size of scrog screen

[munkey]

Hello all. Can someone tell me what size scrog screen I should build for 4 plants grown in a square around a 1000 watt light. I'm making plans to build a pvc scrog frame to hold up the net sort of like in the picture. Is a 4 feet wide 6 feet tall scrog net too big for a 1000 watt light?


https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=38692&pictureid=921824

 

[Ichabod Crane]

I would go three feet wide and let the plants hang past on each side. The screen is just to get the structure you want with the plants. They will bend towards the light and fill in the corners.

 

[munkey]

I would go three feet wide and let the plants hang past on each side. The screen is just to get the structure you want with the plants. They will bend towards the light and fill in the corners.

How high can I build my pvc frame? Also how long were your plants in veg for? I'm trying to get a feel for how long it would take to fill up the screen and pull the weight you did. Thats a great grow you have.

 

[munkey]

Also do you recommend begging vert or flat if I was to veg into the screen?

 

[Ichabod Crane]

How high can I build my pvc frame? Also how long were your plants in veg for? I'm trying to get a feel for how long it would take to fill up the screen and pull the weight you did. Thats a great grow you have.

You can build it as high as you want. The problem then become the rack will tip toward the light because of the weight of the buds at the top. You can fix this several ways. One is like I did in the thread you linked to. It is just two PVC elbows to connect the top of the racks. A second way is to strap it to the wall to prevent it from leaning in. A short bungie cord will do this and let you move the rack quickly.

I have no Idea how long I veg for. Sorry. I just keep the plants going into the veg and take what will fill the screen based on what the strain will do in stretch.

Also do you recommend begging vert or flat if I was to veg into the screen?

What I do in veg is all vert. I have a shelf built out of PVC pipe and screen that the plant set on. It is a stadium set up with two lights side by side up high. If I want a plant the stretch I set it on the floor in front of the shelf. The lights are about5.5-6 foot off the floor. If I want it to fill in more I set it on the shelf which is about 2 feet off the floor.

Once the plant is big enough I place it on a screen and put it into flower. I do not veg on the screen.

 

[munkey]

I'm going to use pvc elbows to connect the tops as well. Since you tie the plant onto the screen the same day you flower, does it shock the plants much or does it recover pretty quickly? Im sure its strain dependent as well. The plants in your journal seemed to do just fine. I'm a lazy bastard and I don't want to create extra work for myself if it doesn't really matter if I train in veg or not. Your grow inspired me to grow scrog instead of trees. Thank you for your advice.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

In that thread I stripped them more than I usually do because I had mites. IT may shock some strains but does not seem to shock most. I think it is because of the large root system that is left after the trim. Then you throw them into flower and the hormones take over and they do fine. That is my guess anyway.

If you want to know if they are shocked look at how much they are drinking daily. If it slows down that strain should not be pruned as much. This can be done by topping the pot with NAPA 8822 floor dry. It turns tan when wet and white when dry. If you follow how the color changes day to day you will be able to tell if they are drinking less.

If you have the room a tree grow will in my opinion be easier that a scrog. But I have only 5X7 rooms to grow in so I go scrogg. That is such a small area for a tree grow I don't know how effective of a grow it would be. I know based on past numbers I could get over 8 pounds in that room if I had a perfect run. My largest plant was 22 ounces. I routinely get 12-14 ounce plants now. I don't think I could get that average with a tree grow in my rooms.

Just to make it clear these rooms can be a ton of work till you know what you are doing. Then it will just be alot of work. But you will be rewarded in the end if you stick to it.

 

[munkey]

I have a full basement to use. Many of the tree grows I have looked at are not as effective IMO. They can yield a lot but would take more light to do so and is not very efficient. Correct me if I'm wrong. If you had a 12 plant limit, how would you grow in vertical if you wanted to achieve 1 gpw while having perpetual harvests?

 

[Ichabod Crane]

If I have a plant limit it implies that I have any amount of power I want. So the number of lights does not bother me. I would do a 4 tree grow with five lights in a 12X12 room.

But I don't have that kind of room so I do a scrog which is the most efficeint for room used. As a benifit I get the most yield per watt in flower by doing it the way I do.

Perpetual harvest can be done either way it just takes some monkeying around. I would think that the racks would be the easiest for this as you can pull a single plant out to harvest it.

My problem with high yielding plants is my on hand amounts of finished product. I have a max of 15 ounces that I can have. The racks allow me to pull my plants out of the room and dry them on the rack to be trimmed latter. Because it is still a plant it counts against my plant count and not my weight amount. This allows me to have variety and weight with out breaking the local law. I simple place the dried plants in another room and depending on how many I have in there that is my variety.

As for the 1 gpw I don't really care about that. I care how much is produced overall. I have a certain amount I need to have weekly and if it takes more lights so be it. The only limits to the light usage is how much I make from the finished products. Does it pay my bills and make it worth my time to grow. At 0.8 GPW I can get 3.5 pounds off of 2k lights. My cost to produce that with my veg and all my fans and cooling is about $1800 for electricity on average. My nutes are about 1.75 cents per gallon at 30 gallons a day. Or roughly $40 for the grow. These numbers are for 4 flower rooms at once and veg for them. That means about $2000 for 14 pounds. Or about $150 per pound. I generally get a higher yield than that but that is what I base my numbers on.

 

[munkey]

That last paragraph very well put and a good point of view. I also have a goal I want to hit per harvest. Its either more plants or more lights. Clear choice for me. Thanks again.

 

[munkey]

If I have a plant limit it implies that I have any amount of power I want. So the number of lights does not bother me. I would do a 4 tree grow with five lights in a 12X12 room.

How many lights would you use in veg and how would you veg them? I'm thinking if I got 2 month flowering strains, I would be vegging for 4 months before flowering. 2 cycles in veg each 2 months apart. Every time I harvest I put 4 new ones in veg. I saw your veg I'm thinking about the same thing. Will it work if I put 4 smaller plants under a 600 and the 4 bigger ones under a 1k for veg? 4 months is a long time and height is going to be an issue, I'm not sure. Happy 420!

 

[Ichabod Crane]

I veg in a stadium type set up. It is (2) 600 watt bulbs hung side by side about 5.5-6 feet off of the floor and about 4 feet apart. The 600's tend to make them stretch a little more than a 1000 would. I have a friend who veg's with 1k bulbs at about 5-6 feet off of the floor and his plants are fuller than mine and grow faster. So you will have to decide what works best for you.

Best I can guess is that I veg around 2 months. I don't keep track because I just use what ever is ready to flower. Beacuse of the way I grow it does not really matter what strains I put in. But you need to know what they will do in flower to know how big they need to be to get the most out of your flower run.

Happy 420 to you and every one else.