Welcome to Metal Grow Solid

If you want to learn how to cook and grow the best Cannabis around, this is the place. If you want in depth articles for both the advanced and novice growers/cookers, this is the place. Let TehBosh lead you toward the results you truly desire. Enjoy your time here at Metal Grow Solid. If you want to learn more about TehBosh, you can check out his ABOUT section near the top of the page. All of his articles are on the right side of the page. If you want to contact him, his e-mail is tehbosh@gmail.com. Thanks for visiting and enjoy your stay.

ScrOG (Screen of Green) Explained

Why use the Screen of Green method?

The screen of green (ScrOG) technique of growing is used for its efficiency, even canopy for equal light penetration, and ability to use less plants. Scrogging can be done on indoor or outdoor gardens.

What is the ScrOG method?

The ScrOG method is done by using a netting system (chicken wire, fencing, strings, wood, etc.) and putting them over the tops of the plants. The plants are then in vegetative growth until the growth reaches the netting. Once at the netting, the plants are manipulated into filling out as much of the screen as possible.

 (A fence is completely filled out with multiple bud sites, which in turn creates more colas.)

(Thanks to Las Fingerez of rollitup.org for this photo.)

How to ScrOG:

Once you have your netting set up above the canopy of your plants, keep them in vegetative growth until the growth shoots start reaching the net. Once they are tall enough, start bending all of the growth shoots throughout the screen so it fills it out.

Like so: 

(Each growth shoot was bent to one part of the screen to allow other sites to grow.)

(Thanks to Rotten Egg of grasscity.org for the photo.)

From underneath:

(Each branch is grown until it is tall as the screen and then manipulated to fill it out.)

(Thanks to RaceFan of 420 Magazine for this photo.)

(Las Fingerez of rollitup.org uses miniature netting for individual plants to maximize growth. Very ingenious!)

Advantages of the ScrOG technique:

• It is efficient, as it will maximize yield from a single plant by giving multiple tops and bud sites.
• This is a good method for people who have plant limits or spacial issues and want to maximize yield.
• If done correctly, ventilation could become less of an issue, as more air is getting through more of the plant.

Disadvantages of the ScrOG:

• There is a considerably longer vegetative growth time, which elongates harvest.
• It can be time consuming and tedious for some.
• If not done properly, branches could snap and ventilation could become an issue.

Scrogging is definitely a method that maximizes yield per plant and can pay off if done right. It might be time consuming and the veg time might be more, but the ScrOG method is worth experimenting with. 

TehBosh

Increase yield with FIMing.

This is a write up by a user at rollitup.org name MBlaze and this is his tutorial on how to FIM a plant for multiple growth sites which results in higher yield.

"After seeing and hearing many questions about the FIM method I decided to do a tutorial on this method to show exactly how it is done and the results that can be achieved.

FIM stands for ''F**k I Missed'' and I'm not sure how it got that name because it's very simple to do. I use this method all the time to help create a wide canopy with many branches and colas. Some people FIM each plant more than once to create even more colas and branches and it works very well for them and has very minimal stress on the plant.

I usually FIM plants when they are between 1-2ft tall and it should be done at least 2 weeks before turning to 12/12 to maximize the growth potential of the new shoots and maximize the benefits of using this method.

#1 Locate the very top of the new growth.

 

#2 With a clean, sterilized scissors, Fold the fan leafs over and cut approximately 80% of the new growth off the plant.

#3 This is what it should look like after the cut has been made.

 

 #4 View of the Cut section after 2 days growth, showing the 4 new growth shoots (branches).

 

I sometimes dont even use scissors and I just pinch out some of the new growth with my fingers. Heres a few pics of another plant that I pinched with my fingers. This plant has been neglected throughout its short life so far and it has been sitting under a shitty fluro light so it would be doing much better under some decent lighting and better conditions but it gives you an idea of the early progress. 

You can see the dot where the FIM was done.

  

(4/6/09) Now you can see how many new shoots have started to form and you can get some idea of how many main branches this plant will have. Remember that this plant has been under a Flouro light so the growth would be even better under some decent lights.

This is the difference between FIMming and Topping:

Heres a few pics of the later stages of a single FIMming and what it can do."

 (Original post made by MBlaze of Rollitup.org. I (TehBosh) take no credit for the creation of this post, rather show it to others.)

"Defoliation" A High Yielding Pruning Technique Discussed.

I found this write up by a user at ICMAG.COM named k33fTr33z about how he selectively takes fan leaves off of his marijuana plants to open up more ways for light to penetrate. This post talks about how the light penetrates deeper into the canopy of plants to create more bud sites, ultimately increasing yield.

(You can grow a plant like this through "defoliation" or selective pruning)

"This subject is bound to raise a lot of disagreement. Please relate experience and photos.

Lets start by defining "defoliation" in the context of this technique. The term has negative connotations as Cannabis has been the target of defoliation by the Feds using Paraquat chemical defoliants. This is not what this is about.

This technique is about leaf removal by hand. It is employed to relieve shading in crowded conditions. It is a substitute to the popular technique of removing lower branches.

Defoliation encourages branching in vegging plants in the same way as nipping the leader. The benefit of this technique is that the leader is retained to continue to create branches. It also shortens nodal length creating a more compact specimen.

This is how the following plants are capable of yielding as much as 12 oz. in an allotted space measuring 32" cubed.

Leaves are removed starting in veg stage when they are about 6" tall with a couple of sets of fans. Leaves are removed again every 2-3 weeks or whenever things get a little shady.

3 decades of experience with this technique reveal that bud growth benefits more from light exposure than whether the corresponding fan leaf is present.

The idea with this method is to not remove any bud sites like in the aforementioned technique of lower branch removal. Bud sites produce bud. Do not remove. This method allows light to penetrate to all bud sites, not just the top buds.

This technique should not be done on plants that have not been prepared by defoliation from the beginning.

Observers will be shocked at the nakedness of a fully plucked skeleton of a barely flowering shrub. They will be even more shocked at the results after a few weeks. These results will debunk any insistence that big shading leaves are necessary for good bud production. Besides are we producing buds or leaf.

32"x32"x32" is all the space allowed. Before and after putting scythe to trunk. Intensive defoliation is the rule."

TehBosh: Some argue that the less foliage you have, the less photosynthesis the plant will do because the leaves are the main transport of energy and light. However, with results and pictures like this, it is definitely a method of pruning that is worth a try. Simply take off fan leaves that shadow potential bud sites throughout the plant, and note the results. (Photos courtesy of k33ftr33z)