Not too long ago, most marijuana growers cultivated their plants outdoors and focused on increasing the yield of each plant. Experienced growers often produced a pound or more of bud from a single, tree-sized marijuana plant, and today’s outdoor yields exceed those early expectations.
Unfortunately, not everyone has access to tons of land in a sunny, warm climate with a long growing season. As a result, many marijuana growers have been moving their operations indoors, changing the whole dynamic of harvests. Instead of aiming for maximum yields per plant, today’s indoor growers measure success by yield per square meter and often prioritize consistent, year-round harvests over massive individual crops.
The sea of green (SOG) growing method is perfect for today’s space- and time-pressed indoor growers. It allows them to maximize their yields in limited grow spaces and take down crops much faster than standard indoor growing practices.
The best part of SOG is that this method is easy enough that even novice indoor growers can usually master it quickly. Whether they have years of experience with outdoor grows and have just recently invested in indoor cannabis cultivation equipment or they’re just planning out that first season, growers can read on to find out everything they need to know about SOG
What, Exactly Is SOG?
SOG involves growing many small marijuana plants in a compact area instead of focusing on maximizing yield per plant, as with outdoor grows. Packing the plants into a tight space causes them to grow together to create a dense canopy of buds, lending credence to the name “sea of green.”
One of the best parts of the SOG method is that growers can use it to force their plants into the flowering stage much earlier than they could with most training methods. Forcing flowering after just two to three weeks of vegetative growth keeps the plants compact and causes them to focus more on creating giant main colas than on feeding small, larfy side blooms.
Because the plants only need to support one giant cola each, they don’t have to be as large or well-developed as normal marijuana plants to begin flowering. Though it’s true that plants grown using the SOG method produce less bud per plant, the expedited growing process gives indoor growers larger yields in shorter harvest times, allowing for consistent year-round production.
How to Create a Sea of Green
Now comes the fun part: learning how to put this thoroughly modern technique into practice. Growers just need to follow the steps below to get onto the path to impressive year-round harvests.
Shorten The Vegetative Cycle
Sea Of Green Cannabis Growing
Follow The General Steps
Step One: Choose Appropriate Strains
The very first step to creating a successful SOG setup is to start with the right strains. Not all cannabis strains are appropriate for the SOG method.
Most growers choose low-growing, bushier indica strains because they’re easier to control and have a faster flowering cycle. However, some sativa and hybrid strains can also be trained to grow into a sea of green.
Step Two: Start the Plants
The first step towards putting the SOG method into practice is to purchase and germinate seeds or acquire cuttings and create clones. Both growing from seed and using clones are viable methods for starting plants.
Clones flower faster than plants grown from seed. However, they may have less genetic viability, and they’re not as affordable for growers who are just getting started and can’t take their own cuttings. Either method of propagation is viable, so it’s up to growers to decide how they want to start their cannabis plants.
Step Three: Transplant Into Small Pots
The best pots for the SOG method are much smaller than those used in normal soil-based grows. Most growers like to use 4-6 liter pots to prevent the plants from growing too larger and force them to use up resources on producing a single cola rather than creating spreading vegetative growth.
There’s another reason it’s wise to use small pots. To use the SOG method effectively, growers must place their plants much closer together than would be typical in other indoor setups. One to two plants per square foot is the industry norm, but make sure they’re not placed so close together that the plants are competing for light.
Step Four: Install Netting
Because plants grown using this method tend to be top-heavy, most experts recommend installing netting across the entire grow space. Growers who want to take this extra step should install their netting at the beginning of the grow. Otherwise, it can be difficult to get to the plants in the middle of the SOG.
Step Five: Ensure Uniform Light Provision
It’s very important to choose the right grow lights for a SOG setup. Each of the plants needs to receive an equal amount of light, which requires evenly distributed diodes that do not concentrate illumination in one area of the grow. The best solution is to purchase high-quality LED grow lights that can be used throughout both the vegetative and flowering stages.
Step Six: Shorten the Vegetative Stage
As with other indoor grows, plants grown in a SOG should receive 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness in each 24 hour period during their vegetative stage. The difference is, the plants will only be in veg for two to six weeks. Most growers wait until their plants reach 10-12″ to switch them to flower, but some do so when the plants are just 6″ tall.
Once the plants have gotten as tall as growers want them, they can switch over to a 12/12 light schedule to force them into flower. Forcing the plants into flower early will widen their canopies and cause them to focus their resources on the main colas.
Step Seven: Trim the Lower Branches
Most growers trim their plants’ lower branches as the canopy forms. Trimming off side branches helps to reduce wasted energy in the system and gives growers cuttings to use for future clones. However, as with netting, this step is not strictly necessary.
Step Eight: Harvest the Buds
Finally, growers can harvest the buds when they are ready. Keep in mind that because the plants grown in a SOG setup are much smaller, it’s best to judge timing on trichome color rather than size. The yield per plant grown in a sea of green will be small, but the yield per square foot will be much larger than usual because of all the extra plants.
Tips for Success
Growing cannabis using the SOG method is a relatively simple process, but more experienced growers know that while they’ll always follow the general steps listed above, they’ll need to adjust environmental parameters as necessary if they want to maximize their yields. They suggest:
- Starting clones or seedlings under 150-200 micromoles of light and increasing light intensity to 550 micromoles slowly as the plants approach the vegetative stage.
- Transitioning the plants slowly from 550 to 800 micromoles as they switch over from veg to bud.
- Supplementing CO2 up to 1500 ppm to induce rapid growth.
- Decreasing humidity when the plants transition over into bud to help prevent mold growth in a cramped environment.
- Keeping track of vapor pressure deficit as a measure of plant transpiration and water loss instead of relying on less accurate measures like relative humidity.
Novice growers may not have the equipment to supplement CO2 or measure vapor pressure deficits, and that’s fine. It’s perfectly reasonable to try out a SOG grow with what equipment is on hand as long as growers follow the general steps described above.
Benefits of the SOG Method
Not sure if it’s worth going through the extra effort to set up a SOG grow? There are tons of benefits to this technique that could change even the most stubborn grower’s mind. The SOG method provides:
- More frequent harvests
- The ability to get large yields in small spaces
- More efficient use of light and space
- Cuttings for future clones
- Shorter plants for multi-level grow rooms
- A high success rate, even for beginners
The SOG method is perfect for indoor grows of all shapes and sizes. Novices with small grow tents can fit more plants into a tiny footprint, while commercial growers that don’t have time to tend to each plant individually will find that the SOG method is perfect for large-scale grows with advanced maintenance systems.
Drawbacks to the SOG Method
Lots of growers love the SOG method, but it’s not the right training technique for everyone. Growing plants in a SOG setup requires creating a dense canopy, which can be problematic for home growers who live in states that place strict limits on the number of plants they can grow.
Strain selection for SOG growing is also more limited. It’s a great technique for indicas, but it doesn’t work as well for sativas or sativa-heavy hybrids. Growers will also find that it’s difficult to grow multiple strains in the same tent or room because the canopy needs to be even for the SOG method to produce optimal results.
Try the SOG Method at Home
The SOG method for growing marijuana is easy to implement, and it’s a very low-stakes training technique that’s appropriate for growers of any experience level. All it takes is the right grow setup, some high-quality seeds from Kind Seed Co, and a desire to learn and implement new techniques.
