Wednesday, March 13, 2013

SEASONAL DIARY 2004: PART 3....HARVEST TIME!

HERE IS THE FINAL INSTALLMENT OF MY SEASONAL DIARY...A RECORD OF MY 2004 OUTDOOR CROP, AND ALL THE PROBLEMS, AND BREAKTHROUGHS, ASSOCIATED WITH IT. This is one of the chapters that was written for my book "Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets: hints kinks and tips for the clandestine cannabis grower", but which was not included in the final copy because, at almost 400 8.5x11 inch pages, the damn book was just getting too big!

If you are interested, check out the really cool flash viewer book preview on my website at www.tradesecretspublishing.com

Here we go with part 3....ripening of the plants, and on to the final harvest............

Sept 1, 2004: Sloshed my way out into the swamp through about two inches of standing water today in order to check on the swamp grow Hindu Kush's. The grow bags are sitting in about two to three inches of swamp water, and the grow mix is definitely wet on the bottom and pretty moist on the top, but the plants are loving it. They are in full flower now and the buds are thick and heavy, and are starting to show a sparkling coating of resin. Hit each bale with a little bit of water + Budswel at full strength. No more Earth Juice Bloom or chemicals at this time.
 
A couple of medium sized branches were broken by the storm last week, and were already wilted by the time I got out here, so they were just cut off using the wire cutters. I then sprayed tree pruning sealer on the cut ends in order to keep mold or fungus from starting. I did not install supports or staking of any kind at this grow site. The buds are looking so nice that I am tempted to take a sample back to dry out in the microwave, but I know that with more than four weeks left until harvest, it really will not be worth it. Patience… Patience… that bud that is picked today will plump up to four or five times its size by the time 30 more days pass. It will be worth the wait.

Sept 14, 2004: Last trip out to the 8 x 30 site before harvest on October 1 or 2…all plants are looking green, healthy, and are completely packed with bud. They are anywhere from 3.5 to 4.5 feet tall at this point, and the stems have doubled in size at the base, thanks to the support cages that were put in a few weeks ago. Some of the unsupported side branches are starting to sag due to the weight of the buds. I hit them up with the last watering before harvest which consisted of 6 gallons of water plus liquid Budswel at full strength. I added the Budswel, because it is organic, and it insures that all of the plants have their nutrient needs filled for the next two weeks, without over fertilizing them and ruining or affecting the taste of the buds with a chemical fertilizer. There are still fully charged up water polymers all over the grow area, these things work great. I scouted the area a little bit looking for footprints, beer cans, cigarette butts, or other signs of humanity in the general area, but nothing was spotted…nothing I could do at this point anyway if someone had spotted them because they have more than two weeks to go anyway. But, all is looking good.

 
Sept 29, 2004: Paranoia, waiting, wondering…are my plants still there? Can't go in to check on them because I will trample down more vegetation and create an even more conspicuous trail or be spotted by the wrong person on my way in or out from the grow. It is just not worth the risk unless you have a really good reason to go there, such as checking for weather or wind damage after a heavy duty thunderstorm or windstorm. This late in the year a lot of vegetation is dying off and will stay flattened once stepped upon. If it rains, the trampled vegetation will be even flatter and lower to the ground due to the weight of the water. The weathers been pretty good, but a couple of days of rain and some really cold nights have me worrying about mold in those thick Indica buds. The only good thing is that it was windy between and after the rainstorms, which I am hoping helped to dry out any moisture that got into the buds.

 
October 2, 2004: Harvest day is tomorrow at both grow sites. Today is the day to gather the needed tools and implements together, and to get those tools ready to carry into the grow sites. The first thing to find is your tree pruning shears; get the blade sharpened, and give the shears a good oiling so that they open and close with little or no resistance. Wipe off all of the excess oil to avoid a slippery grip when using the shears. I also carry a pair of medium duty wire cutters with me to use for cutting any support wires or ropes that I have tied the plants off to. It is much easier and quicker to just cut the support lines instead of trying to untie and untangle long, thick branches and buds from the steel rebar wire. Remember, you are harvesting a completed crop, and you do not want to be at the grow site any longer than possible once harvesting begins.
 
Next on the list is to run to the hardware store and buy a 10 foot x 10 foot plastic mesh tarp; you want one that is relatively heavy duty, at least 6 - 8 mil thickness minimum. This tarp will be used to roll up the cut down plants into one manageable bundle. Along with the tarp, you will need some metal baling wire, also called rebar wire, which will be used to wrap the tarp and the plants into one, solid bundle for transporting. Also, if you do not have a decent pair of gloves, buy some now. I buy the cheaper 6-pack packages of cotton work gloves-I think 6 pairs for about $8 or so. When the harvest is done, you can throw these gloves away because they will be covered with leaf, dried bud, and resin, and will smell like a fresh bag of buds after using them to handle your freshly harvested plants. The plan is to do the harvest over two days time right at and after sunset. I plan on being at the sites with my tools unpacked and ready to go at 10 minutes before sunset. Sunset is at 5:28 pm, so I will have to be onsite and ready to go by 5:18 pm. The end of Civil Twilight on this date is 5:55 pm, and the end of Nautical Twilight is 6:28. My working time frame will be from 5:18 to 5:55 pm, while the time for hiking the harvest out and back to my vehicle will be from 5:55 to about 6:15 pm (Nautical Twilight). As you approach the end of Civil Twilight, it is so dark that it is almost impossible to work, but there is still just enough light to navigate a path by for about twenty minutes after that; this is the time of day when the sun has completely disappeared over the horizon, but the light from the sun is still reaching the sky above you, providing JUST enough light for navigation. If you are in the woods or the swamp any later than this, you will have a good chance of getting lost, or falling down and hurting yourself.
 
October 3, 2004: HARVEST DAY!…Saturday…first site to be harvested will be the swamp site. I am using my vehicle to carry me and my harvest home, so I will want to do a safety check before driving anywhere, making sure that all of the headlights, running lights, license plate light, brake lights, etc. are in proper working order. If your license plate is hanging or crooked, use some of the baling wire and the wire cutters to straighten it. A Chicago cop told me years ago that a car with a hanging or crooked license plate was usually a good candidate for someone who was driving with a suspended license, and also a good candidate for getting pulled over. Do not be stupid or lazy on this harvest day…and no f***ing alcohol either!

The growsite is about ten minutes from my house by car, so I left at 4:55 pm, drove to the site, and pulled my car into my "secret" driveway area. This is an old driveway, cut on a vacant lot near the grow, that allows me to back my car in a good twenty yards and park in the brush/woods, out of sight of vehicles or pedestrians traveling along the road. I unpacked the tools, and the tarp from the trunk, and started hiking. Once I got about 50 yards from the grow site I stopped, crouched down, and just watched and listened in the direction of the growsite for a couple of minutes time. After verifying that there were no voices, vehicles, disturbed birds, or other sounds coming from the direction of the growsite, I started in. Time now is 5:15 pm, still plenty of light, so I am being careful not to draw attention to myself. Approached the plants slowly, staying low in the 7 foot tall cattails that surrounded the growsite. Damn, the buds have more than doubled in size in the last 18 days or so, and are weighing down and cracking a lot of the side branches. One of the females, at about 5 feet tall, has a main cola so huge and top heavy that the entire plant is pulled over to the side, with the main cola now almost touching the ground, and curling back up towards the sun. After doing a quick check of the plants and flowers, I pulled out the 10 foot x 10 foot plastic tarp and spread it out on the ground. Time is now 5:20 pm.

Once the tarp was ready I pulled out my wire cutters and cut out any support wires on the branches and the buds. Next, I pulled out the tree pruning shears and started cutting the plants down at the base of their main stems. Once the plant was cut, I allowed that plant to drop and went on and cut the next one down, until I had six, cut down plants lying in a pile on top of the grow bags. It was now time to pack the plants into the plastic tarp. I grabbed a cut plant at the base with both hands and lifted it up to chest height. I then shook the plant out thoroughly, trying to knock insects and dead leaves off of the plants before rolling them up. I then took plant number one and layed her down in the center of the tarp, with the cut end facing north and main cola facing south. I then picked up, and shook out, plant number two. This plant will be laid in the tarp, with the cut end facing south, and the main cola facing south. Each of the next four plants was then shaken out, and also placed in the tarp, facing in alternate directions. The reason that the plants are alternated is so that the plastic tarp will roll up uniformly, making it much easier to carry it back to the car. If all of the plants are laid in the tarp facing in the same direction, you will end up with a roll of plants that is very thin at the cut end, and very thick at the main cola end. Once all of the plants are piled in the middle of the tarp, I rolled the tarp into a tight bundle of plants, folded the ends of the bundle over towards the middle of the tarp, and wound the steel baling wire around the entire bundle from top to bottom. I then cut the baling wire with the wire cutters and twisted the ends of the wire over on itself. What I have now is a plastic mesh cylinder, about 6 feet tall, and about 1.5 feet diameter. This bale can be carried through the woods on your shoulder, or can be pulled along the forest floor or grasslands area at ground level, using the steel baling wire as a 'leash" to pull it along. Keep the bundle at ground level when you are walking across a field or open area where you might be spotted carrying your 'suspicious package".

Time is now 5:45 pm…..17 minutes after official sunset…..still some light to navigate by, but the visibility is starting to dwindle a bit. I have about 15 minutes before visibility is 99% gone. I did a quick once over of the grow site, and made sure that all of my tools were packed away or pocketed, and that no incriminating evidence had been left behind or dropped. At this point, I picked up the bundle of plants, threw it over my shoulder, and started hiking into the darkness. When I got within 50 or so yards from my vehicle, I did the stop, look, and listen thing once again. At this point I am listening for police radios or walkie-talkie sounds, or police flashers/lights, etc, just in case law enforcement has spotted my vehicle and is checking it out. Time is now 6:00 pm exactly. Once I was sure everything was OK, I moved closer to the vehicle, dropping my bundle into the bushes about 25 yards from the car. I then took off my work gloves, and threw them into the brush, and proceeded to walk up to my vehicle. Time is now 6:10 pm. I hopped into the car, started the engine, and then sat there and waited for about two minutes, watching and observing the whole time. I then hopped out of the car and popped the trunk open. At this point, I ran the 25 yards back to my bundle of plants, grabbed it out of the bushes, and sprinted back to the car, throwing the bundle into the trunk and closing it as I passed by. I jumped into the drivers seat, put my seat belt on, made sure that all interior and exterior lights were off, and idled out of my driveway hiding place. When I came to the street exit, I stopped the car, got out and walked to the front of the car, and looked up and down the street for any "surprises" that might be lurking. Everything looked good at this point, so I hopped back into the drivers seat and drove the car out, hitting my headlights as I turned right. Time now is 6:15 pm. I drove home and pulled the bundle of plants out of my trunk so that noone would smell them in my driveway. The plants were unbundled and were hung on clotheslines that I have strung up in my outdoor 12 x 20 foot garden shed for drying and further processing.

October 4, 2004: HARVEST DAY (again)Sunday…packed up all of my tools and my plastic tarp and hiked into the swamp. This one is accessible through the back of my property, and a 20 minute or so walk through the woods/wetlands. This grow location is way more secluded than the swamp site was, so I am going to head out a little earlier in the day. With a 20 minute walk back to my house, I do not want to get stuck in the woods, after dark, carrying 30 pounds of plants on my shoulder, plus I am less worried about meeting up with hikers or sightseers along the route that I take. I hiked in to a location about 100 yards out from the growsite, and made this my observation post, again listening and observing; watching for birds being flushed out of the trees ahead which could mean that there are people there disturbing the birds, running or startled deer, voices, police radios, sunlight reflections, movement, etc. A pair of decent binoculars will help with this task, but watch so that the sunlight doesn't reflect off of YOUR binoculars, giving away your position to whomever may be watching. Try to approach from the west, so that anyone looking towards you will reflect sunlight off of their binocular lenses!

The time now is 5:01 pm…after watching and listening for about five minutes or so, I worked my
way forward, slowly but surely, and checked out the garden area. The plants were an average of five feet tall, and the top of each of the 23 females consisted of a huge, football-sized, main cola, being held up by the support stakes and steel support wire that were installed about a month ago. Each plant then sported another 20 or so side buds that were purple and red, literally frosted with sparkling resin glands. I got a few pictures with the camera and proceeded with the work at hand. The 10 x 10 foot tarp was spread out at one end of the garden with a couple of rocks weighting it down because it is very windy today. Just like at the swamp garden, the wire cutters were used to cut the support wires, and then the wooden supports were removed. Then the tree pruning shears were used to cut the mainstem at the base, allowing each plant to flop over until I had a nice "haystack" of Hindu Kush lying on the ground in front of me. I Then piled the plants on the tarp in alternating directions…first plant with main cola pointing north, the next plant with main cola pointing south, etc…until they were all in the tarp. The tarp was then rolled up around the plants and the ends were folded over. Now, this was one big roll of plants, so I ran the steel baling wire around the roll a good three dozen times from top to bottom, compressing the buds down tightly. After this was done, I lifted the bale and it was pretty heavy at around thirty pounds or so; a little too heavy to carry ½ mile by hand, so I ran three more pieces of wire connected to the roll at the top and at the bottom and put the whole roll on my back like a backpack, using the wire as a backpack strap across my chest and over my shoulder. Time is now 5:29 pm...three minutes after sunset and still plenty of light to navigate by. I walked another 10 minutes or so and came upon the field that separated the back of my property from the woods. This field was about 100 yards wide or so, and would take about me about 3-4 minutes to cross with the bundle of plants across my shoulders.

Instead of just jumping out into the open and crossing the open field, I crouched down and waited, again observing and listening for hazards, and scanning the area with the binoculars. This also gave me a chance to rest for a couple of minutes, because carrying a 30 pound bundle on your back, through the woods, is no easy task; in fact, it is quite a workout. A little rest here will also give me the needed energy to cross the field at a faster pace, in lesser time. Time is now 5:45 pm and it is starting to get pretty dark. I did not see any human activity in the field so I picked up my package, slung it over my shoulder, and proceeded to make the 300 or so foot crossing through the open field, still watching and listening, ready at any time to sink down to the floor of the field, below the grassline if any trouble or activity is spotted. Made it to the back of my property just as it got too dark to navigate. I then proceeded to unwrap the bundle of plants in order to allow the buds to get some air and decompress so that they would not be damaged and lose market value. The mainstems were then cut in half and the plant pieces were hung on the drying lines in the backyard garden shed to await further processing.

 
A lot of cutting, clipping trimming, manicuring, , smoking finger hash, drying, and sampling awaits before a finished product can be realized…should be three or four days worth of trimming work.
 
 
This adventure will be continued, year after year, until I am no longer able, and that is a promise!


 
 
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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

SEASONAL DIARY: 2004 Somewhere in the Midwest Part 2

As I write this, Chicago is getting hit with a freezing rain storm, and high winds, so the last thing on my mind is to be out in the fields working on a guerilla garden site, or hauling supplies out into the fields! Although, if you are a really hard core, guerilla cannabis cultivator, this kind of weather situation would virtually guarantee that there is no chance of running into another person...perfect for the high security that clandestine cannabis cultivation demands.

If you are a swamp or wetlands grower, this kind of freezing weather turns standing water into solid ice. The grower can use this "ice highway" to move supplies into areas of the swamp that are virtually inaccessible during warmer weather due to deep water. These could be areas where there are topsoil islands that are surrounded by deep water. Once the supplies are in the area,and stashed, the guerilla grower can wear fishing waders to move thru the water during warm weather, but all of the heavy lifting can be done during the freezing cold weather. My favorite way to move supplies in this manner is to strap the supplies to a sled, and pull that sled over the surface of the ice to the desired gardening area.

Well, here we go again...what follows is part 2 of a chapter titled "seasonal diary" that did not make it into my book "Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets" because the damn book was getting way too long at this point at almost 400, 8.5 x 11 inch pages, and more than an inch thick.

Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets

Chapter 31

"2004 Somewhere in the Midwest"

Seasonal Diary (Part 2)

July 22,2004: Went out today to check on the plants and see if they needed watering, or when they would need water next. I did not take any water with me this time as it was simply a reconnaissance and intelligence gathering mission to check on security and conditions at the grow site. Since it is late in the year, and the cattail heads are turning brown and seeding out, I plan to use the excuse (if I am challenged) that "I am collecting cattails to soak in oil and burn as torches"; since cattails are used everywhere as bug repellent. The cattails heads are soaked in lamp oil for 24 hours or so and then burned as torches. The smoke that they give off is very effective at repelling mosquitoes and other insects, so I will always cut a few down and leave the area with them, again, just in case I am challenged about being in the area or coming out of the swampy area.

July 25,2004: (SUNDAY) I was planning on watering today, but we got a heavy thunderstorm this morning that dumped rain for a good half an hour. What I will plan on doing is bringing the plants about 5 gallons of nutrient fortified water, probably tomorrow night, just before sunset.

July 26,2004: Rained all day today, sometimes hard and sometimes a heavy drizzle, but it did rain all day long. I think that the grow season (what's left of it) has been saved, along with my back from carrying water! Although you will always need to carry some water and fertz in to the ladies to keep them flourishing. Now, with the rain falling again, I can wait an additional day to carry the first jugs of water (12 gallons with added compost and bat guano) to the 23 plant site. The rain should help them to establish, and I will plan on carrying water in on Thursday.
 
July 29,2004: Carried in twelve gallons of water the back way (through the swamp) to the 23 cutting site (a good quarter mile) and watered the soil directly into the channels over the water absorbing polymers, hoping that some of the irrigation water soaks the polymers and recharges them a bit. The ground was still a bit wet from the rain a couple of days ago, and they got a pretty good soaking from the twelve gallons of water that I hit them with, so I can probably wait about a week before watering them again. I added 20-20-20 at about ½ strength, along with high-P bat guano, and some Superthrive.


August 3, 2004: Went to the local grow store and picked up a 10 pound box of Hi-P bat guano today. When I got home, I mixed up 12 gallons of irrigation water using Earth Juice Organic Bloom at double strength and 10-60-10 chemical fertilizer at 1.5 tablespoons per gallon. One capful of Superthrive, and about a quarter teaspoon (no more) of Maxicrop seaweed concentrate was also added to each six gallon watering container. I also measured out about a half pound of bat guano for each grow bag out there, and stored it in a ziplock baggie. The bat guano will be sprinkled on the surface of the soil and then watered into the soil mix using the enriched irrigation water. I also added a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid to each of the 6 gallon containers so that the water would soak into the grow mix faster.

August 5, 2004: Just arrived at the 8 x 30 foot in ground garden location. I am using the same fertilizer mix on this plot that I used on the Hindu Kush out in the swamps; 12 gallons water, Earth Juice Organic Bloom, and the initial shot of chemical 10-60-10 flowering fertilizer. It just rained yesterday for about an hour, so the grow mix is already pretty wet. Some of the large water absorbing polymers have absorbed a lot of water and are larger than 1 x 1 x1 inches! They look like ice cubes sitting at the base of the plants. Each plant will receive 12 gallons / 23 plants = ½ gallon of water fertilizer solution per plant. The plants are tall and lanky from being stored in the shade for two months, but the main stems are starting to thicken up and the plants are standing up on their own. The fan leaves are bright green, and the new growth tips are healthy and lime green.
 
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August 18,2004: The HK's in the swamp are starting to crank out the flowers and are already looking like little pine trees. The grow mix is moist due to the bottom moisture from the swamp soaking up through the bottom of the mix thru the holes cut into the bottom of the grow bag. I poured more Hi-P bat guano over the surface of the grow mix, and watered it in with six gallons of water fortified with Earth Juice Organic Bloom at double strength, as well as a little liquid Budswel at about two tablespoons per gallon of water, and a capful of Superthrive per six gallons of water. The bales of grow mix are well irrigated due to the swamp water wicking up from the bottom. The bales are sitting in about an inch of water, and the bottom two to three inches of peat based grow mix is very wet, while the grow mix above that (another 12 - 16 inches) is at an almost perfect moisture content, with healthy, fat, white roots intertwined throughout.

August 20, 2004: Got a half inch of rain today and some high winds (40 mph). The Hindu Kush cuttings at the 8 x 30 grow hole should have tons of moisture, and some pretty charged-up water absorbing polymers. I will wait another week now to go and water and fertilize this site; that will be on August 27th or so. The bales of grow mix at the swamp location will probably be sitting in 3-4 inches of water after this storm, and will probably not need watering again until late in the harvest season. A good hard rain like we had today will also water in the rest of the bat guano that was spread over the surface of the grow mixes, adding a shot of P and micronutrients along with the fresh water.
 
August 27, 2004: Carried in 25 pine 1 x 2's (four foot in length) to the 8 x 30 grow site to use as stakes for the plants, along with some steel rebar wire, and wire cutters. Some of the plants were pushed over by the high winds, but just continued growing upwards from a ground level horizontal position. None of the stems snapped because they were green and flexible from being grown in the shade along the fenceline. Each of the four foot stakes had a small hole drilled in it every six inches from the two foot level all the way up to the top of the stake at the four foot level. While installing the support stakes, I will be very careful not to trample down all of the camouflaging weeds and other vegetation that are growing around the edges of the grow site. The stakes were pushed about one foot into the ground next to each plant. The end of a one foot or so length of steel wire (ask for rebar wire at the hardware store) was then run thru the drilled hole three or four times, twisting it around the board each time. The wire was then run around the mainstem to the other side of the stake, fastening the other end of the wire back to the wooden stake the same way that you attached the other end of the wire; by running the wire through the drilled hole three to four times and then twisting the wire over on itself two or three times. The loop allows the mainstem to be able to move an inch or two in any direction, and should not grab or squeeze the mainstem in any way. This allows the stem to move a bit with the wind instead of fighting against it and snapping.

A good rule to use is that the mainstem and your index finger should be able to both fit into the wire loop at the same time. My goal here is building a kind of plant cage that provides support to just the mainstem, kind of like a spinal column. Another piece of steel wire was then attached, every six inches, to each of the other drilled holes, and run over the mainstem. This operation took over an hour to complete, so I stopped and listened intently for any noises that seemed out of the ordinary every couple of minutes or so. The time invested is worth it, because, once the plants are fully tied up, they are one, solid unit and it would take a MAJOR windstorm to do them any damage.

I then spread another ½ pound or so of bat guano around the base of the plants and watered it into the base of the plants with about 5 gallons of irrigation water. The soil still has plenty of moisture from the thunderstorm a week ago, and the water absorbing polymers look to be fully charged with water. They just pop out of the mix and onto the surface of the soil when they expand; some of them are golf ball sized. These things are amazing!

Order your copy of Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets at www.tradesecretspublishing.com
Also, check out a really cool 80+ page flash viewer preview that gives you a taste of each and every chapter of this amazing cultivation book



Order your copy of Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets at www.tradesecretspublishing.com
Also, check out a really cool 80+ page flash viewer preview that gives you a taste of each and every chapter of this amazing cultivation book
 
On my next visit, I plan on bringing in 23 four-foot 1 x 2 stakes, and wiring the main stems to the wooden stakes once they are pounded 6 ~ 8 inches into the ground.
 
These Hindu Kush's are also starting to show female flowers at the branch and stem crotches. Since all of the plants are female cuttings, I will not have to worry about a stray male popping up and pollinating the ladies, so I can now wait two weeks to water and fertilize once again. Without using the water polymers, I would have to water at least once in that time period.

Just got onsite and the first thing that I noticed was that the plants are now showing thick, white pistils at the stem and branch junctions. All plants look fine, and they look like they are really starting to take off now-just in time for flowering! I pulled out the ziplock baggies and spread the bat guano ration over the top of the grow mix in each of the three bales, and watered it into the soil using the 12 gallons of irrigation water.

Also went and checked on the six Hindu-Kush in the "outdoor room" in the swamp location, and they are looking very healthy and very bushy; even the plant that was uprooted twice by the animals is catching up and is about 3 ½ feet tall and starting to bush out a bit. The grasshoppers have munched some fan leaves here and there, but everything is looking pretty good. Because of all of the rain that we have had over the past week or so, the ground in the swamp has been saturated with moisture, and there is even some free standing water starting to collect on the ground. The grow bags are now sitting in about 1 inch of water. Now, I am never one to turn down free irrigation water, so I tipped the grow bags on their sides, and, using a sharp knife, made several 4 - 6 inch long slits in the bottom of the bags and then placed the bottoms of the bags back into the swamp water.

One other calculation here; the Hindu Kush finish up at my location on about October 2nd or 3rd and the HK strain flowers for about 8 weeks time. This means that it is now time to start hitting the HK's at both locations with some Hi-P bat guano, some organic liquid bloom (ie Earth Juice Organic Bloom), and a single one-time dose of 10-60-10 just to make sure that all of the needed nutrients and micronutrients are there when the plant needs them to start her flowering cycle.
What I am going to do today is to plant the rest of the 23 pre-rooted Hindu Kush cuttings in a grow site that was prepared and last utilized about four years ago. The HK plants have been kept in their original one gallon pots, stashed in the shade, in the tall grass, along a fenceline, and watered on a regular schedule for the past couple of months. The grow site being used is the 8 foot by 30 foot patch that was mentioned in one of the above posts. These plants are being planted late in the season, will be somewhat crowded together, and will veg for only a short time (a week or two) before starting heavy budding. Late planting will keep the plants short and very well concealed. They will end up as four foot tall main stalks with one very heavy main cola, as well as some side branched budlets.

I went out yesterday and dug up the soil at the grow site, turning it over and chopping it up good with the shovel. After that, I dug up two "channels" in the soil, both of them about 8 inches deep and extending the full 30 foot length of the site, and dumped approximately 1 pound of pre-charged water absorbing polymers into each channel, spreading the polymers the full length of the water channel. In order to "pre-charge" the water absorbing polymers, a five gallon plastic bucket was filled almost to the top with water and 20-20-20-20 fertilizer solution; dry polymers are then added to the water until all of the water/fertilizer solution is soaked up. The charged up polymers were then buried under the soil, in the channels, and the cuttings were planted along the channels, right on top of the polymers. The roots will grow down amongst and even through the polymers, providing them with a very good water supply. The polymers will then recharge with water and store it right in the root zone every time that it rains.

When I got to the grow site, I approached slowly and cautiously so as not to warn anyone else that I was in the area, just in case the plants had been discovered, and I sat at the edge of the clearing in the cattails just observing and listening. Since the grow site is surrounded with cattails and brush in every direction, I usually approach it using a different path and direction every time so that I don't start leaving a beaten down path to the grow site. Everything looked and sounded cool, so I proceeded to check out the grow site.

One of the six plants had been uprooted again (the same one as before), but it was the entire root ball that had been lifted out of the wet peat moss grow mix, like some kind of an animal had been digging in under it. The root ball was exposed completely, and was sitting on top of the grow mix, but the plant was still growing so I pushed the roots back down into the grow mix and covered the top over with more grow mix. I don't know what kind of animal it is that keeps uprooting this one plant, but next time I water I am going to bring in two dowel rods, about 2 foot long and ½ inch in diameter and I will push these dowel rods through the solid root ball and into the surrounding grow mix so that the dowel rods will prevent the root ball from popping back out the next time that animal digs in there. Maybe it has lost interest by now after uprooting the same plant twice and finding no actual food or water down there (I hope).

The other five plants are looking good and healthy with no deficiencies, and are really starting to bush out and stretch upward, and one of them has about tripled in size! The grow bales are still extremely heavy with stored water, and the water absorbing polymers that I put into the grow mix are also charged up to full size with extra water. I figure that I can wait to water them until about July 25th or so, since they are good and charged up with water and nutrients.
 
Coming next month: September 1st through on to harvest day in October! That will bring us to the end of this unused chapter, but i think that I will extend it beyond that; detailing harvest techniques, trimming and manicuring, and storage and curing techniques. All of these topics are covered in my book "Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets: Hints kinks and Tips for the Clandestine Cannabis Grower" which is available for $39.95 on the website www.tradesecretspublishing.com . Thanks for reading and we will be talking to you again very soon!
 
 
 





Tuesday, December 25, 2012

2004: Somewhere in the Midwest..............


You have been working hard the last couple of months; putting in time harvesting, trimming, prepping your buds for curing, and cleaning up your trimming waste, trimming house, and garden sites. The really hard work is over, so now the time has come to do some "day dreaming" concerning the possibilities for next years garden sites, and a bountiful, final harvest.

The blog that follows consists of one chapter that did not make it into my book "Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets". At the time this chapter was put together, the damn book, at almost 400, 8.5 x 11 inch pages, was just getting way too long! What follows is some easy reading; a seasonal diary, circa 2004, telling the story, from start to finish, February through October of 2004, of one growers successfully harvested, outdoor, Indica crop. This grow was accomplished out in the middle of the swamps, somewhere very close to Chicago,Illinois.


The diary consists of 13, single spaced pages, detailing the procedures and hard work that went into a successful outdoor guerilla marijuana crop. Because of the length, this diary will be split up into three, separate blogs, which will be published over the next couple of months. Just like every other chapter of my book, this diary consists of hints, tips, tricks, and old school tactics used by successful outdoor growers throughout the country. The budding guerilla grower should be able to find multiple, multiple ways to increase their yields, improve security, and turn their final product into one of the best on the market.......................................................

Push your growing skills, and your outdoor yields, to the next level...order your copy of Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets today at www.tradesecretspublishing.com

 

 
Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets

Chapter 31

"2004: Somewhere in the Midwest"
Seasonal Diary
Early February 2004: Started a rooted, female Hindu-Kush cutting (obtained from a neighbor) under a 400-watt metal halide, in a 3 gallon black plastic pot filled with a mixture of Sunshine mix and a little compost. My plan is to grow this female cutting out into a mother plant in the next two months or so in order to obtain a batch of pre-sexed, pre-qualified female HK's for the upcoming growing season. The mother plant will be given 24 hours of light, and will be fertilized with high-N bat guano and Maxicrop seaweed at full strength, but only about every two weeks or so.


March 20, 2004: The female HK mother plant is now about three feet tall, and very bushy. My goal is to raise 15 or so Hindu Kush females to harvest, and in order to reach that goal; I figure that I will need about 20 rooted females. My success rate with cuttings is usually about 80%, so I figure that if I take 30 cuttings that I should end up with 24 or so after everything is said and done.

March 21, 2004: Took 32 cuttings off of the HK mother plant. These cuttings were soaked in a solution of ¼ strength Maxicrop with just the slightest pinch of 20-20-20 added to one gallon of water. After soaking in the seaweed solution for 10 minutes, the cuttings were dipped into Rootone powder, and then poked into a one-inch rockwool cubes in "six-pack" plastic cells. The rockwool cubes were soaked with the same seaweed solution used to soak the cuttings.


The cuttings are placed into a plastic tray, and put into a grow room with a constantly running fan and a 400 watt metal halide. The metal halide is placed at about four feet above the cuttings. No humidity dome is used, and the cuttings are misted about three times daily for the first three days; after that, twice a day will be more than sufficient. You do not want to overdo it with the misting because the stems of the cuttings will rot and fall over if they stay too wet. I've found that when the leaves of the cuttings start to turn yellow, that they are receiving too many sprayings. After a week, do not mist them more than once a day, and be sure not to let the rockwool cubes dry out. Water them with the seaweed solution once every three days or so. The cuttings will root in about two weeks; you can tell that they are done by popping the rockwool cube out of its cell and looking at the bottom: when the cuttings are ready, thick, white roots will curl out of the bottom and the sides of the cubes.


April 5, 2004: Have 29 rooted cuttings with fat, white, healthy looking roots hanging out the bottom of the rockwool cubes, and fresh growing tips sprouting out of the tops. These 3 inch tall cuttings will be transplanted today into one gallon plastic pots filled with peat based grow mix, and slowly adapted to full sunlight over the next three or four days.

Fertilizer used at this point will be one large handful of compost added to 2 gallons of water in a watering can, and watered into the soil at least twice a week. The soil will be kept damp at all times so that the plants reach the maximum growth rates possible (the bigger they are when you transplant, the bigger the yield will be).

June 1, 2004: The 29 Hindu Kush cuttings that I transplanted more than a month ago are now over the one and a half foot tall mark, and are very bushy: bushing out to twice the diameter of the one gallon pots that they are growing in. The time has now come to start exploring the countryside for a suitable place to plant some of these babies. There are a bunch of swampy and low lying areas that I haven't explored in the past, but since it has been a dry Spring I might just look into some of these spots. I already have an 8 foot by 30 foot grow patch dug out in the nearby woods that gets about 10 hours of direct sunlight a day, and a lot of the cuttings are going to be transplanted there.


 
Approximately June 11, 2004: went exploring in a swampy area that I haven't checked out in years due to the fact that it is always flooded, and I have never had the drive or desire to go wading through a swamp in the hot summer sun. Due to a drought in the Midwest this year, the swamp had all but dried up, and was a pretty easy walk: no muck and almost no water. After fighting my way through the 8-foot cattails and other assorted vegetation, I suddenly came upon a clearing in the very center of the swamp. This clearing was a rectangle approximately 20 foot by 40 foot in size, completely surrounded by hundreds of feet of 8 foot tall cattails in every direction, with a full southern exposure that would allow sunlight to hit from just after sunup until sunset!

I proceeded to do some exploring, getting to know the area and the lay of the land. Since this area is usually flooded with about 1 foot or so of water (I could tell the highest historical water level by looking at the height of the moss growing on a nearby tree trunk) I figured that I would use either plastic grow bags or large bales of pre-mixed commercial greenhouse grow mix. The bags or bales will be placed a couple of feet back into the northern edge of the cattails in order to take full advantage of the available southern exposure.

June 20, 2004: Hiked back into the swamp clearing and this time I dragged along my "hand powered" auger with me. This is a four foot long piece of 1 inch iron pipe with a six inch diameter steel auger drill head mounted on one end, with a two foot long pipe "tee" at the top. Basically, you take this auger and start drilling into the earth using only hand power, attempting to drill down to existing groundwater. I hit water at about two and a half feet deep, and kept drilling all the way down to the four-foot level, so that I ended up with a "mini-well". The bottom one and a half feet of the hole filled up completely with groundwater, and the water level should be even higher once the drought is over, and rainfall is back to normal levels. I plan on using a plastic "Oasis" brand plastic wellhead pump (www.oasis.com) to draw water up from the hole to be used for watering the plants.

June 26, 2004: Decided on using plastic bales of compressed grow mix back in the swamp area, and also that I would place six plants out there to finish up for the season. Went to the local landscape and greenhouse supplier and picked up 3 of the four cubic foot compressed plastic wrapped bales of Heco #2 grow mix. This stuff is peat based and is recommended for "older and more established bedding and greenhouse plants". These bales weigh well over 50 pounds apiece, and my plan is to carry them, one by one, on my shoulder, through the swamp and into the clearing. I had the bales loaded into my pickup truck, and drove them home, where they will be stored in a dry place until I am ready to carry them back into the swamp. Always store bales of peat moss or grow mix under a tarp or in a garage or a shed, in order to prevent rain and moisture from penetrating the exterior plastic wrapper and soaking the grow mix inside. If the grow mix gets wet or soaked, a four cubic foot bale that weighed 50 or 60 pounds dry, will very quickly hit 100 pounds or more, making it almost impossible to carry the bales anywhere. Once they get very wet, these bales are almost impossible to dry out without opening the exterior plastic wrapper.

 July 5, 2004: Today's the day; I am going to break my back hauling large bales of peat moss into the swamp on my shoulder! The first thing that I am going to do is to haul all three bales to my "staging area"; this is the first heavy cover that I come across as I travel through the fields, woods, and the swamps, and I will stash the three bales here to keep them from being spotted by the wrong person while I am carrying the other bales to the site.

 
Wow! I got lucky. The temperature was 95 degrees yesterday, but today it is overcast, cool, and looks like it finally wants to rain. I have to wear a hooded sweatshirt, sweater, and blue jeans to keep the mosquitoes and ticks off of my body, and when you try digging, or hauling amendments in 90 + degree weather while dressed like this, you can drop from heat exhaustion pretty quick.

July 6, 2004: I'm pretty sore today, but all three of the bales are in the swamp and ready to go! What I did was drop them on the northern edge of the grow site, in order to take advantage of a full dusk till dawn southern exposure. I then took a pocketknife and slit the tops of the plastic wrapping the long way and at both ends, forming two, long, narrow plastic flaps that were then folded over the sides of the bale. This way, only the top of the bale of grow mix is exposed to the sun and the rain, while the sides of the bale act like a giant grow bag; in this case, my "grow bags" hold about 45 cubic feet of high quality grow mix each.

Today I hauled out the first load of water to the grow site. My water tanks consist of two, plastic 6-gallon water tanks for a total of 12 gallons of water per trip. These tanks are painted with camo colors, and have a handle on the top, as well as on the side for easy water pouring control. I added a few drops (per gallon) of dishwashing detergent to the irrigation water. This helps to make the water "wetter" and will allow it to soak down into the grow mix quickly, instead of running off of the surface and being wasted. Peat moss is notoriously hard to wet down the first time it is watered, and a wetting agent is really needed to keep from wasting your precious irrigation water.

The wetting agent worked spectacularly; the irrigation water absorbed into the grow mix like it was a sponge. I also took a hand trowel and dug up and broke up the compressed grow mix before adding the water. The roughened up surface also helps to catch and absorb the water more efficiently. I have not punched any drain holes into the bottoms of the bags as yet, because I want the water to be trapped inside the plastic wrapper so that all of it soaks into the grow mix. I will punch holes in the bottom at a later time, but for now I want to catch all of the water that I haul out there.

Push your growing skills, and your outdoor yields, to the next level...order your copy of Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets today at www.tradesecretspublishing.com
 

July 7, 2004: Hauled out another load of water (12 gallons worth) to the grow bags and soaked them once again. The grow mix is just sucking up the water and getting heavier and heavier! As of today each of the bales has received approximately 8 gallons of water; water that has been fortified with ground compost and 20-20-20 fertilizer at full strength. The chemicals will give the transplants a quick burst of growth and allow them to establish themselves with little stress while the compost will build up in the peat moss, adding all of the other needed micro and macronutrients.

July 8, 2004: Hauled in the third load of water today for a total of 36 gallons toted to the site as of today. Also started cutting down cattails, and piling them on top of, and around, the bales in order to camouflage them a bit.

July 9, 2004: Brought in another load of water today for a grand total of 44 gallons so far, or 15 gallons per bale, and boy, are they soaking wet!

July 10, 2004: Today's the day for transplanting the Hindu Kush female cuttings out to the bales in the swamp. I found the perfect sized cardboard box in the garage, and packed six of the 2 foot tall HK's (in the one gallon pots) into the box. I always let the HK's soil mix dry out a bit so that they are lighter weight, and also the soil seems to hold together better when the mix is a little drier as opposed to wetter. That's my personal preference anyway.

After hauling the 6 HK's out to the grow site, I proceeded to dig up the grow mix bales with a large hand trowel. The reason I did this is because the mix is compressed when it is baled, and I like to break it up and loosen it so that the roots don't have a hard time pushing through the soil when they are getting established. This evening (just after sunset) I hiked out one more 6 gallon jug of water and gave the transplants a good soaking of at least one gallon apiece and then pressed the root balls down level with the top of the mix.

After this I placed jungle pattern camouflage netting over the top of the soil and the sides of the bales. I also dragged a few broken branches, around 8 feet long or so, over to the grow area and threw those on top of the bales and then adjusted the HK plants so that they were sticking up through the branches in order to add further to the camouflage, and the branches also act as a trellis setup, adding support to the new transplants.

July 15,2004: Hauled out another two containers of water and watered the plants thoroughly. Some small animal or another had been digging in the grow mix (probably because its so dry everywhere else) and the plants root balls were slightly popped out of the bales. It didn't look like any damage was done to the plants and I simply compressed the root ball back down into the grow mix with a little bit of hand pressure and watered them thoroughly.

July 19,2004: Aaaaaaah!! Thunderstorms!! The rain has returned with a vengeance. We got a total downpour today for over an hour, although the ground was so dry and completely cracked that every drop of water was absorbed, there are not even any puddles on the ground after the downpour.


To Be Continued in the next blog posting.....the rest of July and on through harvest into October!
*********************************************************************************************
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GUERILLA GROWING TRADE SECRETS 

HINTS KINKS AND TIPS FOR THE CLANDESTINE CANNABIS GROWER

Insider Secrets And Techniques From The Professionals Out There Doing The Growing

WRITTEN BY:  Vinnie Kaz


 
Push your growing skills, and your outdoor yields, to the next level...order your copy of Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets today at www.tradesecretspublishing.com
 
This outdoor marijuana “textbook” is a highly detailed, yet easy to use, outdoor growing trade manual. Crammed cover to cover with trade secrets, and professional techniques, used by the pro's to obtain the heaviest yields of the highest-quality cannabis, while reducing risk, and the amount of back-braking labor involved. Novel growing methods, covert techniques, and outdoor-growing secrets are introduced-along with advice and comments from actual, guerilla-style growers. The budding guerilla grower will learn how to grow up to four crops per season, and realize absolutely mind-blowing yields! Setting up a clandestine marijuana garden has never been easier...instructions are provided for a large variety of terrains; including swamps, wetlands, cornfields, forest preserves, government property, private property, and many more excellent, but unknown, locations. First time and novice growers are virtually guaranteed a bountiful, outdoor harvest.

This practical, informative 'thesis' on outdoor marijuana cultivation packs more facts and information than weed books published in the past; they consist of mostly pictures, and contain little in the way of real-life, useful information. Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets, at 8.5x11 inches in size, and 370 pages of nothing but information, is not just another picture book! Real-life advice about real world problems encountered out in the fields.

Become an expert on supplies and logistics, secure garden locations, soil mixes, organic fertilizers, compost and teas, foliar methods, gadgets, camouflage, cannabis-munching critters, rain water collection and storage, pumps, batteries, police surveillance and eradication tactics, planes, helicopters, and satellites, wireless cameras, game cameras, security devices, flushing, drying, curing, pushing plants towards huge yields, multiple crops per year, very short-season crops, and how to grow a 5 pound, or heavier, plant.

Buy your “expensive” organic fertilizers, cheaply, from feed stores-buy only what you need to grow-stop wasting time, and money, on unneeded supplies and “exotic” fertilizers. Mix your own high-powered, organic soils, and save a small fortune! The tactics outlined will allow the experienced grower to triple last years yields. Buy growing supplies at hardware and home improvement stores. Troubleshoot, and eradicate, molds, pests, fungus, and diseases. Learn how the pros repair weather damaged plants to like brand new.

 
Push your growing skills, and your outdoor yields, to the next level...order your copy of Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets today at www.tradesecretspublishing.com

 

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Cleaning up the grow site...keeping unwanted attention to a minimum

Once all of the manicuring, and trimming waste and by-products have been been disposed of properly, the budding guerilla grower must now head back out to the cannabis garden, turning his/her attention to the multitude of garbage, equipment, tools, and “stuff” that accumulates over the course of the growing season. Every bit of grow mix, mulch, compost, and fertilizer that is carried in to the growing area is wrapped in some sort of paper or plastic, or comes in a cardboard box, or is contained in some sort of plastic bottle or container. Most of this stuff usually ends up stashed, in and around the clandestine marijuana garden site. Making matters worse, the manufacturers of these gardening materials usually package them in bright colored plastics. The grow mix that I buy (Heco #1) comes in four cubic foot bales that are white and yellow! Not very good for camouflage purposes out in the woods, where, once the cold season hits, everything turns brown.

I have one garden location that is situated in a treeline, between a swamp and a cornfield. Because of the fast growing corn, and wetland, plants, the garden is in a very well camouflaged location. During the growing season, because of the surrounding plant cover, I can stash a multitude of tools, wrappers, bags, buckets, and other growing stuff out there, with little worry that it will be spotted from a distance. I figure that it is better to leave it there for the entire growing season, than to be spotted, and perhaps questioned about it, on my way back from the gardening chores (although, your gardening chores should always be carried out late in the day, on a Saturday or a Sunday, to minimize the chance of unwanted observation, or contact).

The first year that I grew out there, I left a large, white, plastic bag on the ground, near the garden, weighted down with rocks, and covered over with leaves and topsoil. I left it there so that it could be used for tool storage during the next growing season. It was down at ground level, so I figured that it was well hidden. I drove by the area the next year, in the early Spring, just to check things out, and, lo and behold, I could see that white plastic bag, from the road, at least a quarter mile away.

This is a very big deal, because it could lead hikers, farmers, rippers, or law enforcement directly to the clandestine cannabis garden. Eventually, someone will decide to hike back there to see what the "white thing" in the woods is. When they get to the location of the garbage, they have also reached the location of your cannabis cultivation site, consisting of easily spotted turned-over earth, fencing, support stakes, watering jugs, etc. Most people these days will quickly figure out that this is a clandestine marijuana gardening location, and maybe come back to visit in the Fall, in order to help themselves to your entire crop. If law enforcement, or the farmer who owns the land, finds the garden, the area may wind up being “staked out”. When your crop is ready, you may end up facing a farmer, holding a shotgun on yo, while he calls the sheriff. If the cops find the garden, they may come back to check on it in the Summer or Fall, and stumble upon your budding garden. They figure that this is an easy bust, because they already know exactly where the garden is located. No planes or choppers will be needed to find this garden!

These clean up chores usually take place after all of your trimming, manicuring, and packaging task have been done This means that it will usually be late in the year when you return to your garden site. Usually, you will want to get out there before the snow starts falling, or it will be hard to find any of the garbage and junk that you are after. There is not as much forest cover at this time of the year, so you want to take even more care now to avoid being spotted at your marijuana garden. Do your clean up chores late in the day, on a weekend, timed so that you can leave the area just as the sun is setting. The less light, the better. It is much harder for someone to spot you at twilight. Plus, during the weekends, everyone is at home, partying, watching football, and toking up...not really wanting to venture out into the cold autumn weather. Also, get this done before hunting season so that the woods are not full of hunters who can spot all of your junk and garbage from a distance. His is especially true if you are trespassing. Deer hunters like to smoke (and steal) marijuana too! The marijuana grower will not be wearing an orange reflective vest on his way out to the garden, and a lot of these hunters will shoot at anything that moves, as long as it is not colored bright orange!

As you make your way back to your marijuana gardening site, the first thing that you will notice is the matted, trampled down trail that you have left while traveling to/from your grow during the growing season. Trails tend to stand out even more once the surrounding vegetation and wild grass dies back. If you really want to freak yourself out, look at google maps "satellite view" of your garden site. If you have been growing out there for more than a couple of years, there will be trails that are easily spotted from the air, no matter how careful you have been to hide your entry to the area. It is very, very hard to haul in amendments and water, over a long period of time, and not leave a very visible trail leading directly to your growing area. Thank God that the trails are only this highly visible from the air, because, unless they are tipped off to an area, police planes and helicopters can only cover a very miniscule portion of potential growing areas, no matter what you have been told to the contrary.


When I travel back to clean up my garden site, The first order of business is to cover , and camouflage, the trails that I was responsible for creating during the past growing season(s). The first order of business is to stop at Menards, Home Depot, or any of the larger hardware or gardening stores, to pick up a large (25 pound) sack of generic lawn fertilizer. This stuff is usually rated at an NPK of anywhere from 45-10-20 to 15-5-10. Almost any ratio will work, but I usually choose the blend with the highest Nitrogen content. As I walk the path that I have trampled down for the past six months, I grab large handfuls of the lawn fertilizer, and broadcast it heavily over the trail, and to both sides of the trail. The presence of this fertilizer will give the weeds and grass on your trail a huge growth spurt once the warm weather sets in next Spring.

The areas surrounding your guerilla marijuana garden are also trampled flat while you are doing your digging, mixing, watering, and other cannabis cultivation chores. Trampled down vegetation, turned-over ground, and bare soil all around your garden make it much easier to spot from the air. I always save at least half the fertilizer, and spread it around all areas of the marijuana garden site. Again, the goal being to stimulate the rapid, and heavy, growth of cover plants all around the garden area, once the rain and warm weather set in next season. For those of you organic purists, who may be concerned about spreading chemical fertilizers around in the wild, this small amount of fertilizer is washed away by the Spring rains, and completely used up by the fast growing weeds, and grasses, long before your marijuana plants go in next season. This technique works very well; the new growth that sprouts up in the Spring is very thick, very tall, and very green, all in a very short period of time. You might say that the weeds "grow like weeds", completely covering and masking any evidence that there was a heavily trampled down trail there just a few months prior.

Even better, once the new growth covers your old trails, blaze a new trail (carefully) five to ten feet to either side of your old trail. Use the new trail for the rest of that year, and then move back to the original trail next year, giving each trail the fertilizer treatment every Fall. After a few seasons of this, your trails will be so thick with vegetation that you will find it hard to find your own marijuana cultivation site, even though you know that "it is back there somewhere". And if you cannot find it, chances are that the rippers and law enforcement will have an even harder task in trying to locate it!




Here is a short excerpt from my book "Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets: Hints Kinks and Tips for the Clandestine Cannabis Grower" concerning this subject:

"
I added some 46-0-0 urea to the vegetation surrounding my guerilla grow. It came in pelletized form, about the size of a BB. I just took a handful and scattered it throughout the perimeter of my grow area, in a strip, about five feet wide. By early June, I was already noticing the effects. The brush and weeds are much thicker and taller than they were last year. The extremely high Nitrogen content of urea will very quickly improve your security situation."
"I do pretty much the same thing, except for a different reason...after I am done hauling in water and fertilizer to my grow holes, I hide my trails by sprinkling 44-05-05 pelletized lawn fertilizer along my trail as I walk back to my vehicle. Any high-nitrogen lawn fertilizer can be used, but be sure that you buy it in pelletized form, it is easier to broadcast by hand that way. The pelletized form is also much less smelly. I bought a 50 pound sack of this stuff for $13 a couple of years back. I usually use about three pounds worth to cover a trail that is about 100 yards long. I then apply extra fertilizer at the entrance to the trail, as well as at the approach the the marijuana garden site, hoping that the camouflage will spring up even faster and thicker to hide my entrance way(s)."

Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets” can be ordered at: www.tradesecretspublishing.com
As you approach your guerilla marijuana garden, stop about 25 yards from the garden site, and start looking around for anything that you might be able to already see from that distance...stuff like fencing, water jugs, buckets (as mentioned before), tools with bright colored handles, soda or beer cans, plastic, and anything else that may catch your eye. Anything that can be spotted from this distance has to be removed from the marijuana garden, or very well camouflaged. Do not just check from your entry trail location, circle the entire garden area slowly, watching for anything that catches your eye.

I am going to mention the subject of one of my blog posts from a few weeks ago, because it is sooo important...a cannabis root ball (stump) that is left in the ground, at the garden site, can be used by law enforcement as evidence that a marijuana growing operation was conducted using that garden plot. The grower can be charged with marijuana cultivation based on the presence of marijuana plant root balls alone. The most important part of a guerilla cannabis garden clean up is the removal of all root balls from the ground, along with the removal, and disposal, of any and all leaves, branches, and stems that are left over after cutting the plants down at harvest time.


I am going to repost the excerpts from my book "Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets: Hints Kinks and Tips for the Clandestine Cannabis Grower"below, just to reinforce how important this removal, and disposal, task is:

"The feds are charging me with 100+ plants! The state police came in, and they found nothing; all of the plants had been chopped down, except for 10 moms. The feds then came onto the case, saying they had evidence of more than 100 plants being cultivated. Remember, 100 plants triggers the federal statutes. All the feds found were old root balls, and some stalks, a total count of 112 to be exact. They also found around a pound of dried herb, along with a bunch of my hunting guns. The state charged me with the manufacture of less than 10 pounds, along with the charge of simultaneous possession of firearms, at least until the federales hand down their indictment. My research reveals the plants are defined as having leaves and roots! Can they really charge me with only root balls as evidence? My lawyer says that we have to wait and see what they really have, it is still very early in the case."
It doesn't matter which state you are in. This is about the federal DA building his reputation, the asset forfeiture laws, and you rolling over on someone you know, as a confidential informant. If you own a nice home, expensive vehicle, or have a fat bank account, every jurisdiction out there is hungry for your money. And the feds are much less restricted in their methods of disposal of forfeited assets than most states are..................."
"I hate to tell you this, but the evidence of a crime seems credible. I do hope that there were no leaves attached to any of those stalks? If not, hold out for the jury trial option. To prove their charge of 100+ plants, they'll have to have all of those stems, and root balls tested, in order to prove that they are indeed marijuana stems.................."
"I have no idea of where you are, but Michigan law states clearly that you cannot be charged for root balls or stems....the feds may be something totally different though?"
"It all boils down to the feds being able to prove that a crime has been committed. Root balls reveal the existence of a once living cannabis plant. The feds do not have rules that determine what is a legal plant, and what is not. They have gone after people for rooting 100 cuttings! If they test the root balls, they can determine the maturity of the plant when it was cut down............................."
"Me and a guerilla partner got raided a few years back. When all was said and done, they counted 360 root balls, and they charged my partner with a class C felony. I escaped on my four-wheeler, down an old creek bed for about two miles, and then into the deep woods. My partner got 30 days in county jail, and had to pay a lawyer $8000. Not too bad, for the amount of profit that was involved from the harvest, but they can definitely charge you with a crime using only root balls as evidence."



Damn, and here I am, sitting around in February, with piles of dried leaves, and stems, inside, along with root balls outside everywhere, just because I'm too lazy to dispose of them! I am getting up off of my dead ass right now, and heading outside to uproot the root balls. Although, it would have been a hell of a lot easier if I had done it right after harvest, before the ground was frozen solid. I am then

going to burn all of my left over stems, branches, and leaves in my backyard fireplace, late tonite. I plan on fueling my burning program with a couple of 40 ouncers of Steel Reserve malt liquor, and a giant spliff of "Pinewarp" (Texada Timewarp X Purple Pineberry), my favorite Indica strain!



Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets” can be ordered at: www.tradesecretspublishing.com


Carry in a garbage bag with you and proceed to fill it up with any, and all, plastic wrappers, fertilizer containers or boxes, papers, black plastic pots and plant flats, and any other miscellaneous junk that has collected in and around the grow site for the past six to eight months of marijuana cultivation chores. Use gloves so as not to leave fingerprints on the garbage bag or on the garbage. This garbage bag must then be carried out, and carefully disposed of. Again, I would not recommend disposing of this stuff in your own garbage...burn it if at all possible.

The bad thing about plastic, that is left onsite, is that the wind will eventually blow it around, where it will become caught in a nearby tree branch, waving like a marker flag to any one looking in that direction. We have all seen the plastic grocery bags that get caught up in tree branches along the highways, flapping and waving proudly in the breeze. A lot of these bags are still there a year later if no one physically removes them. Once the tree leaves start to grow back in the Spring, you could have a large piece of plastic waving in a nearby tree, without your even knowing it. While, at the same time, you are hauling in supplies, and marijuana plants, from another direction. This is a good way to get caught. Do not get lazy here! Clean up well; remember, you are only borrowing your outdoor marijuana garden from Mother Nature, you do not own it, she does. Go for the good karma!

Many times, rope, string, wire, and plastic plant ties are used to support the plants branches while they are heavy with buds. Cut down, and remove to the garbage bag, all of this support material. Plastic, string, wire, and rope, tied to the surrounding bushes and tree branches will stand out like a sore thumb once the leaves fall off of the trees.

If you pump water into your cannabis garden via plastic irrigation tubing, or some kind of hose or pipe system, follow the water lines their entire length (if possible), inspecting them as you go. If they have unburied themselves, rebury the lines, covering them well with topsoil. Remember, a helicopter equipped with FLIR (forward looking infrared) cannot use it to find a marijuana garden, but FLIR will detect the temperature difference of water lines that are lying unburied above the ground. The helicopter can follow the water lines directly to your garden, or, worse yet, your water source. It would be really bad if that water source is a well or a tank at your house, or a friends house.

Fencing, chicken wire, etc, that can be taken down, should be rolled up and wrapped in burlap or canvas. Stash the rolled up fencing deep under a bush. One that grows all the way down to ground level. If possible, throw some brush and topsoil over the top of it to further add to the camouflage. If you string up fishing line to scare deer, take the line down, It will reflect sunlight, and it can be seen from quite a distance away.



Many stores now sell (very cheaply) 5 gallon, plastic buckets, which have become popular with outdoor marijuana growers. The outdoor cannabis cultivator has found a multitude of uses for these things. Drill three or four drainage holes in the bottom of one of these buckets, and it becomes a large, heavy duty planter, capable of supporting a large plant for quite a while until it is moved into the guerilla cannabis garden. These buckets are also used by growers to haul water from nearby water sources, such as ponds, or creeks, as well as for hauling topsoil from one location to another. If these buckets, even the green colored ones, are left in the woods over the winter, they are very easy to spot from a long distance, once the surrounding vegetation dies back. The plastic they are made from is very reflective, and even the green ones stand out from a long distance. Buckets that were well hidden, during the Summer, surrounded by three foot tall wild grass, become very visible once that grass turns brown in the Fall and Winter.


If the grower is using these buckets to haul water, then they will have to stay at the garden site. It is too much of a security risk to attempt to carry them in during every visit to the garden. Buckets that will be left at the garden site during the growing season should be well camouflaged. Starting with the green colored buckets, sand the sides down thoroughly with some very rough sandpaper in order to roughen up the plastic surface. Next, paint the outside of the bucket with a camouflage pattern, using spray paint. While the paint is still wet, roll the outside of the buckets in a small pile of peat moss. The peat will stick to the wet paint and add immensely to the camouflage effect. A bucket that is camouflaged like this is very hard to see from even ten feet away. Store the camouflaged buckets at least 50 feet from the garden site, with the open end down (upside down). This is because the inside of the buckets are not painted with the camouflage paint and peat moss.


Watering jugs should also have been sanded, and painted camouflage colors, before being brought to the growing area. If you want to keep the watering jugs onsite, over the winter, stash them at least fifty yards away, but do not put them somewhere where you will not be able to find them next year! I do not know how many times that I have stashed something deep in the woods, and then have not been able to find it come Spring, once all of the new vegetation starts growing and changes the landscape.

Same with the 5 gallon buckets...if they have not been camouflaged (stupid) and you cannot remove them from the area, stash them far away from the outdoor marijuana garden, wrapping them also in burlap or canvas. Burlap and canvas material weathers over time, and blends in very nicely with the surrounding foliage, helping further with the camouflage situation.

If you trimmed a lot of tree branches back during the growing season, in order to allow more sunlight to penetrate to the plants, carry a can of "pruning sealer" in with you.


Here is an excerpt from my book "Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets" concerning trimmed tree limbs:
"When you start trimming branches, and chopping off tree limbs, you are going to end up with little patches of light-colored wood ends, standing out against the dark-green, or brown, background of the woods. Trimmed branches stick out like a sore thumb; very out of place in mother nature. Stash a can of pruning sealer spary in the bushes, close to your grow. When the time comes to start trimming back branches to let more sun into your site, spray the cut ends black with this stuff.

For added security, spray paint the pruning sealer green and brown using spray paint. If you stash this stuff at your garden site, cache it 20 to 30 yards away, wrapped in a thick, canvas tarp, or a burlap bag, for protection from the elements. Wear work gloves whe you handle anything that you can leave fingerprints on, especially a spray can. Also, watch for paint induced fingerprints that you might leave if you are not wearing gloves."



Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets” can be ordered at: www.tradesecretspublishing.com


Once all of the clean up has finished, use the remaining time that you have to enlarge your garden for next season. Using your shovel, turn over an additional ten or twenty square feet of soil, chopping it up with the shovel blade as you continue.

Think about it; a garden that is in a secure site, and that has safely given up a couple of large crops, can be made larger with each passing year. Starting with a six foot by six foot marijuana garden (36 square feet) that is one foot deep (36 cubic feet of cultivated soil), and yields say, two ounces per cubic foot, meaning a 72 ounce per year (4.5 pound) yield. That garden can be enlarged, each year, by ten cubic feet, which is not really a whole lot of digging...a couple of hours, tops!

In five years time, that same garden will hold approximately 86 cubic feet of cultivated, fortified soil. At two ounces per cubic foot, which is a very low yield for a properly cared-for, outdoor guerilla cannabis garden, this works out to a yield of 176 ounces (11 pounds). This yield is realized growing the same number of plants, because each plant will now grow larger, due to the massive amount of extra topsoil for the roots to spread out into. Remember though, yields like this will demand a lot more irrigation water during the vegetative season, as well as a lot more fertilizer and soil amnedments...be prepared. TAKE IT SLOW, and remember the old saying: “Bulls get rich, Bears get rich, but Hogs get slaughtered!”

Alright, now that all of the hard work involved with removing roots balls, disposing of plant waste, cleaning up the cannabis garden, and properly storing tools and equipment over the off-season, has been accomplished, it is time to sit back and do some celebrating. By this time, some of your earlier harvested flowers should be semi-cured. If you do not have any fully cured product from last years crop, break into one of this years mason jars and roll yourself up a little reward. You deserve it! Do not get too comfortable though, because very soon it will be time to start planning next years crop; selecting and ordering strains, cleaning out and maintaining your indoor grow room, which will be used to start next years seeds, root cuttings, and to maintain your mother plants. Winter is also the best time to carry all of the needed supplies out to your multitude of guerilla marijuana gardens, either on your back, or through the use of an ATV, or snowmobile, and a pull-behind trailer. Enjoy your time off, because the professional marijuana growers vacation time is short...there is always something to do, whether it is the growing season, or the off-season. And, remember, your grow house is now full to the brim with a large amount of illegal contraband. Try to stay out of trouble, and try not to cause any yourself. Keep a low profile until the product is fully cured, and completely sold out. The first page of my book “Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets” tells it like it is for the outdoor marijuana grower:




DON'T TELL ANYBODY DON'T TELL ANYBODY DON'T TELL ANYBODY”




All of the above growing advice is obtained from the 8.5 x 11 inch, 369 page outdoor cannabis growing manual titled:


GUERILLA GROWING TRADE SECRETS

HINTS KINKS AND TIPS FOR THE CLANDESTINE CANNABIS GROWER




Insider secrets and techniques from the people out there actually doing the growing




I obtained a copy of Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets: Hints Kinks and Tips for the Clandestine Cannabis Grower during the Fall of 2010, and, I must say, that it is everything that the author, Vinnie Kaz, claims it to be...and beyond! This book is 369 pages long, with no pictures, and contains more information, tactics, and techniques than the professional, outdoor cannabis grower could ever hope to apply to their own operation.

After devouring the information found in this book, (I read it three times,cover to cover, and took notes) I went from a three pound a year, “semi-pro” outdoor cultivator, in 2010, to a confident, professional outdoor grower. Finding myself unemployed since 2010, and very close to becoming homeless, I took the info in this book, and I flew with it!

Over the Fall and Winter period (late 2010-early 2011) I dug out, and installed, ten ,very large, guerilla marijuana gardens, to which I applied as many of the techniques, tricks, hints, and tips found in this book as was possible for my first year of commercial cannabis cultivation. In the Fall of 2011, I harvested more than 40 pounds of extremely high grade, dank, potent, mind-blowing Indicas. This stuff had a taste like I had never experienced before. There was so much weed harvested that I could hardly process it all. I had three clotheslines, more than forty feet long, hung in my pole barn. The lines were completely filled with drying plants. It took me more than two months to process all of the weed. But once it was finished, and cured, every ounce of it was sold in two months time. I have had people tell me that they have never smoked weed like this before!

Fast forward to 2012: I used the advice given by Vinnie Kaz in the book, and, instead of going out and finding additional garden locations, I simply added about thirty square feet to each of my ten existing gardens, and I grew the same number of plants. I concentrated on the chapter titled “Fertilizers:chemicals vs organics”, and added various exotic rock dusts and mineral powders (K-Mag, Gaia Green Glacial Rock Dust, and Azomite), which, along with Vinnies recommendation on using leonardite, sulfur, and ground oyster shell dust (as a substitute for dolomite lime), increased my yields another 25% as compared to last year! Those same ten gardens yielded just over 50 pounds of super high-grade Indica buds.

If you are a so-so outdoor guerilla cannabis cultivator who wants to move to the next level (or move up three levels in one season), this is the book for you. This textbook on cannabis cultivation is loaded with all of the lost, old-school techniques used by the original northern Californian growers back in the day. It also goes into techniques used by mainstream organic gardeners to take their legal plants (tomatoes, squash, collards, fruit and nut trees) to absolute mind blowing yields! I cannot say enough about this book, it has literally saved/changed my life. I will never be short of money (or weed for that matter) again. Thank you Vinnie Kaz for putting in the time, and effort, that it took to catalog all of these high yield, cutting edge, cannabis growing techniques. I will be forever grateful.




The Unknown Grower

Morgantown, Kentucky
 
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www.tradesecretspublishing.com