ScrOG Screen Question

The instructions for a ScrOG generally include the screen hovering over the plants, but couldn't I just lay a screen (iin my case, chicken wire) directly over the pots (soil) so that I could start training earlier? I'm asking this because I saw a guy train his plant so that it just went in a continous circle from the center of a pot around and around to the outer lid of the pot, and I"m new to ScrOGing.

I think the point of hovering the screen 8 inches or so above is for one...maintenance (you have to get under there- water, trim, air circulation..etc), and two, the plants should get some nodes on them before you start bending. Of course, you could try!

Post the results

Well, I've also been doing some reading on topping, and I might just top it and then lead the new stems into the chicken wire. But, as I think about it, I'd like to trim the plant completely as far as anything under the screen once about 60/70 percent of its foliage is concentrated along the screen, so maybe I better hover it a few inches overhead. But I wanna get started !