We introduced the sea of green in the last blog, if you’d like to learn about the steps about it, keep reading:
Step by step to achieve Sea of Green (SOG) for massive yields
Now you may be thinking that the sea of green method is a complicated and daunting cannabis growing technique. Far from it. SOG method is a simple, low-stress strategy with a few practical steps which, if followed, can successfully boost your CBD venture. Here are the five growing stages for a successful SOG growing method:
Prepare the Seeds or Clones
The first step is to germinate the seeds you want to use for SOG. Alternatively, you can source for other plant cuttings if you want to use the cloning method. Using clones for SOG is a better option because it helps you ascertain if the plant is of the same cultivar type and whether they can all grow similarly if the conditions remain constant.
Prepare Space
Having settled on your desired plant type with seeds or clones ready, the next step is to prepare the grow space. Fill up several plant pots with the correct type of soil. Ensure the soil is enough to sustain healthy roots which go deep into the soil.
Ideally, the plant pots should be around 10-12 inches in diameter. Place at least two seeds or clones per pot per square foot, taking care not to overcrowd them. By not placing the plants too close together gives them ample surface area to develop seamlessly while minimizing the chances of the plants competing for light and nutrients.
When plants compete against each other for survival, they become stressed. This is dangerous for your SOG crops. Stressed plants stagnate in biomass which results in low buds production and ultimately low yields.
Prepare Lighting
Once your plants have budded, it’s time to light up the grow tent with quality grow light. Shop You should provide an average of 18-24 hours of uninterrupted light per day until the plants are about 12 inches tall. Ensure that all the plants are of the same height to enable them to receive the same amount of light. This will minimize possible stunted growth among your crops and may result in little to no buds at all.
Give Extra Care in the Vegetative Phase
With everything set and your small THC and CBD plants proliferating under the grow lights, the next growing cycle for your crops is the vegetative stage. How long your crops stay in the vegetative stage largely depends on your preferences.
Some cultivators will leave the plants lighted up for at least 18 hours a day until they reach around 25-30 cm or 10-12 inches in height. Others prefer to switch off the lighting phase after two weeks or when the plants are about six inches tall.
Switching off the lighting when the plants are under 6 weeks is highly discouraged. This is because the SOG-grown plants need to be at least two months to attain the flowering stage. Therefore, interrupting the vegetative stage can result in limited bud production and, ultimately, limited yield per plant.
Be Strategic
As your plants approach the end of the vegetative stage to usher in the flowering stage, you need to develop a delicate strategy that does not shock or stress your plants. Rather than switch off the lighting completely, reduce it to a minimum of 12 hours a day. Twelve hours of light and another twelve hours of darkness enable your plants to adjust accordingly and flower efficiently.
Each plant will then develop a wide canopy of green flowers then channel their energy to producing one large cola. To mitigate the development of a possible hot spot, ensure the lighting is proportionally and evenly distributed away from the smaller plants. Also, trim off the underneath branches on the mother plant to preserve them as clones for your future SOG crops.
Harvest Time
Once the canopy is fully developed, and each plant has produced a single large cola, then it’s time to prepare for harvest. To know if your harvest is ready, check the condition of the trichomes of your buds. If they appear white and cloudy, then your sea of green plants are ready for harvesting.