Dear Dan, I’m not a first-time grower, but I would also not say I’m a pro (yet), either. I’ve always done hydroponics with 1-2 plants per 1000-watt HPS and recently I’ve been thinking of switching it up. I want to do around 80-100 plants in a SOG under 8 1000-watt HPS lights, and I do have an environmental controller keeping humidity, temps and C02 right where it should be. All that said, I was wondering what a good estimate for yield would be ? Should I stay hydro or switch to soil for my SOG? And if I should switch to hydro what kind of set up would be ideal to start my SOG? I want to get a base down then I will tweak it to the plants liking. – Rayzer Mahne
Dear Rayzer,
Adding many more plants to your system will require plenty more work and could possibly put you in more jeopardy as well, depending on where you live and what the laws on plant limits are. With that working, if you still wish to grow in a Sea Of Green (SOG) fashion, you should expect to yield approximately one to two pounds of dry bud per 1000-watt light. The other plus side is that you’ll have a shorter vegetative time because plants grown so close together don’t need much time for building leaves and branches. This could ultimately lead to an extra harvest cycle per year, leading you to understand better why people switch over to SOG style growing.
Growing hydroponically in a Sea of Green style requires dialing in your system to perfection. Although soil is more forgiving, hydroponics, when set up and running properly, grows plants quickly and efficiently. The ideal hydro setup for SOG growing is in a tray that floods and drains (also known as ebb and flow). Fill the tray with your medium of choice and then crowd your rooted cuttings together in the tray. Don’t let them vegetate more than 2 weeks before inducing flowering using a 12 hour on/12 hour off lighting cycle.
