Growing in the wild can be a great solution for many people. Thats why guerilla growing is becoming more populair everyday. Sometimes it’s just not possible to grow at home because of the law, family or landlord.
Next to that it’s possible to grow lots of plants because you are not restricted to space. However there are also some things to take in mind when doing a guerilla grow. Think about animals, climate, other people and the most important thing:
The location of your guerilla grow
Yes, the biggest factor of a succesfull guerilla grow is choosing the right location. To find the right location you need to think about lots of aspects when it comes to creating a safe environment for your plants. In this article we are going to talk about all kind of steps you could undertake to find the perfect spot.
Before you start to look for a guerilla grow location, you need to ask yourself a few things to be sure it’s actually possible. For example: The climate. The climate is different everywhere, so make sure that the temperature, humidity, hours of light and soil is perfectly suitable for a cannabis plant. Another thing to think about is at what time you want to grow.
In most areas, the summer is of course the best time but in some places it’s too hot in the summer and it’s better to grow in the spring/autumn. Next to that, hours of light are also an aspect that could influence the growth and blooming phase of your plant. So think about this and find information about these circumstances in your area first.
Now after you have figured out these things, it’s time to find the perfect location for your grow. To help you, we are going to talk about different aspects that will lead you to the right growing spot:
First of all: Get away from the city/people!
The biggest enemy you have when growing in a public environment are people. They can snitch on you, destroy the plants or steal your crops. Finding a human-free location can be quite hard depending on where you live but there are always forrests and other locations that fit the guerilla needs (when living in a city, you might have to look a bit harder or go out of the centre). The more isolated, the better.
Start by simply looking up some nature reserves/bigger forrests in your area and pay them a visit. Walking there for a while makes you aware of problems, options and possibilities. After some practice you might be able to decide quickly if an area has something to offer or not. Once you find a quiet, appropriate area. It’s time to start searching for some potential growing spots.
A good idea is to Google earth the location and look for traces of humans like paths, buildings, roads and even railroads (railroads require heavy maintenance so stay away from them). Make sure your spot is not easy accessible and not in any direct sight of a road/path. Next to that: Street lightning can influence the grow/bloom cycle of a plant so stay away from them!
Remember: The smell of cannabis plants can be noticed up to 10 meters away, so you’ll need a big circle around your spot thats is free of human traces/paths.
But even if you think you have found an isolated and safe location, you might be wrong. You’d be surpised if you know how much people often visit places like this. Think about forrest guards, homeless people, hikers/bikers or maintenance workers that are trimming the bushes. These are the kind of people that will definitly interfere with your plants once they see them.
However there are always some characteristics that show if there is any human activity going on:
- Footsteps/paths in forrest made by walking people
- Garbage/waste
- nicely trimmed bushes
- wires/barbed wire
- cigarettes/gum on ground
- Electric wire towers/transmission stations (maintenance workers)
Avoid these areas and never leave any waste yourself, this will draw attention from un-wanted people and could lead to your grow.
If you can’t find any of these but you are still not sure, it’s a great idea to just chill at your spot and spent some time there. This will eventually tell you if the place is busy or not. Just stay on the low and make sure nobody sees you.
Sunlight
The most important thing for a cannabis plant (next to good water) is a big amount of sunlight. So this is something you need to take in mind when looking for a spot. I’ts not a great idea to choose a spot in the middle of a forrest overgrown with big trees as too much shadow could cause a high humidity, low temperatures and eventually mold. However, on the side of that forrest or an open spot in the trees might offer you a the lightning you need.
The more light your plants get, the better your yield will be. So if you are planning to grow on the side of a forrest. Make sure that you choose the “sunny side” of that forrest. To determine the “sunny side” of a forrest you’ll need to get a compass (most phones have one) and find out where the sun comes up/goes down. (up east-down west)
Then make sure your plants are exposed to the most hours of sunlight you can get. Google earth is also a great tool to find out which spot is being exposed to most hours of light.
We wouldn’t recommend to cut down any bushes or trim any trees. This could draw attention from forrest guards or other people. You have to make sure your spot looks as natural as possible.
Using other plants as indicators
A very good way to find out if a spot is suitable for your cannabis plants is by looking at the other plants living there. Especially when you are planning to grow them in the open ground it’s important the ground type is ok to grow in. Seeing lots of healthy, hydrated plants is a good sign.
Some plants are very similair (biologically) as a cannabis plant. This often means that when these plants are around, you have hit the perfect soil ot grow your cannabis in. One example of a plant like this is the “Urtica dioica” or better known as common nettle/stinging nettle.
These guys mostly grow in ground thats perfect for a cannabis plant. (Cannabis and the nettles are both part of the order Urticales which means they are related to each other)
Accessibility and carrying water/materials
Next to just finding a good incognito location, you need to think about a few other things. Like the accessibility of your location as you need to bring all kind of materials (like pots, soil, shovel and chicken wire). The trick is to find a spot thats not easy to find/enter for normal people like hikers or forrest guards. However it still needs to be accesable enough to get all your stuff there.
When climbing is required or you need to walk through verry narrow paths next to water, it’s not a good idea to set-up your grow on that spot. Just imagine that you have to enter your location with a 50L bag of soil. Once that’s possible, you’ll be good!
Watering your guerilla grow
Next to your materials, you need to think about the fact that you need to water your plants (In periods of drought). This would require you to take lots of cannisters/buckets/bottles of nutrient mixed water to your location.
Water is pretty heavy to carry around, so especially with multiple plants it can be quite a task to water them all. It might take you multiple runs to water all your plants and this improves the chance of being seen when entering your spot. Think about this when choosing your location!
To avoid all these watering troubles, it’s a good idea to locate your grow near a water supply like a river or stream. This way you are able to just take some nutrients, go to your spot and mix it with water from that stream.
However you can’t just use any water! If it’s contaminated it wouldn’t be smart to give it your plants as it could kill them or harm yourself when consuming your plant.
The best thing you can look for is clear, streaming water (avoid water that stands still). Once found you could take some and bring it to an aquarium store. They can test it on different metals and other harming minerals.
If it’s okay, you just need to do one more thing before giving it to your plants: Measure it’s PH and PPM levels. This is very important when growing cannabis because too acidic or neutral water could really mess up your plants. A good PH level for the water is between 5.5 and 6.5. When the water hasn’t got the right PH it’s possible to neutralize by using a addition (PH+ or PH-, found in any grow shop)
Animals and insects
Yes, just like people, animals can be a real pain in the ass simply because lots of species love cannabis plants. From insects to rabbits and deers, yes they all love the smell and taste of a nice juicy cannabis plant. The problem is that these animals particularly live in areas that are perfect to start a guerilla grow which makes it almost impossible to avoid them. You can notice them by simply looking for (rabbit)holes or droppings but I can guarantee that everywhere you will go, there are certain animals looking to interfere with your plants.
Luckily there are some easy precautions you can take to deal with their activity. For bigger animals like deers, wild hogs or wild cattle it could be enough to get some iron wire and use a few trees to create a fence and mark out your area. Make sure to leave 1,5 meters between the wire-fence and your plants.
Smaller animals like rabbits (which is a true enemy of the cannabis plant) won’t be stopped by a simple wire-fence. They see your growing area as an all-you-can eat buffet and will do everything to enter it. To keep them out we recommend to use chicken wire and build a smaller fence circling your plants.
Make sure you dig the fence up to 10-20 cm underground when installing it. This is because rabbit cans dig underneath the chicken wire when it’s not deep enough. to be 100% sure you could also use a piece of the chicken wire as bottom of your growing spot. This makes it impossible for rabbits to dig to your plants.
Another effective thing you can do is buying some fox urine extract and spray it all around your growing spot. The smell of fox urine is very frightning for many animals like rabbits as they are their natural enemy. You can buy these extracts on multiple websites.
Remember to always take your materials like iron wire and nets with you when you are done growing. As a cannabis enthousiast you should love and respect nature. These things do not belong there!
Insects
Insects are very small and almost impossible to keep away from your plants. However there are nets you can use to hang around your plants to keep them out. The problem is that these nets will block quite some sunlight and could draw attention from people. If you should use one highly depends on your personal location and the species of insects.
Anti insect sprays or pesticides that are ment for plants should never be used on cannabis plants. These sprays are pure poison and could really harm your health when consuming the plant. What could help is putting a very small drop of dish-soap in 1 liter of water and spray it over the plants branches. Most insects hate the acidic smell the soapy water and will leave your plants alone.
Growing in a corn field
You might have heard about people growing in a corn field and it could actually work pretty well. However there are multiple things to think about if you want this to succeed. To begin with: The farmers! That field of corn is their job/income so they will be protecting and watching it. These days they even use drones to check on their crops to see them from above.
By planting one plant every here and there, you decrease the chance of being caught by someone seeing the field from above. More plants at the same spot draws the attention as it doens’t look natural. Thats also what helicopters/drones are lookin for.
Next to that, try to find a nice place deeper in the corn field (not by the side as tractors/farmes often pas them) and make sure that there aren’t any higher grounds around the corn field. This may makes your plants visible from above.
One great tip to always find your plants in a big corn field is by using a small,long rope or fishing line and connect your plants. Then, connect the last plant with a corn stalk standing on the side. Mark this corn stalk discreetly with a ribbon, marker or some tape. This way you will always find your plants easily!
Corn season
A very important aspect of growing in a corn field is knowing when the growing season begins and ends. It would be a shame if you are in the middle of a grow, and you see that the field is being cut down. Corn season is different depending on where you live but you can find it easily by looking it up on google or simply ask some local farmers (just act interested in their work to avoid any suspicion).
Pesticides
Keep in mind that corn is a consumer product and many farmers will spray chemicals on them. These can be deadly for a cannabis plant and also harmfull for you when they end up in your buds. These pesticedes will be sprayed once the corn is up to 30-40CM. Make sure you plant your ladies afterwards!
So, When looking for the guerilla spot:
- Make sure nobody watches you wandering around areas your normally wouldn’t
- Never leave trash or other materials around your spot (draws attention and isn’t respectfull to nature)
- Go of the paths. You don’t want your spot close to people. The further the better so make sure it’s at least 50 meters in the “wilderness”. (away from paths,roads or other human activity)
- Make sure there is enough sunlight and air flow to avoid a too high humidity
- Look for something hard to find, but still easy to get to with multiple materials
- Think about animals when choosing your guerilla spot. What animals are active there and do they have acces to your plants? If so make you spot animal proof
- Think about the watering, a good idea is to choose a spot that is close to a water source
- Think about the fact that your plants are mostly always visible for helicopters and drones. So don’t put too much plants close to each other and create big bushes/fields. Rather divide them over different spots in smaller groups so it looks ~more naturally.