To SoG, ScrOG or neither? Help!

[klue]

So I'm in the process of moving my grow from a little-used room in my house into a cabinet in the little-used room for security reasons. My plants are grown from seed in soil. I have 6 plants at about 11-15 inches and another group of 4 that are a week or so younger and all under 7 inches. My new grow space is only 40 inches tall so I need a way to limit height. I'm working with a 400 watt HPS. Enough preliminary information- time for the burning question...

I've been reading up on scrog techniques and am very interested in using this method. It just seems easy, efficient and like the best way to work with a limited space like my new cabinet. The problem of course is that my plants are from seeds and are of undetermined sex. So if I start weaving the plants into the screen now, switch to flowering light cycle, and make sure not to let the plants tangle into each other, wouldn't it be possible to cut the males out of the screen in a few weeks when they show their sex? I see that this will result in some wasted space in the screen where the remaining females won't completely fill in, but isn't that a small price to pay for keeping the height under control with the scrog technique? Are there any other disadvantages I'm not aware of?

I'm really itching to try scrog so please please dissuade me if you really think it would be a huge mistake... But if you categorically oppose scrogging plants from seed, what would you suggest to keep height under control...? I know there are many other methods that I might employ, so I'm looking forward to hearing your suggestions.

I can't wait until I have some good clones to work with...

Thanks!

[ileso]

hey, both sog and scrog are about the same thing: packing as much budding sites into the available space.

and also its best to start off by sexxing your plants before you get too far into it.

anyway. with a scrog you have fewer plants(1 or two depending on space) and the branches are trained topped fimmed and supercropped (search the site for all of these-theres threads on all three) to achieve a maximum number of srong bud sites.

a sog you work directly with as many clones as you can pack into your space. in this method you will want to use the same or similar strains that grow large compact buds. you clone veg for a week or whatever and flower strsaight off. indicas are best for this i think

in sog the process takes longer as you veg and train untill all the available space is occupied before flowering. you can use any plant you like. basically your results are similar in effect though i do believe in a sog system you have a slightly higher yield and a quicker turnover. though you may need a seperate veg room for the next clones and maybe even a cloning section somewhere for the one after that.... as well as maybe a mum or two..

keep looking into it as both systems are very rewarding.

there are one or two threads here somewhere about ScrOG and another SOG. look it up and see which one best suites you.

good luck
ileso

[ileso]

sog also used less vertical space as the clones arent allowed to grow very tall

[justanotherbozo]

Originally Posted by kluekozyte

So I'm in the process of moving my grow from a little-used room in my house into a cabinet in the little-used room for security reasons. My plants are grown from seed in soil. I have 6 plants at about 11-15 inches and another group of 4 that are a week or so younger and all under 7 inches. My new grow space is only 40 inches tall so I need a way to limit height. I'm working with a 400 watt HPS. Enough preliminary information- time for the burning question...

I've been reading up on scrog techniques and am very interested in using this method. It just seems easy, efficient and like the best way to work with a limited space like my new cabinet. The problem of course is that my plants are from seeds and are of undetermined sex. So if I start weaving the plants into the screen now, switch to flowering light cycle, and make sure not to let the plants tangle into each other, wouldn't it be possible to cut the males out of the screen in a few weeks when they show their sex? I see that this will result in some wasted space in the screen where the remaining females won't completely fill in, but isn't that a small price to pay for keeping the height under control with the scrog technique? Are there any other disadvantages I'm not aware of?

I'm really itching to try scrog so please please dissuade me if you really think it would be a huge mistake... But if you categorically oppose scrogging plants from seed, what would you suggest to keep height under control...? I know there are many other methods that I might employ, so I'm looking forward to hearing your suggestions.

I can't wait until I have some good clones to work with...

Thanks!

if you haven't built your new cab i'd suggest finding one about 20 inch's taller
as 40 inch's isn't really gonna leave any room for growth with a 400watt HPS,
the light alone, with fixture and hooks for hanging, are probably all of
10 inch's, plus, you need to keep a 400watt HPS at least 10 or 12 inch's above
your canopy, otherwise, you'll burn your plants. add the height of your
pots and you'll see you'll only have about 10 to 15 inch's of growth space.

if finding another cabinet is out of the question then you should consider
a T5 high output fixture instead of the HPS as this light will not only take
up much less of your headroom, it is also cool enough that your plants can
grow right up and touch the bulbs without damaging them.

as to whether you should grow SOG or SCROG, it kinda depends on you and
your goals as there are advantages and disadvantages to both systems.

as a rule of thumb, a SCROG is used to maximize yield while keeping plant
numbers low while a SOG is used to create a steady flow of buds, forever, lol.
(my own SOG produces about 2 to 2.5 zips a week under nothing but
CFLs)

also, a properly designed and run SOG will out produce any other method,
hands down.

the bad news is, until you learn how to clone your plants, you really can't
use either method properly. the truth is, if you ever want to become truly
self-sufficient and reap the full benefit's of cannabis cultivation, you must
learn to clone.

on the plus side, it aint all that hard to do, lol.

anyway, here's a couple of pics of my op to illustrate.

1) my hydro (DWC) SOG with nothing but CFLs

2) back in the dirt and with a 150HPS in place of one of the CFL fixtures

3) 6 cuts, early in flower (note the tall one in back and the 2liter coke bottles)

anyway, i hope this helps and if you have any further questions, we'll do our
best to help you out.