I'm building a screen for my next grow and am having a hard time finding some info. I'm trying to figure out how far from the lights I should have my screen. I have a box built that is 2x2 and 4ft tall. With the bubble bucket and the lights hanging from the top I'm left with 32" of grow space. I'm thinking I should build the screen pretty much right in the middle, so 16" from the lights. Is that too much space? I'm just worried about the buds getting too tall and worrying about burning them. Thanks for the input.
keep the screen 10-12 inches away from base of plant and the light get as close as you can without burning leaves
do u just let the plant grow up to the screen or do u wait till its 10-12 inches then put the screen over it?
Everyone's going to tell you to let the plant grow into the screen. I dont do that. I take fully vegged plants and just drop a screen on them pounding them from about 18" in height to about 9" instantly. The key is to keep the plants trained beneath the screen. I've got a few videos on my journal from the last few weeks that shows my plants before and after I drop the screen.
I get that is the ideal situation but it doesn't work with my set up because the lights are fixed to the top of the box. Why is 10 to 12 inches best? What would be the disadvantage of having more space, like 16 inches?
Doing this has drastically cut down on time for vegging my scrog plants. I never do anything else but this. I can then run a couple at a time in a perpetual setup where others are going free standing next to a rectangular screen area. Get the branches dense about 15-18in long and then bend em and weave em right into the screen on the spot. Wait a week or so then train them back down slightly and then let em go. Works great and speeds up the standard scrog method.
let me make sure i have this right.... drop the screen on top and put all the colas in place. when you say train them back down, is that the new growth or the colas you first trained?
a little surprised not one person asked what size light you are using. Without knowing this no one can tell you how close to put your screen. Obviously as one person said get it as close without burning your leaves. feel if its too hot under there. Youll know if it is.Really its only about the plants being comfortable not so much the hids penetration in scrog. you want to maximize your lights footprint so having it too close will also be counter productive by not efficiently lighting the sides and creating a hot spot in the middle.. Thats about the best answer your gonna get without telling us the wattage of your lamp and if the reflector is air cooled or not. i like to keep my screen low and move my light depending on temps, if its a cold day i could drop it closer, if its hot that day back her up.. good luck
The reason to keep the screen closer 10-12" rather than 18-20" is to reduce veg time. Your trying to have a plant that grows across a horizontal plane so there's no need to have a higher screen. As the plant grows 2-3"above the screen pull each branch back through and reposition under the screen in the direction you want. Keep doing this until the screen is 60-70% full and then cut your light back to 12/12. Keep tucking your branches for the first two weeks of flowering so they don't stretch too much. The whole idea is to have all your buds at the same height above the screen so they get equal amounts of light. If you do this right you may never grow any other way. If your using cfl's then you should try to get the lights closer to the plant, HID's should be fine at 16".
^what brotherwind said if you only have 32'' of space between pots and light, and if its HID of more then 250W especially without a cooled hood I would have the screen at about 8-10 inches, just enough so you can reach under the screen for training etc. That would leave you with about 22'' of space above the screen 5-8'' for buds and the rest for good air circulation and a small bit of breathing room if they stretch more then you expected after you leave them goHave a look at some other scrogs in low spaces and see what they did.Good luck with it hope it works out well!
that's what im hoping. im setting up my veg box and im trying to figure out how to big to make my screen. thinking of a portable sog
I generally veg them in a veg tent until about 18in fully lst'd and trained. Then I put the light weight screen on top of them crushing them slightly. Then I weave the taller branches through the screen putting a budding site in every hole. I generally can fill the screen 98% right then and go immediately to 12/12 I do this because it saves me time and is easier with the space I have to run a perpetual set up since I only have space for two tents. I am sure some people would think this is crazy but it works great for me. I just don't want to veg in the same area I flower. I actually have started using square pots that I build a screen on to. Then I can actually move each of my plants in the scrog when needed. Doesn't yield quite as much like this but it is far easier to move to flush and such things. I just attached PVC arms to each corner of a square pot them attach a screen platform made of PVC and weed wacker line strung through like a tennis racket. Light weight easy to adjust and dirt cheap to make a number of them. 20' of PVC is like 2 dollars here and I can make a few the size I need or might want like that. Weed wacker line was like 5 dollars for the smallest most flexible they had. So 7 dollars and I can make like 6-7 of them. I like to tinker what can I say.
Thanks everyone for the replies. Right now I am just using CFLs but hope to purchase a set up for a HPS light by the time I do my next grow. I'm not too worried about veg time because I actually have 2 boxes. I have a smaller box that I start my plant in while I'm finishing flowering one in my bigger box. It's worked out that I can usually transfer the plant from the small box to the bigger box and start flowering within a week.
Running cfls only, it shouldn't be a big deal as long as you can drop the lights down. Put the screen as high as your patience for the veg cycle allows, all the while keeping your lights within an inch or two of the canopy. If you continue pulling the growing shoots under the screen for three weeks after switching to 12/12, you can expect 6 inches or so of growth above the screen. The concern comes in when running a HPS in a short box. That requires a little planning to keep the tallest tip of the plant at a safe distance from the intensity of the bulb. Good Luck!