Growing Techniques: Sea of Green vs. Screen of Green

Cultivating cannabis at home can be fun, but it can also be frustrating. Cannabis does grow like a weed but like one that you have to take really good care of. Growing cannabis starts with the act of germinating seed or nurturing a clone into flowering. There are all kinds of different methods to help you accomplish this. It can be done indoors or outdoors, though, most cannabis today is grown indoors. Indoor growing environments provide the perfect setting for cultivating cannabis.

They allow for a controlled environment that monitors the temperature, humidity, heating, and cooling, plus more. Some indoor grows are extremely fancy having HEPA filters and other pieces of equipment used to make them grow more efficient that run tens of thousands of dollars. The small home grower that can grow at least six plants can benefit from either the sea of green or the screen of green growing method.  These methods are not recommended for a beginner though there is nothing wrong with jumping right into learning hands-on.

One thing you will want to practice up on by reading and watching videos is going to be your topping technique. You will want to choose when and how you decide to top your plants. There are a few different methods for doing this, but in the end, they all produce more buds. By topping a plant, instead of getting one bud point, you get two. So, top those plants wherever you can. I’ve learned to start topping my plants while they are in the seedling phase. This makes them extremely bushy, giving me more bud points. Of course, this method involves a lot more defoliating but, there’s something enjoyable about handling the plants.

SOG aka Sea of Green Method

The “Sea Of Green” technique is often abbreviated SOG. This unique method of growing is considered a low-stress technique. Instead of growing one or two plants in an area, a grower will put several. By placing the plants close together and growing them shorter, they end up growing together through trellising that is placed at the top of them to form a sea of green buds.

When the sea of green technique is used, growers often run with a very short veg cycle and start flowering in about 30 days. They will spend the next 60 days flowering and then usually harvest. Keeping the plants from growing too tall requires paying attention to the strain you are growing as well as manipulating it during the growing period. A combination of low-stress training and manipulating your DLI or Daily Light Intake will cause the plants to go into flowering and grow in the manner you are looking for. Many people say that whether you are using the sea of green or screen of green technique that the goal is to get an even table with your canopy.

SCROG aka Screen of Green Technique

The SCROG technique for cultivating cannabis or the “Screen Of Green” is different from the sea of green in that typically, only 1 to 4 plants are grown in this manner, depending on the size of your grow area. To utilize this technique, you will want to have a good understanding of topping seedlings as well as low-stress training to help manipulate the growth of the main stalk to expose as many bud points as possible.

It typically takes a lot longer during the vegetative cycle to use this method for cultivating cannabis. That is because one cannabis plant can be manipulated to produce an amazing amount of buds when the right time and energy is put into it. This method also takes a good understanding of pest management with cannabis plants because it takes longer to grow. The longer growth cycle makes this technique more susceptible to things that could potentially ruin your grow such as mildew, mold, or the ever-so-hated spider mites.

If you are limited to space and have the time, effort, and energy to put into learning this method, it is definitely worth it. The buds produced are terpy and tasty and loaded with a beautiful full spectrum of cannabinoids when flowered to perfection.  When you look at either one of these techniques of cultivating cannabis, they both look amazing. There is something about the screen of green growing method, though, that just captivates you. Seeing one plant produce all those beautiful buds is a very rewarding and fulfilling feeling. Most people get excited just looking at plants like this. Just imagine growing one for yourself.