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Although there are several options to choose from, we are going to focus on two in this blog. Once these two methods are understood they can be applied to almost any grow room. These two styles are Sea of Green (SOG) and Screen of Green (SCROG). The interesting thing about these two styles is that similar yields can be achieved with either. It is the variables leading to that yield that are important when choosing which is the right choice for you. Some of these variables are:

- plant count

- availability of clones or the ability to do in house cloning

- grow space available

- amount of time available to spend with your garden

Sea of Green (SOG)





Sea of Green refers to the technique of filling your grow space with as many plants possible. Usually the plants are grown in small pots. They are kept short and are only kept in the vegetative stage for two or three weeks. You may be wondering why anyone would want to maintain “as many plants possible” when I started this blog by saying yields will be similar with other techniques - let me explain. While the plant count is at it's maximum with this technique, you are able to save valuable time due to the fact that you reduce the vegetative time of the plant, restricting their size. The idea of this technique is to fill your canopy with plants that will not require much maintenance during their flowering period. Due to the sheer number of plants, your canopy will be full without the need of employing plant training techniques, which is a benefit for someone that either does not have those training skills yet, or just doesn't have that kind of time to spend in their cannabis garden.

High yields with minimal work sounds like the obvious choice right?

Well there is one downside to this technique, all of these plants need to come from somewhere! That means you need to have a reliable source of clones or seeds, which can become quite expensive, or become proficient at supplying your own clones. To maximize the time you can save in your garden, I would recommend looking into an automated irrigation system for sea of green, especially if you are applying it to a large scale home or commercial grow. Hand watering that amount of plants can become time consuming. Lets highlight a few of the pros and cons of the Sea of Green technique. Pros

- Eliminates the need for plant training

- Short grow cycle allows you to change strains more often

- One sick plant has less of an impact on the final yield of the garden

- Short veg time allows more harvests per year Cons

- More plants to monitor for pests and deficiencies

- Requires more materials (pots, soil, etc..)

- Requires steady inflow of clones or seeds

Screen of Green (SCROG)





Screen of Green refers to the technique of filling your canopy with as few plants as possible. This is done by a series of different plant training techniques such as low stress training, topping or super cropping. These training practices are then assisted by a net or horizontal trellis placed above the plant or plants. The plants branches are trained over a longer vegetative stage to grow and fill as much of your grow space as possible. By placing your trellis above the plants, you re-direct their vertical growth and force the branches to grow horizontally along the trellis (helping them out along the way of course) to form a large even canopy. The extra control in creating an even canopy is a huge benefit, as the top flowers are always the biggest due to the extra light. Screen of Green allows you to bring several flowers to an even level (that being your trellis) allowing them all to get maximum light, ultimately creating several large “top buds”.

By applying these practices you can fill a very large space with just one plant. To me, personally, this is the most exciting and involved method of getting to your harvest. Although there is much more work for the grower throughout the vegetative and flowering stage, experienced growers are able to fill a large canopy space with very few plants. How exciting! Lets have a look at some of the pros and cons of the Screen of Green method.

Pros

- Lower plant count

- More control in creating an even canopy

- Less plants to maintain allows for more quality time with each plant.

Cons

- Multiple plant training techniques needed

- Much longer vegetative time needed

- Time consuming for the grower

Although these two methods of growing cannabis are totally opposite, they are both tried and proven techniques to achieving great yields! Remember, there is no one right way to growing cannabis. There is a method for everyone, no matter your skill level. If these methods sound interesting, but you're having trouble deciding which one is right for you, try both! Do a side by side grow with each technique and see with which you can achieve the best yield. That’s almost always the right technique for you! Growing your own cannabis can be one of the most rewarding experiences, so start experiencing it for yourself!



