SOG - (Sea of green) method is a technique of growing that is intended on growing small single cola plants in a small area. There is an art to growing SOG and most people on their first few attempts have problems. Mold, damping off, and wilt from lack of light and airflow are just a few. 6" center to center is minimum space needed for air circulation. Any less you need a custom airflow system to keep air moving between the plants. This is one technique that you can trim leaves. You need to keep the temperature down to keep the leaves from getting too big. Trim the ends when they show sign of yellowing and they will. The plant does not reach an age during the vegetation cycle to mature properly. The stocks are thinner and not as strong as they would be normally if grown to full potential for the vegetation cycle. Thinner stocks limit the plants uptake of nutrients so precise nutrient control, Ph monitoring, good light penetration and airflow are most critical with this technique.
(Fluorescent lights are not very good with this technique they lack the light penetration needed to get through the dense foliage.)

The idea is to grow one plant short no bigger then 14" to 18" tall and have a single cola. You only harvest 3/4 to 1 oz of dry bud from each plant. You grow many, many plants all together and the total bud count is proportional to the number you are growing.

Example:
50 plants have the ability to yield 37.5 oz to 50.0 oz of dry buds. That translates to over 2-3 pounds of dry bud with just 3/4 oz to 1 oz from each plant.

That's why a lot of people try this technique of growing.
It's all in the math.