techniques to Pair with ScrOG for Optimal Growth
6. Maximize Your ScrOG with High-Efficiency LED Grow Lights
7. Conclusion

Understanding ScrOG (Screen of Green)

ScrOG, or "Screen of Green," is a plant training technique that uses a mesh screen to distribute branches and bud sites evenly. By weaving and securing the branches, it can maximize light exposure to each bud, creating a flat canopy that enhances uniform growth and increases yield.

Beginners might confuse ScrOG with SoG. Here’s the simplest way to distinguish them: ScrOG uses a grid or screen (typically metal or plastic mesh) to guide plant branches to grow laterally, while SoG involves densely planting many plants to create a "sea of green" without training them.

ScrOG optimizes light usage but requires frequent trimming and branch adjustments. SoG, on the other hand, allows for quicker harvests and is simpler to manage, but it’s less light-efficient utilization, often needing higher-intensity LED grow lights.

Why ScrOG

The ScrOG allows the canopy to elongate laterally, increasing the light utilization at each bud point. Here are some benefits the ScrOG can provide.

Maximizes Light Exposure: By creating an even canopy, ScrOG ensures that light reaches all bud sites effectively, leading to increased yields.

Promotes Uniform Growth: Training branches to spread across the screen encourages even growth, reducing the risk of uneven plant development.

Space Efficiency: ScrOG allows you to make the most of vertical space, which is ideal for smaller grow spaces.

Improves Bud Quality: The method helps redirect the plant's energy from lower branches to the buds, enhancing overall bud quality.

What is the Perfect Timing to Start ScrOG

The best time to start ScrOG is in the late vegetative stage, usually when plants are around 6–10 inches tall and have developed several sturdy branches. At this stage, branches have the ideal height and flexibility for lateral training.

Starting too early may lead to ineffective training or stress on the plant, while starting too late can make branches harder to bend, potentially affecting flowering.

You can also set up the screen in advance at about 8 inches high. When each plant’s top begins to reach the screen, that’s the perfect moment to start ScrOG.

Be sure to stop any further ScrOG training after the stretch phase in flowering ends to avoid impacting bud development.

How to ScrOG: Step-by-Step Guide

Now that we understand the benefits of ScrOG and the optimal timing for training, let’s look at how to create a full, even canopy step-by-step.

1. Gather Materials

Choose the Right Strain: Pick strains suitable for ScrOG, such as Sativa varieties, which tend to have flexible branches and longer growth cycles.

Select a Screen: Use a metal or plastic screen with hole sizes of 5-10 cm (2-4 inches), allowing branches to be threaded and secured easily.

Use Efficient Lighting: ScrOG relies on even lighting. Opt for high-efficiency LED grow lights to ensure uniform light coverage across the canopy.

Choose Proper Pots: Go for breathable pots. For multiple plants, 11-liter pots work well, while for a single plant, consider 25-liter pots. Space the pots about 1-2 feet apart to allow for growth.

2. Set Up the Screen

Fix the screen firmly on walls or support poles, typically 8-11 inches above the plant base. If your plants are already in the late vegetative phase, gently place the screen over the canopy and begin guiding branches through it.

3. Guide the Branches

Once the plants reach the screen, start guiding each branch beneath it. Gently press taller branches under the grid, applying slight pressure until you hear a light snap, and secure them under the screen. Continue to weave and spread the branches horizontally across the entire screen.

4. Prune the Lower Foliage

Trim off the shaded lower leaves at the base of each branch, focusing the plant’s energy on the top buds and minimizing nutrient wastage.

5. Start Flowering

When the branches fully cover the screen, switch to a 12-hour light and 12-hour dark cycle to start the flowering phase.

6. Make Final Adjustments

In the first 1-2 weeks of flowering, the plants will enter a rapid growth phase. Check every few days and secure new branches to keep them all in optimal light exposure.

Note: During training, the plants may experience stress, so make sure they’re well-nourished and watered. Once everything is set, all you need to do is wait for the canopy to produce abundant buds!

Techniques to Pair with ScrOG for Optimal Growth

Here are some effective techniques to pair with ScrOG (Screen of Green) that can help optimize growth and maximize yield.

Topping

Topping involves cutting off the main stem’s tip to promote the growth of two new branches. By increasing the number of main branches, topping complements ScrOG, as it helps fill out the screen more efficiently, leading to a bushier plant with more bud sites.

Lollipopping

Lollipopping Involves removing the lower branches and leaves that receive minimal light. By directing the plant’s energy to the top buds, lollipopping works well with ScrOG to ensure that only the buds receiving optimal light are given nutrients, enhancing the quality and size of the top buds.

Super Cropping

Super cropping is a high-stress technique where branches are gently pinched until they bend, creating small knuckles that strengthen the stem.

When used with ScrOG, supercropping improves structural resilience and light exposure, allowing for more even branch positioning under the screen, which promotes a balanced canopy.

Maximize Your ScrOG with High-Efficiency LED Grow Lights

ScrOG is all about maximizing light utilization, where stronger, more efficient lighting translates directly to higher yields. That’s why choosing the right LED grow light is key.

Medic Grow LED grow lights provide uniform coverage and exceptionally high PPFD values, with a range of options to meet various needs.

Their product includes the innovative multifunctional NEO-780, the budget-friendly FOLD-800, the powerful EZ-8, and the compact MINI SUN 320W utilizing Samsung diodes. Medic Grow offers reliable solutions suitable for everyone, from beginners to commercial growers.

Looking for the perfect LED grow light for your ScrOG setup? Buy Medic Grow today!

Conclusion

Following these six ScrOG steps will effectively manage your plant's growth space, maximize light utilization, and achieve a richer harvest. Pairing this approach with high-efficiency LED grow lights and a quality grow tent is also essential. The joy of growing lies in continual improvement—wishing you success with every harvest!

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