Help SCROG vs SOG - Advice needed

[HazePhase]

Hello Everyone,

This is going to be my first grow and it will be with:
- 900 watt LED 12 COB Vero 29 light
- 5x5 Gorilla Tent
- 15 seeds (bubble gum, AK47 & Sour Diesel)
- Soil in 3 gallon pots

I was going to grow the 15 seeds and do SOG and Clone off then before Veg is over and Flowering begins to get a perpetual garden going however I read that SOG isn't good unless you have clones as they go into overdrive when forced early flowering which seedlings don't for some reason - has anyone heard of this before?
If yes can you still use seedlings or better to just grab 4 seeds and do:
- 4 Pots (7-10+ gallons each) SCROG.

I have a total time of 4 and half months almost 5 to go from seed to harvest before my holidays so I have time to do both.
Any suggestions or advice would be great as I am starting March 01st and need to either set up the SCROG screen or get the other items.

 

[CosmicCharlie]

I'd do a SCROG.

With seed plants and 3 different strains the canopy could be too uneven for SOG.

Also are they feminized seeds?

For the SCROG I'd definitely plant more than 4 even if they are feminized. If not feminized I'd plant all of them.

 

[HazePhase]

I'd do a SCROG.

With seed plants and 3 different strains the canopy could be too uneven for SOG.

Also are they feminized seeds?

For the SCROG I'd definitely plant more than 4 even if they are feminized. If not feminized I'd plant all of them.

Yes they are all feminized seeds.
I would plant a few extra regardless as I am going to clone off some of them so I can keep that strain alive.

Hmm... THey sell these 3 seeds as a package so I am wondering if maybe they grow similar - i guess that's probably far fetched LOL

Hmmm...

 

[VerdantGreen]

scrog isnt so good for multiple strains at the same time, and the extra vigor of seed plants is just as much of a problem with scrog as sog. also when running seed plants for the first time you want to be able to keep a close eye out for herms - something that is very difficult with scrog.
i would grow each plant and top them once or twice to form small bushes, and flower them like that. clone each one. after harvest decide which are your favorites and then do a scrog with the best ones - maybe 4 plants.
if you scrog with different strains it is better to do a modular scrog with a separate screen attached to each pot rather than try and flower different ones on one large screen - then you can adjust the heights of each separate plant to keep the canopy even.
when you do the scrog, use much bigger pots than 3 gallon.

check the links on my sig for modular scrog and how to do it.

GL

VG

 

[HazePhase]

scrog isnt so good for multiple strains at the same time, and the extra vigor of seed plants is just as much of a problem with scrog as sog. also when running seed plants for the first time you want to be able to keep a close eye out for herms - something that is very difficult with scrog.
i would grow each plant and top them once or twice to form small bushes, and flower them like that. clone each one. after harvest decide which are your favorites and then do a scrog with the best ones - maybe 4 plants.
if you scrog with different strains it is better to do a modular scrog with a separate screen attached to each pot rather than try and flower different ones on one large screen - then you can adjust the heights of each separate plant to keep the canopy even.
when you do the scrog, use much bigger pots than 3 gallon.

check the links on my sig for modular scrog and how to do it.

GL

VG

Makes sense about the multiple strains SOG failure.

I do want to use all 3 strains so maybe I can do 4 plants - 10 gallon bucket each (or should I do larger?) and have separate screens for each as I want to maximize yield.
-- would 4 plants be able to fit in a 5x5x7 tent?
Growing with a top end COB light to cover full area 900 watt LED 12 COB - Vero29 Gen7 - top custom light.

I wanted to do 4 plants so I can clone a few off each plant ... unless i start a few from seed to use for cloning in another area - i have to get another tent in a month or so.

Thanks man

 

[VerdantGreen]

sounds good, but i would test out all your seeds and select the best before doing a scrog like i described above. scrog is extra work and veg time so you dont really want to use untested plants for it.

in soil, the size of the pot has a huge influence on yield, and a scrog plant is a big plant trained into a small area. 10 gallon should be good.
for comparison i used 4 x 3-4 gallon pots under aabout 200w of LED or a 250 hps, and i usually pulled 8-10 oz total with my 4 mod scrogs. i literally used the biggest pots i could fit in the cab!
but yeah try with your 10 gallons and maybe step up the next time. the big pots do cause fast growth if the plants are happy and you need to deal with that.

plants can be as big as you let them get with pot size, veg time etc so you could fill that tent with 1 plant, 4 plants 9 plants 16 plants etc etc, the difference would be veg time and pot size - all part of the learning process

GL

VG

 

[HazePhase]

Thank you very much for your feedback.
What would your method be if you had 15 seeds.
I mean I don't want to waste more than I have to but maybe if i got another tent a month after starting my seeds i could set up a veg tent.
If i did that i could do:

- start 8 seeds - take the best 4 for SCROG and take the other 4 for veg tent to take clones from?
Or is that not what i would want to do as you would want to take the strongest plants to take clones from?

Thanks for the help

 

[VerdantGreen]

that sounds like a plan, if you dont want to use them all i would do 9 seeds maybe, and do a 9 plant grow with bushes as i described in my first post. you will not know which plants are best until you have harvested, cured and smoked some... so i would concentrate on the first grow and grow them out as i described in the my first post.
clone all the 9 plants and keep the clones until you have tested the buds of all the plants, take into account how well they grow too etc THEN take clones of your keepers and you can keep mother plants of any really good ones to take clones off for as long as you like!

like i said, scrog is a big investment in time and space in your tent. i always test out seeds by growing them sog or bushes first, you also get a better idea of how they grow naturally then before you manipulate them into scrogs
clones are MUCH easier to scrog than plants from seeds.

VG

 

[HazePhase]

like i said, scrog is a big investment in time and space in your tent. i always test out seeds by growing them sog or bushes first, you also get a better idea of how they grow naturally then before you manipulate them into scrogs
clones are MUCH easier to scrog than plants from seeds.

VG[/QUOTE]

I thought though that doing SOG isn't advised from seedlings as you need to let them mature much longer before you can flip.
Clones Veg 1 month and flip for 8 weeks
Seedlings Veg 2 months and flip for ????

Sorry i thought seedlings weren't good for SOG thus why i was thinking SCROG.. options...options...

 

[fishbonez]

I would highly suggest using tomato cages in your pots. I do this along with a spool of twist-tie and am having fantastic results. Very easy to train and control the height. I'd post pics, but I doubt I have enough posts to do so.

I use 7 gallon with large tomato cages in promix-hp.

 

[VerdantGreen]

Sorry i thought seedlings weren't good for SOG thus why i was thinking SCROG.. options...options...

i would say the potential disadvantages are the same for both. topping the plant and encouraging it to bush out is quick and easy and will help dilute the stretch a bit.
that said, its ok and perfectly possible to grow them any way you want, i'm just telling you what i think would be easier and less risk of disappointment.

VG

 

[HazePhase]

I would highly suggest using tomato cages in your pots. I do this along with a spool of twist-tie and am having fantastic results. Very easy to train and control the height. I'd post pics, but I doubt I have enough posts to do so.

I use 7 gallon with large tomato cages in promix-hp.

Thanks for the feedback.
I am thinking of going 15 gallon Smart pots - 4 of them - SCROG - I might add that in as you are suggesting so that it helps with tieing them up.
I also heard that bamboo shoots or sticks work well

 

[CosmicCharlie]

Yeah, I get what you are saying Verdant Green, definitely some good points.


There will definitely have to be a lot of attention paid to each plant with the SCROG and you will have to do a lot of trimming and weaving to try and keep the canopies even. That being said I think it could be done and would definitely be better than SOG.

 

[VerdantGreen]

i agree up to a point... but what happens if one of the plants that you have scrogged onto the screen starts to herm in mid flower? you are then going to have to try and cut that plant off the screen without sending pollen everywhere and seeding the rest - pretty much impossible, also pretty much impossible to examine each plant for male flowers.
if each plant is just a bush in a pot you can pull em out and have a good look at them whenever you want and if ones herms you can easily get rid of it.

VG

 

[HazePhase]

My seeds are 100% feminized so no worries there
I guess I didn't think about the hermit issues but I can just pull out the whole smart pot and get ride of it.
They have separate screens attached to themselves.

That should fix that issue.

 

[VerdantGreen]

so you're doing modular scrog? that will make it easier for sure, which is why i advised it in my first answer in the thread

enjoy your grow

GL
VG

 

[HazePhase]

Haha then yes module.
Sorry very new to all this but super excited lol