How many plants, including cannabis, can you grow in a small space? Or let’s put it this way: how can you maximize your cannabis yield?
Since you are here, it means you want to maximize the cannabis yield in a smaller space. Whether you are a beginner or an expert grower, the Sea of Green method is a perfect choice if you have limited indoor space and lighting to grow cannabis – and you can certainly grow more plants.
The following guide explains the multi-purpose sea of green (SOG) method to facilitate bud development and increase plant yield.Growing techniques evolve to address different challenges many growers faces, such as space restrictions and artificial lighting. However, all commercial growers aim for a common goal, and that is maximum yield.
Curious to learn more about the Sea of Green method? Read along!
What is the Sea of Green Method?
Instead of growing fewer plants of bigger sizes indoors, you can use the Sea of Green growing method to grow more plants of smaller sizes.
Hence, in the SOG method, you grow small plants in a closed space, forcing them to flower early. Once the flowering starts, you’ll see a consistent branch growth of the plants that resemble a sea of green plants.
The SOG method efficiently uses led grow lights to reduce the vegetative cycle leading to a higher yield and, most importantly, quick harvest.
To sum up, the SOG growing method is a one-for-all and all-for-one cultivation solution that effectively uses the limited resources of space and lighting. Not only that, but the growers can increase the total number of crop cycles for consistent cannabis yield throughout the year.
History of the Sea of Green Method
For decades, growers have been cultivating marijuana indoors using artificial lighting since they no longer rely on external parameters like weather, temperature, and sunlight. Not only that, but artificial lighting also improves the overall marijuana yield.
This practice led to the invention of the sea of green technique to facilitate the growers using grow room space and artificial lighting to shorten the harvest cycle and enhance the current yield.
However, the traditional method involved growing larger cannabis plants as done in outdoor farming techniques.
In outdoor marijuana cultivation, the growers had all the summers for growing cannabis plants and weight for the flowering stage. Later, the larger plants offer maximum yields of two to three pounds and even more.
As time passed, growers started growing marijuana indoors using artificial light more efficiently. This transition from outdoor to indoor marijuana cultivation resulted in the sea of green method allowing the growers to cultivate shorter plants.
The sea of green is an all-rounder training technique that allows the growers to minimize the overall cost of water, lighting, electricity, water, fertilizer, and labor.
Benefits of the Sea of Green Growing Method
- Increased average yield per square foot and multiple harvests during the year.
- As the growing time shortens, the sea of green methods prevents diseases and pest attacks. That’s why the plants grow healthier during the entire life cycle.
- Since the sea of green methods requires lesser vertical space, the growers can cultivate more cannabis indoors.
- You can easily trim the plants to clone for the upcoming SOG crops because of the higher bud-to-leaf ratio.
- One of the most significant advantages of the SOG method is a lesser organic waste since you only need to remove fewer leaves.
- The growers no longer need to worry about the underdevelopment of the lower buds.
- The light continues to penetrate even when more plants become mature due to their short height.
Best Sea of Green Setup
The following two parameters determine the success of a sea of green setup:
- Cannabis strain type
- Total number of plants per square foot area
The rule of thumb is to grow one plant per square foot or a maximum of two plants per square foot in the available grow space.
You should know that the flowering stage varies for different types of cannabis plants. Therefore, selecting the correct type of strain plays a crucial role in determining the efficiency of the Sea of Green method.
For instance, the Indica dominant hybrids offer a faster flowering cycle compared to Sativas. You can use the SOG method to cultivate White Widow, Big Bud, Super Skunk, or the Hindu Kush.
Moreover, Sativas usually grow taller, which doesn’t comply with the sea of green technique.
Using proper lighting and cannabis strain, you can get around half an ounce per plant and a best possible ounce per plant.
You should know that Sea of Green works more effectively with cloned plants, leading to similar growth rates.
Combining the hydroponic system with the sea of green method allows the growers to maximize the cannabis yield in smaller spaces.
Growing Cannabis Plants Using Sea of Green Method
If you want to reap the maximum benefits of a sea of green setups, keep reading.
Cloning and Seed Germination
First, you need to germinate the seeds or use the cuttings of other marijuana plants to create clones. It’s essential to use SOG plants of the same height to form a homogenous dense canopy.
Using a clone from mature marijuana plants saves the growers from germinating female seeds or buying them from a cultivator.
One of the most significant reasons for using clones is to ensure identical plants of the same height in the sea of green crops. Moreover, the clones come from the mother plant. It means the growers already know about its target height, desired nutrients, and of course, the expected big yields.
Plants Placement in Grow Room
If you want to grow healthy roots of the plants, it’s best to place them in pots that offer the desired depth and width. Furthermore, the pots should have enough soil to support healthy root system development.
As mentioned earlier, you need to place one or a maximum of two plants on each square foot. Only this way, you’ll be able to create a seamless and uniform plant surface area.
The Sea of Green method is a low-stress growing technique in which you shouldn’t place the plants closer to one another as it encourages them to compete for the light. Hence, it leads to more stress and lesser bud production.
Watering the individual pots or containers is a difficult task while using the SOG growing method. That’s why you can connect a piece of the plastic tube to the funnel of the watering can to reach the farthest planet.
Lighting
Grow lights play a make-or-break role in the sea of green growing method. Therefore, it’s better to invest in buying a premium-quality LED bar system to minimize heat and offer uniform light penetration.
Vegetative Stage
In the vegetative phase, you should use 18 hours ON and 12 hours OFF lighting cycle. This stage continues until the plants reach 10 to 12 inches.
We can’t emphasize enough that the plants should have the same height for uniform light distribution. Only this way, the smaller plants won’t stress one another to receive more light.
The total duration of the vegetative stage depends on the grower. For instance, many cultivators let the plants grow in the lighting cycle of 18 hours daily till they reach 10 to 12 inches. On the contrary, other growers change the lighting cycle once the plants are four to six weeks old.
Nonetheless, as a general rule, you shouldn’t reduce the vegetative phase to less than four weeks at least. Moreover, you can add one or two weeks extra to boost the yield.
When you see the clones coming out, you need to light them with 150 to 200 micromoles and gradually increase the lighting to 550 micromoles.
Flowering Stages
After the vegetative stage, cannabis plants are ready for the flowering phase with 12 hours ON and 12 hours OFF light cycle. In this phase, the plants create a wider canopy to develop a single cola.
Besides, light distribution plays a crucial role in the flowering phase to eliminate hot spots within the grow room.
You can increase the lighting from 550 to 800 micromoles to ensure a smooth transition of the plants from the vegetative to the flowering stage. Furthermore, you should also decrease the humidity during the transition to minimize any spread of plant diseases or fungus attacks.
Take our advice and trim the lower branches underneath the canopy. This way, you can obtain clones for the future sea of green SOG cannabis crops. Not only that, but you can train the plants to focus on the growth of the main bloom.
Once you see the white and cloud buds, it’s time to harvest your crops.
Wrapping Up with the SOG Method
If you want to cultivate cannabis plants in a grow room, the SOG growing method is one of the most effective cultivation techniques.
The primary purpose of the Sea of Green method is to grow small cannabis plants in compact spaces. As a result, the growers increase the green yield and the total number of harvests per year.
Once you select the right cannabis strain, you can reap the maximum benefits of the sea of green cultivation techniques.
