Nice weather's coming and it's making us want to go outside and stroll around, go to the beach, enjoy life in general or maybe even start a guerrilla-grow. Right? So, guerrilla growing techniques are fairly complicated. First of all, a marijuana plant needs sun exposure and this implies some external visibility. It's a delicate plant which needs supervision and if we hide it too much it will take excessive amounts of effort to water it or keep it healthy. It's also a very attractive plant to wild boars, rodents, infestations and insects in general. But let's take it easy, we're here to quell doubts and get you excited to start. These are the most original methods of hiding a guerrilla-grow… And some other tips.
On the ground
The simplest and most manageable thing to do is to plant directly in the ground, but obviously this makes it more likely that hunters or mushroom pickers, or simple passers-by might stumble onto our grow. To limit the likelihood of this we can plant our girls among some bushes. Blackberry brambles are the best option. Find a good patch of blackberry bush, cut your way into it, and clear a space within it connected to the outside by a tunnel which could be covered by a removable patch of bramble. This is the best option. Although we might need to call a quantity surveyor!
Example of a low grow in brushwood. The plants should not grow very high. On the ground, it is more effective to plant many small ones rather than a few large (diversification). We can also plant them in several places or in bags to make them mobile.
It is strongly recommended to keep the plants low to reduce their visibility. Autoflowering plants are ideal for guerrilla-grows because of their smaller size and their shorter growing and flowering times. We could for example plant five autoflowering plants in one area on a slope (which adds sun exposure and gets rid of older and lazy prying eyes) of low shrub. Ferns are ideal as they have a similar colour and thin leaves. But pay attention to how much light your plants will get. Ferns grow very quickly, are extremely invasive and can take all of the sun exposure from our girls. Another technique which helps to reduce visibility is to dig a hole in the ground about 40 centimetres deep so that the base of the plant finds itself lowered.
A good hole is always helpful in hiding the lower half of the plants. Also, look at how this grower has added enriched soil to the bottom.
Another issue is water. The best is to implement a semi-autonomous watering system. There are several types and we will focus on them in a later post. The simplest is to bury containers connected by a tube or a rope to the plants which will get water from them. We will also have to water them periodically.
For example, this guy has chosen to plant them directly in bags. This is very interesting, especially at the beginning (before the roots break through the bag) because you are able to move the plants around. Don't forget to perforate the bag so that water can drain through.
This one has taken a lot of care so that animals and bugs could not gobble up his precious plants and built them some wiring. Also pay attention to the fact that he has chosen to use bags to be able to change their location.
And what about using small or medium-sized trees to hide them? Olive trees in particular, which have pointy leaves, similar to those of cannabis. Plant the marijuana in a pvc tube filled with soil, which will quickly fill with roots before reaching the ground. You could also cover it in polyurethane foam and paint it the colour of the olive tree trunk. This will allow for the leaves to hide among those of the olive tree. We'll also have to make sure that the tree doesn't block out the sun too much.
In the end, whatever we do, we must make sure that our work hasn't modified this natural setting too visibly. Cover the broken ground in leaves, camouflage damaged bushes, etc.
In the sky
The ground is the realm of passers-by and nosy intruders. To minimize risk, nothing better than growing up high, on branches or the tops of trees, or on the roofs of buildings. There is less risk that the plants will be identified, but they will become more inaccessible and will require more effort to tend to. Unless we have a tree-house like Bart Simpson's or a ladder, we'll have to jump through hoops to water them. This will make it essential to set up a good semi-autonomous watering system made of water tanks or other devices.
Guerrilla-growing is associated with forests or the jungle. However, these are not absolutely necessary. Let you imagination run wild and use your brain to take advantage of the urban environment. For example, the roof of an abandoned building which is easy to access for watering would be a good place. Watch out for traffic, helicopters tend to fly over large cities in September in search of areas with excessive plantations. Fear the chopper!
With crops
And if we want to let it all out and make a huge grow, hiding marijuana in corn crops or any other high crop has always been the preferred outdoor growing method of drug dealers. What is most commonly done is to clear a space in someone else's field and put all 10 plants in the same place, making the job much easier for helicopters. What you should do is to clear smaller spaces and spread out your grow. Of course, this is simple common sense and applies to any guerrilla-grow. Don't put all of your plants in the same place.