How to SCROG: Beginner's Guide to Enhancing Your Marijuana Grow for Huge Yields

You might have read the title of this article and thought, "What on Earth is ScrOG?" We're here to answer that question. ScrOG is short for the "Screen of Green" method, which is a technique that helps you produce a beautiful, even canopy while optimizing your yield per square foot. If you cultivate cannabis or are a cannabis enthusiast, you need to be up to date on ScrOG. Let's dive in.

What is the ScrOG Method?

ScrOG is an indoor growing process that reduces energy use and waste while increasing maximum yields. It is also a comparably low-cost growing method that almost anyone can employ. Scrogging your plants requires a metal screen (something akin to chicken wire) or food-grade plastic structure. The metal screen is placed over a potted cannabis plant which then grows through the wholes in the screen, training the plant into a horizontal direction you want them to grow. Once plants are trained to grow horizontally, they are more likely to develop thick upper canopies that soak up all the overhead light and nutrients - this results in some very high-quality, high-yield cannabis.

Why Do People Use ScrOG?

The ScrOG method has become increasingly popular over the last few years for quite a few reasons. As we mentioned above, it is cost-effective, an indoor process, and relatively easy to implement. More importantly, however, it produces consistently high yields and healthy plants. When the cannabis plant is trained to grow horizontally, and the top canopy grows especially thick and even, the stem and lower levels of the canopy are less cluttered with plant material. This results in better airflow around the stems, making it easier to control moisture and subsequent mold and mildew. The top canopy blocks light from reaching the lower levels of the plant, which doesn't need light. On the other hand, the canopy grows much quicker with higher yields when it gets more light. Additionally, the support from the metal screen provides additional support, so heavy bud doesn't weigh down the plant and cause stems to break. And to top it all off, once you understand how to ScrOG effectively, work gets easier because the plants are more uniform and more accessible for care.

When You Should Start Scrogging Your Plants

Scrogging works best if you begin the process before your plants start to grow. This gives them more time to be trained into the ideal growing positions and means you don't have to spend delicate time pushing branches through the screens. If your plants are already growing and you want to switch to the ScrOG method, you can add the screen so long as you're very gentle and do not break the stems and branches.

Tips on How to Start Scrogging

The ScrOG grow cycle could be exactly what you need for higher yields and better cannabis. Here are a couple of tips on how to make screen grow with the best of them.

Place your plastic or metal screen roughly 1 foot from the pots so that they will be forced to grow vertically. It also gives your plant enough time to grow so that you can trim your plants before they grow through the screen.
Place your cannabis plants roughly 1 to 2 feet away from each other under the screen. Your plants' branches should slightly overlap each other by the time they grow through the screens.
Since plants of the same strain will grow in similar shapes and sizes, make sure to grow the same strains together. Mixing strains will result in an uneven canopy that's harder to manipulate later on,
Scrogging is an easy growing method, but you still need to tend to other factors to keep your plants growing correctly. Make sure your plants and screen are positioned under proper lighting in a room that has temperature and moisture control. You can't ScrOG anywhere - the conditions still have to be correct.

Steps for How to ScrOG Your Cannabis Plants

Once your plants begin to grow, top and prune them before they grow through the screen. If your plants aren't topped and trimmed before they grow through the screen, the plants will continue to grow into unwanted, less consistent shapes. Cutting the top colas off each plant also encourages the plant to create new branches that you can manipulate to grow upward.
As you guide your branches through the screen, don't force them. If a plant is not growing a stem in a specific direction, don't force it to go that way. You want the branches to grow horizontally but naturally so that the branches are creating a uniform canopy with little overlapping but no sizable gaps between the flower and leaves.
Try to place one branch through each square on your screen. Two branches in a single screen will be overcrowded but no branches in a screen will cause gaps that steal necessary light.
Once your plants grow through your screen, continue trimming them, so they don't grow much taller and so that they are all on an even level - this makes sure that light is evenly distributed and doesn't escape to the lower parts of the plant that don't need light.
Attach the branches to the screen with a small amount of wire to ensure they remain in place once they grow through.

Scrogging is relatively easy, but it's also an art. Don't get discouraged if it doesn't go as planned the first time around. Just try again and visit Where's Weed for more tips and tricks on growing cannabis.

Have you tried the ScrOG method? Let us know any tips or tricks you have that make it work even better and your overall experience. Comment below!