The Modular Scrog ``A TGAgenetics feature article``
Canopy control and management has always been of utmost importance to me. I started out as a closet grower with not only a small footprint to work with, but limited headspace as well. Controlling the height of my plants was not only preferable, but also essential for me to have any success what-so-ever in supplying myself with some homegrown Dank. Within a few weeks of getting started on my first grow, I watched in horror as my plants happily grew into my lights, I was faced with the reality of learning some serious LST (low stress training), bonsai, and SCROG techniques...and fast...
I learned an awful lot throughout that first grow, and if memory serves, harvested a Q.P. of some pretty high quality head stash. But in retrospect, the knowledge I gained while having to severely bond, torture, and control my little plants were of even greater value. First off, I gained a huge amount of respect and incredible appreciation for what the cannabis plant is capable of enduring. Secondly, though I didn’t know it then, started me on what would ultimately become a serious obsession…the quest for the Perfect Canopy!
The problem was, I never was a big fan of a fixed scrog screen, especially in a small confined space. I prefer to move my plants in and out of my flower room or greenhouse, so I can give them a thorough inspection for potential problems under natural light. I am also a photo nerd, so I need to be able to move my plants into the studio for their “glamor” shots! I was after the perfect canopy, but it became quite clear a traditional fixed scrog was not going to work for my scene. I wanted the benefits a scrog would give me, yet the added bonus of mobility. What I needed was a modular scrog!
I wanted something tight, tidy, self-contained, and light enough that I could shuffle around. I had recently been gifted with some Vortex seeds from Subcool and I learned from the detailed description on TGA’s website, this ultra fast, delicate little Sativa would be a perfect candidate for my new set-up. It was described as a real “flopper”, lots of bud sites of heavy, dank fruit, hanging on delicate stems! It was going to need a lot of support; it was looking like I had the perfect candidate the challenge was on!
The only real difference between a traditional scrog, which is often attached directly to the walls of the room and my modular unit, was that my screen had to be attached to my pot. Originally I thought I would just screw some “legs” onto the sides of a thick plastic nursery pot, then build some sort of frame for the screen and attach it to the legs. Seemed easy enough, but I wanted to use a fabric pot like a smart pot, so the new challenge became attaching this contraption to a flimsy, soft sided container.
I scratched my head over the design for over a week, strolling the aisles of the local hardware store, mentally cobbling together pieces of steel and wood, nuts and bolts. I needed it to be light, so it wouldn’t get too top-heavy when it was packed with buds, and it had to be inexpensive. I wasn’t too excited about dropping a bunch of coins on an “experiment”. I was just about to give up on the whole idea when a few days later I was cleaning up the farm for “dump day”, when I came across an old galvanized hog panel laying in the weeds. This was the missing link, I could build the whole unit out of the long thin galvanized rod cut out of the panel with a bolt cutters, all I had to do was figure out how to clamp it all together.
A hog panel is essentially a long fence panel made with vertical and horizontal pieces of ¼ inch rod lightly tack welded together. In an hour, and a few very large blisters later, I had the whole panel clipped apart with the bolt cutters and the 32 inch diameter hoop bent and wired together with 12 gauge coated electrical wire. I then discovered the galvanized rod had an added bonus, every 8 inches or so along the perimeter of the hoop was a little “nub” left behind from the crossing member that was clipped out, perfect to wrap and hold the coated wire when weaving the actual screen. I decided three legs would be sufficient and used a table vice to bend 3 inch “feet” on the ends of them to provide an “anchor”, and to prevent them from pulling out of the soil, or worse, poking through the bottom of the smart pot. From there I added a short 90 degree bend at the top of each leg to provide a space to use some cable clamps to attach the legs to the hoop. Then it was just a matter of finishing the lacing with coated wire, and I was ready to transplant my little main-lined Vortex into her new home.
I main-lined my little Vortex to have 32 leaders and kept her bonded low and tight to the smartie with Velcro strapping to allow her to fill out horizontally.
The entire unit, to the top of the screen measured 28 inches tall, and I figured once the colas filled the perimeter of the hoop, it would end up about 36 inches wide.
The days were long in June, so I just left her outside to veg until she was just a few inches above the screen. Then she was moved in and out each day between the greenhouse and the attached office (dark room) to give her 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness. After a few weeks, I had a perfectly filled scrog full of some beautiful young flowers. (insert photos) I was really happy with the design; it was strong, light, and provided excellent support for my Sativa Dominant hybrid. It became clear by the third week of flower that I was on to something good! By the first week of August, I was harvesting about a ½ pound of some killer Dank…mission accomplished!
Originally published in Weed World Magazine 102