Seems like SoG is for me. This was my general answer
Thanks. Id much prefer a pretrial grow of little veg and big colas rather than ScrOG with longer Veg. You seen any good guides on SoG been a bit difficult to find any well written ones.
What do you need to know about doing a sog grow ?
I ran eight 4 x 8 flood tables sog for 5 yrs & am pretty well versed in all aspects of sea of green , i can give you some tips right off the bat , clone selection is paramount .
You want cuttings that are 6 to 8 inches high with atleast 6 node sites & no side branching ,after the clones are well rooted put them in net pots 5 inches to 8 inches & use hydroton or whatever rock type medium you chose , net pot size is important to add stability where you dont have to tie massive colas up after a month , i use the 5 inch pots & a mix of hydraton & gro rocks .
Veg time will not help yeilds it'll only fuk up the clone , if you use the big cuttings with 6 to 8 nodes you want zero veg time , if grown properly & rez temps stay at or below 65 degrees harvest will be in 8 weeks & you can expect yeilds of 2 to 4 ounces per plant , i get right around 1.5 grams per watt every 7.5 to 8 weeks .
For a plant per sq ft ratio i load 4 ft x 8 ft tables with 50 cuttings , when finished the plants have about a half inch to 2 inches between them , dont get greedy & overload the table as air flow thru a canopy of tightly packed colas is crucial , i have a box fan blowing fresh air thru the canopy at all times , bud rott & powdery mildew will take over a sea of green in a matter of days if it dont have proper air circulation .
Ive found that 600 watt hps work best for sog with big 3 x 3 reflectors , with 600's cooled right you can let the plants touch the glass with no burn , 1,000's are so hot after you raise them 12 inches away you get less light than with the 600's a half inch from the glass , i put all my 1,000's away after comparing one table of 600's against them .
Best results are achieved when all the plants go in at one time & come out at the same time vs staggered harvests , reasons being light height from full grown plants will cause stretching in freshly planted cuttings , if you must stagger harvests then keep ppm's low around the 700 range so you dont fry the new cuttings .
I prefer flood & drain over DWC ten fold with sog , i like the stability of the grow platform , i like having the rez free of root mass .
I just popped off a bunch of shit in random order off the top of my head which i consider the basics , if you have specific questions regarding sog methods fire away , its how ive grown the past 5 or 6 years after spending over 30 yrs growing soil .