What is the “sea of green” method of growing cannabis indoors?

What is the SOG (sea of green) method?

• “Sea of green” (SOG) is a technique for growing cannabis that focuses its harvest cycles on the plant’s cola, the main bloom, thus concentrating its nutrients, as well as the potent trichomes it produces. The idea is to have many smaller plants instead of fewer, taller plants, a growing method also known as “screen of green” (SCROG).

• Trichomes are where the money is—research shows that trichomes that are exposed to higher levels of UV light produce more THC, which is what you should expect under SOG. Trichomes also produce the terpenes and cannabinoids that give a plant its distinct flavor profile and can even ward off pests.

Benefits of growing cannabis with the SOG method

If adopted by the right indoor cannabis farm, the SOG method has three core benefits:

• Fast harvest cycle:under SOG, harvest cycles are measured in days, not weeks.
• Efficiently potent product: while SOG involves many small plants, each plant’s resources are devoted to a single bloom, leading to far superior flower and sugar leaves.
• Maximum potential: smaller plants in smaller pots are perfect for space-conscious growers with limited cubic feet.

That said, SOG is best suited for grow ops that have already developed parent plants and clones with the phenotypes for quick and consistent heavy main blooms. Usually, these are indica strains like Northern Lights, as sativa colas tend to grow up instead of out like indica does.

Montel and SOG cannabis

• Although multi-tiered indoor vertical farming was designed for many different methods of growing, the low clearance requirements of SOG cannabis plants are ideal for stacking and are therefore excellent for mobile racking.

• One of the challenges of SOG growing is accessibility. As we said earlier, SOG drives farms to grow and harvest many small, just flowering plants in order to maximize profits. But without organization, SOG grow ops can become susceptible to mold and mildew, which can proliferate quickly if unnoticed.

• But Montel’s high-density vertical farming solutions GREENRAK and GROW&ROLL are a perfect marriage of space optimization and accessibility. They are engineered without end panels and other cumbersome components that would otherwise prevent grow teams from inspection and cultivation.

• As always, the collapsible design of mobile vertical farming racks minimize the footprint in your grow room, giving your team a lot more room to work. And Montel’s commitment to custom installations means you’ll have a vertical grow system tailored to how you grow.

• If your cannabis farm is moving to an SOG growing model, or if you’re looking to support one with a high-density clone room, talk to your local Authorized Montel Distributor about our free, no-obligation consultation. We’ll include 2D and 3D renderings of how your operation would work with a vertical grow system tailored to your SOG demands, whatever they might be.