Sorry to hear about the break in and the awkward position it put you in. Nothing quiet like being the victim and being in fear of punishment by the law.
As for your question about the SCROG and what size you should make. Granted I have only grown one SCROG but I did it with minor success and was able to make a few conclusions from my adventure. My squares were 2 1/2 inches square and my screen itself was 4 feet by 3 feet.
What I did no like about the big size and having 2 plants under the same SCROG was this, it made flushing darn near impossible, while some branches tucked under very easily, certain areas of the SCROG filled in quicker then others which created issues for canopy height. Next go around I am thinking each plant should have it's own scrog and it should be fixed to the pot so everything can be mobile. 2 1/2" actually was to large, 2 inches would work better. The whole object of the scrog is to get the branches to grow parallel with the floor. 2 1/2 inches was just a smidgen to large of an opening and once a branch entered a square it had to be almost 3 inches of growth before I was able to tuck it back under.
The other thing I would do differently is instead of using one continuous string to weave back and forth to make the SCROG I believe it would be better to use individual strings for each run across the screen. The reason behind this train of thought is this. Once the stretching is over with and the majority of growth moves to the buds, you can then remove every other string and have 4x4 openings as opposed to 2x2 opening. This will make daily maintenance easier, plus heaven forbid, you get spider mites early on in the flowering stage like I did it will make it easier to get access to all the leaves easier.
I do believe that SCROGs are very useful and do help a ton for final yield and quality of yield, but what I find difficult to deal with, you may find to be a non-issue.
As for your question about the SCROG and what size you should make. Granted I have only grown one SCROG but I did it with minor success and was able to make a few conclusions from my adventure. My squares were 2 1/2 inches square and my screen itself was 4 feet by 3 feet.
What I did no like about the big size and having 2 plants under the same SCROG was this, it made flushing darn near impossible, while some branches tucked under very easily, certain areas of the SCROG filled in quicker then others which created issues for canopy height. Next go around I am thinking each plant should have it's own scrog and it should be fixed to the pot so everything can be mobile. 2 1/2" actually was to large, 2 inches would work better. The whole object of the scrog is to get the branches to grow parallel with the floor. 2 1/2 inches was just a smidgen to large of an opening and once a branch entered a square it had to be almost 3 inches of growth before I was able to tuck it back under.
The other thing I would do differently is instead of using one continuous string to weave back and forth to make the SCROG I believe it would be better to use individual strings for each run across the screen. The reason behind this train of thought is this. Once the stretching is over with and the majority of growth moves to the buds, you can then remove every other string and have 4x4 openings as opposed to 2x2 opening. This will make daily maintenance easier, plus heaven forbid, you get spider mites early on in the flowering stage like I did it will make it easier to get access to all the leaves easier.
I do believe that SCROGs are very useful and do help a ton for final yield and quality of yield, but what I find difficult to deal with, you may find to be a non-issue.
of course with Leds you need more cal/mag........ Seems to be working on mine now since I have been putting more in my water.