Sea of Green method newbie

[Starbuck10]

Hey all, okay, so not exactly a newb, i've had 4 goes at a grow op. my first 2 grows (Bubblegum and ICE) failed for different reasons (lights not strong enough and nutrients burning the plants) and my third (Durban Poison) was perfect until i screwed up the drying/curing process , and this last one i got JUST RIGHT (Master Kush Ultra YAY!). i don't mind the fails tho, i learned far more from that than anything else, plus i'm not in it for the money so i don't mind if i fail. the kush i managed to grow in the end looked like something out of a magazine, so worth the trouble of the previous failed attempts!

BUT! now i have a smaller area in which to grow, and i want to have 10 plants in a sea of green setup (for anyone unfamiliar with the term "sea of green" or SoG, i'm talking about the method where you grow plants much closer together and force all the growth into the main cola, pretty much trimming away all the bottom branches, but you don't grow the plants too tall) and to tell true, i've never grown this way before so i have LOADS of questions.

i've been doing soil grows from clone this whole time and i'd like to stick with that, i'm not ready to move to hydro yet, i've only just got the hang of soil. Questions: is SoG fine in soil or is it something that mainly only works for hydro? also, for 10 plants, how much room would someone need using this method?

i've got 1 400 watt HPS light with a big old reflector to go around it, and it's been doing well for up to 6 plants. Questions: for 10 plants should i get a next bulb? in SoG does the grow have more or less light requirements?

i did my veg cycle: 16hrs light/8hrs dark and the flowering was 12hrs light/12hrs dark. Question: do you have to switch up the light/dark times in this grow method. sometimes i read you gotta make it 24/0 in veg and 12/12 in flowering, sometimes i read 16/8 in veg and 12/12 in flowering. what the real story?

straight up question: how in the hell do you stop the plants from falling over if they are that close together, it will be pretty hard to reach the plants in the back to trim them or add supports, etc...

and last topic to get answers on is nutrients. so far i've been using Advanced Nutrients' Bud Blood, Big Bud, Bud Candy and Carboload (all in powder form mixed with water) and i'm also using only about 75% of the amount they tell you to use on the package because the amounts they recommend on the package burned the shit outta my ICE plants. Question: can anyone tell me what are some of the best nutrients you've used? if anyone else uses advanced nutrients products, can you tell me a soil system that works well? also, like i mentioned, the recommended dosage can burn the plants, is it more or less likely to happen when using the sea of green method?

okay, so, i think that's all i have for now, i'll keep posting questions as i think of them.

thanks for your help internet grow-pros. if it weren't for peeps like you i'd be foolishly giving my monies to some stupid high-school kid with a bag of lame shake.

cheers!

 

[snowking]

Soil is fine, I like coco coir.

With a single 400w HPS bulb, I built a grow table that would hold 16 - 1 gallon pots (about 26"x26" square, 4 rows x 4 columns, you'll have to convert to centimeters on your own, sorry).

I veg 20/4, but I know a guy who's been growing for over fifteen years and he veg's 24/0 with no problems.

never had a problem with them falling over. Well, my grow tables have wheels, so sometimes when I push them around the room, they're a little top heavy and do fall over.

you're on your own with your nutes. What I do is use the formula's right off the bottle when mixing into a 5 gallon bucket. Then I add additional clear/clean water to nute reservoir based on plant stage. So for Early Growth 5+4, Late Growth 5+3, Bloom 5+3 or 5+2 depending on plants. I still haven't grown a batch of plants all the way through without light burn, nute burn, or pot bound problems.

Big question is do you have separate veg and flower area's? If you do, then you can veg your plants a little longer and there's no real penalty. If you don't then you'll kick out more crops per year if you use a shorter veg cycle. Old School SoG meant no veg time, just flower them straight out of the cloner. 8"-12" is pretty popular in my neck of the woods. If you veg to 12", you may get as much as 1/2 ounce per plant. With 25 plants under 1 light that's 3/4 pound per 400w light.

good luck

 

[Greenthumb422]

I am SoG and use soil...I have more than ten plants and have girls in 3 different stages of Flowering. I am experimenting with different nutrients on the three different sets. I am using Fox Farm on the one set, using Neptune's harvest and other organic products for the second set, and on the third set I am only going to feed them my compost tea ix that i brew. I brew it using a 5 gallon bucket, with airstones and a pump agitating the water on the toip. I was trying to make it a vortex but didn't work out well. I use the Neptune's fish and seaweed, Molasses, kelp and Budswell bat & seabird guano and worm castings. Let it brew two days. I have a picture of this.
Question about ur Advanced...were you fertilizing every watering?

 

[Greenthumb422]

here>>

 

[Greenthumb422]

YOu don't need four airstones...only one and you really don't need a pump, but it does create foam

 

[greendude72]

Hey all, okay, so not exactly a newb, i've had 4 goes at a grow op. my first 2 grows (Bubblegum and ICE) failed for different reasons (lights not strong enough and nutrients burning the plants) and my third (Durban Poison) was perfect until i screwed up the drying/curing process , and this last one i got JUST RIGHT (Master Kush Ultra YAY!). i don't mind the fails tho, i learned far more from that than anything else, plus i'm not in it for the money so i don't mind if i fail. the kush i managed to grow in the end looked like something out of a magazine, so worth the trouble of the previous failed attempts!

BUT! now i have a smaller area in which to grow, and i want to have 10 plants in a sea of green setup (for anyone unfamiliar with the term "sea of green" or SoG, i'm talking about the method where you grow plants much closer together and force all the growth into the main cola, pretty much trimming away all the bottom branches, but you don't grow the plants too tall) and to tell true, i've never grown this way before so i have LOADS of questions.

i've been doing soil grows from clone this whole time and i'd like to stick with that, i'm not ready to move to hydro yet, i've only just got the hang of soil. Questions: is SoG fine in soil or is it something that mainly only works for hydro? also, for 10 plants, how much room would someone need using this method?

i've got 1 400 watt HPS light with a big old reflector to go around it, and it's been doing well for up to 6 plants. Questions: for 10 plants should i get a next bulb? in SoG does the grow have more or less light requirements?

i did my veg cycle: 16hrs light/8hrs dark and the flowering was 12hrs light/12hrs dark. Question: do you have to switch up the light/dark times in this grow method. sometimes i read you gotta make it 24/0 in veg and 12/12 in flowering, sometimes i read 16/8 in veg and 12/12 in flowering. what the real story?

straight up question: how in the hell do you stop the plants from falling over if they are that close together, it will be pretty hard to reach the plants in the back to trim them or add supports, etc...

and last topic to get answers on is nutrients. so far i've been using Advanced Nutrients' Bud Blood, Big Bud, Bud Candy and Carboload (all in powder form mixed with water) and i'm also using only about 75% of the amount they tell you to use on the package because the amounts they recommend on the package burned the shit outta my ICE plants. Question: can anyone tell me what are some of the best nutrients you've used? if anyone else uses advanced nutrients products, can you tell me a soil system that works well? also, like i mentioned, the recommended dosage can burn the plants, is it more or less likely to happen when using the sea of green method?

okay, so, i think that's all i have for now, i'll keep posting questions as i think of them.

thanks for your help internet grow-pros. if it weren't for peeps like you i'd be foolishly giving my monies to some stupid high-school kid with a bag of lame shake.

cheers!

Wow, great questions here. I'm learning a lot and I'm not sure all of them have been answered.

I have to say that Advanced Nutrients has really great stuff, but it is really strong. You were off to a good start with the lower dosage at first. I think it just depends on the strain sometimes.

LOL about the high school kid and the shake, cuz I still do that when I'm too lazy. Gotta say though, it's more fun to grow than it is to just buy crap from a bag.



Your harvest is always better.

Coming back to watch this one...

 

[Aeroherbs]

Good questions here, I'll do what I can to shed some light on things.

Speaking of light, I wouldn't say there's a significant difference in the demand for light between SoG or any other method. More = better pretty much no matter how you grow, provided you're not frying your plants with heat. SoG usually means more plants, but it's more plants per square foot and light distributes the same per square foot regardless of how many plants are in that space.

Light cycles aren't different for SoG. Just do it however you think it should be done, you won't get any preaching from me about 18/6, 24/0, 20/4 or whatever cycle people want to use. I use 18/6 because that's what I think works, but if what you do works don't mess with it.

Support: I find that SoG doesn't have much of an issue with support simply because the plants help each other out. Think of it like a crowded subway car... if the train jolts people might lose their balance a bit but because they're packed in there isn't really anywhere to fall so they keep each other up.


Nutes: I like Advanced Nutrients too. The doses they print on the bottles are kind of a "best case scenario" meaning if you've got tons of light, CO2, etc... the best growing conditions and strains, then your plants are going to use that much. Maybe even more. Always underestimate nutrient recommendations no matter what the brand, you sound like you've got it figured out already on that score.

If you're thinking about someday stepping into hydro, or you just want to use more hydro nutes with soil more easily, check out a soil-less mix like Sunshine #4. It gives really good stability almost as good as soil but lets you feed pretty much like it's a hydroponic system.

 

[Greenthumb422]

hi there...I think people think sog is just that...a sea of green. They use screens and all. My idear of SoG is more of a perpetual grow, adding new girls weekly or bi weekly so your harvesting weekly or bi-weekly. Grow many, grow small. I like you attitude Aeroherbs abut preaching..seems they're so many teachers around these parts. I however am a student and always will be. I maybe an ass at times, but its due to this pain medication I am on due to a broken back in 89...its catching up with me. And what they got me on ios super strong....Fetenyal Patches....its crazy...I wont be taking that stuff anymore after this week. I'll stick with my Cannabis. I mean these patches of caused me to lose weight, thats a mojor thing..I don't like that. But i love to Grow...I love seeing or creating an end result...kinda like painting. I love to paint...like walls and a house, just because u turn something ugly, pretty.

 

[stateless]

YOu don't need four airstones...only one and you really don't need a pump, but it does create foam

Was wondering how your experiment worked with the compost tea? I have been thinking about going this direction myself. it works in the vegetable garden don't see why not for Cannabis.