Green Knight Berry Bomb Hydro CFL - Experiment #1: Supercropped Defoliated ScROG

[Green Knight]

he defoliated 1 week into flower.I would only do it to a top that has 2 or 3 nice secondary branches to become new tops.if it only has tiny little leaves sticking out for secondaries then I would train it out instead.I think where you top it is the most important thing with this tecnique,there has to be nice secondary growth for it to work

Perfect, thanks Jon, that's really helpful - and has saved me topping everything by mistake! When do you reckon the best time to do it is? He did it in first week of flower, but I was thinking a couple of days before switching to 12/12 to allow more time to develop?

 

[jon705]

for sure,the sooner the better.the only time I really do it is with the colas in the center of the plant that have nowhere to go but up. I find its a great way to bring everything back down to the same level. doing it right before flower should give you a nice even canopy bro

 

[Green Knight]

Sweet!

 

[Green Knight]

The branches weren't staying horizontal after supercropping, kept popping up, which doesn't surprise me. So I also LST'd her to keep them down.
Paperclips are amazing for this (cheers Jon) and the tote I used for my res has a nice lip i can just hook another paperclip to and then string a bit of wire in between.

I'm trying to spread her right out so she stays low and everything grows up at the same rate. The middle of the plant I expect will grow up and fill out. I've not defoliated again since the last time but I can see that having done so it should hopefully make a big difference; the light can really get to the developing branch sites, and I think far more so than if I hadn't previously defoliated - the fans would still create lots of shade.

I reckon I'm going to build my screen this weekend. I'm considering using fishing line. I did by some 2" green plastic netting, but it's made of quite thick plastic wire (3-4mm diameter) and because it's quite a small space I think the surface area the thick wire will take up (and light it will block out as a result) will be quite large relative to the grow area. I'm thinking that fishing line will be a better option as it will cut out significantly less light getting below the screen, and it will be more flexible than the rigid plastic. I'm all for getting the absolute maximium amount of light to all parts of the plant with what I've got, and I keep looking at this green netting I bought thinking it's just got to be inefficient.

 

[jon705]

looks great bro, a little trick I learned training this way was everytime you tie a branch down remove the fan leaf that is now on top of the branch to expose all the lower growth,I usually leave the now bottom fan leaf for a bit until the branch recovers and has sufficient growth. fishing line might be a little thin bro, I find the plant pushes pretty hard on the screen once you start training and bending under the screen.the fishing line might cut into the branches.

 

[Green Knight]

More helpful advice, thanks Jon; I'm going to go and nip a few leaves.

Hadn't thought about that with the fishing line, but yes, very good point, it probably would. I think string will be better than the netting I bought so I'll use that for the screen instead.

Thanks mate, always very helpful and much appreciated

 

[Tony Sussan]

God damn what a pleasant read Green Knight!
Except that Jon705 fella being a know it all!
Lovin your work my friend please keep it up!

 

[Green Knight]

Thanks Tony!

 

[Green Knight]

Day 42. The middle has started to grow up quite nicely and she's starting to spread out

I gave her a light defoliation, just removing leaves that were blocking new growth and developing branches

The mother plant is showing some signs of ill health. I think the four days darkness when my main cfl broke has stressed her. The new growth is bleached and there's some leaf die back. There was new white roof growth just over a week ago but this has stopped and there are some signs that the roots aren't 100% healthy either so I've upped the DM Zone concentration. To be fair to her she did get a beating when I pruned her and I think the dark period just stressed her a little too much.
I'm sure in the long run she will be fine, but I'll keep a close eye on her over the next few days. If things deteriorate I may consider taking a few clones from her as a back up.

 

[BigIrishDoode]

shes looking good, the momma should be fine with some tlc,

 

[Green Knight]

Thanks Bid. The mother's showing new white root growth today which is positive, she seems to be making a recovery.

Did some more stripping, supercropping and lst of the main plant yesterday. Didn't take any photos unfortunately; it was late and I was stoned!

Edit: unfortunately I didn't manage to build my screen either, which I'd said I would do. Heavy weekend.

 

[Tony Sussan]

Thanks Bid. The mother's showing new white root growth today which is positive, she seems to be making a recovery.

Did some more stripping, supercropping and lst of the main plant yesterday. Didn't take any photos unfortunately; it was late and I was stoned!

Edit: unfortunately I didn't manage to build my screen either, which I'd said I would do. Heavy weekend.

Oh well maybe next time mate! It's a shit time of year for most of us. I know i am so busy it's not funny. Sure were all in the sam boat!

 

[Green Knight]

Yeah, it's crazy this time of year what with work and catching up with people.

I'll aim to build the screen this week as have a couple of days off before Christmas so should have a bit more time. At the moment I'm just supercropping and using lst to keep everything flat so it's not hugely urgent that I get the screen in, but I do need to do it sooner rather than later

 

[Green Knight]

Day 48. The middle has filled out and a lot of the branches have developed into tops.

Today I had a bit of time so I built the screen. It's 1.5ft x 2ft and the squares are 2". It's at the minimum height it can be to allow the lid of the res to swing open.

Some of the growth is almost touching the screen but she's still got a way to go - I'm thinking another couple of weeks in veg before I flip the lights. As she grows up through the screen I'll bend her back under and supercrop at the same time.
I'm selectively defoliating to expose new growth and branch sites but letting her retain the majority of her leaves for now. I plan to do a full defoliation a few days before I flip the lights, and then another once stretch is over.

Before defoliation:

After a light defoliation just to expose growing tips and branch sites:

The light sits almost on the screen but it shouldn't take too long for her to hit the screen and start growing through:

 

[iSmokes]

Looking great GK. She's so bushy! She will fill out that screen before you know it

 

[jon705]

nice screen bro I like the little eye hooks, good idea

 

[Green Knight]

Thanks iSmokes; she's bushing up nicely and staying quite flat. Most of the growth is level so I'm hoping she'll grow up and out a bit and the tops hit the screen at the roughly same time.

Cheers Jon; yeah they're just little brass screw eyes; dirt cheap and nice and easy to thread to string through. The screen sits on brackets and a couple of little screws hold it in place so it's nice and solid, but only takes a minute to remove. I'll be needing your advice though mate on when to flip if that's ok; you've got a lot more experience with scrog and your berry bomb's a way ahead of mine so I'm hoping you'll be able to give me some guidance on the stretch, I don't want to over fill it.

 

[jon705]

sure bro no problem, from what im seeing so far it isnt a big stretcher being mostly indica so I would fill your screen to maybe 80%. im off work right now so all I do all day is read journals lol...I check yours every time somebody post something

 

[Tony Sussan]

Class act my friend!

 

[BigIrishDoode]

great scrog in the making!