Good idea to make the final slice under water, to protect against an air embolism developing in the stems. General practice when taking cuttings.. Here is the most elite method, that works on any plant or tree: Add clonex solution and air stones to the air layer bottles for the ultimate...
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^ Like this post I just made on another thread talking about air layering.
Basically you would be turning the main branch or branches (upper 1/3 of the plant?) back into one or a few very large clones, for the next cycle. Not scrawny little cuttings, but big healthy clones, as big as you want, which will keep your perpetual cycle on schedule.
At the same time, it's As if you took a hedge trimmer across the top and cut the uneven bushy indica plants in half, making it flat for the scrog net to drop right on. Right as soon as you cut the air layer clones away, but without wasting all the material and spending all that back breaking time training it up to the net in the first place.. The canopy will fill right back in this way without having to mess with it it.
You can literally cut a gigantic 8 ft tall plant with a 2 inch stalk in half, after getting the top half to root, turning it into two 4 ft plants with the AL technique. Turning more than 50% of an entire plant back into a clone this way is risky though, as the whole thing could die, but I've done it on bushier plants.
For example, in your setup: You have 4 plants (looks like you've been training), which you would be taking 4 big clones from, once they are big enough. One from each plant, just before dropping the net, and switching to flower cycle. You would be taking the tallest branch on each one (if it wasn't already topped), and putting them in a separate area to veg and get perfectly trained for the next few months. This seperate veg area is also where you start and keep the next AL clones going, meaning you need no extra gear or space to propagate cuttings (like aero cloners/domes/etc) or any of that anymore. The clones even continue to veg while they are hooked to the moms, and won't fry under the full veg lighting, and can already begin high\low stress training as you wait for them to root!
I could go more into it if you want.
Either way,
It's so worth it to spend the extra time on a good indica strain, and let it fill the whole net with tops. You can scrog any strain really. Just need patience.
Then if you can manage, get a good perpetual cycle going, where your flipping a perfectly even canopy just as soon as they go into the tent, and only waiting 50-60 long days to replace them with another 4 plants that already fill it up again, and again, and again...
1 last thing to add, is that it helps to start out with mutated slightly stunted monster crop clones with that kind of genetics. Makes them extra bushy from the get go, but easier to train all the smaller branches that will form. Also, if taking such huge air layers from the start, it makes up for the time lost as the mutated clones revert back into a vegetative state, and start growing like crazy again. That coupled with a short indica flower time means you can have it dialed in on schedule, scrogged to the t when others said it wasn't fun, and the very maximum yeild of great smoke that is possible.
