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
 
  •  

www.tradesecretspublishing.com

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Next chore; clean up the evidence that is all over your grow house........



Now that the root balls and main stems have been pried out of the ground, and disposed of in a secure manner, it is time to turn your attention towards the remaining plant material that piles up everywhere during the trimming process. Once the buds are completely trimmed, and have been hung up to dry, the guerilla grower must begin a thorough clean up operation of the location where the plants were manicured.
 
When you are trimming a large crop, while at the same time sampling your product, it is very easy to lose track of the multitude of stems, leaves, and small buds, that are piled off to the side during the trimming process. When cutting up a very large harvest, time is of the essence. The grower who takes his/her time during the trimming procedure risks rotted, or moldy, buds. When you are cutting up a very large crop, the remaining stems and leaves (at least in my case) end up tied in bundles, and stuffed into paper bags, so that they can be easily burned later. During the frantic trimming process, where a single person, or a couple of trimmers, must process ten or twenty pounds of high quality marijuana in a weeks time, it is very easy to "stack and pack" all of this plant waste into any corner of the basement, garage, garden shed, or even the back patio, where it is quickly forgotten because there are much more important things to do. Oftentimes, long-forgotten bags, and bundles, can be found, five or six months after the trimming chores are done, stashed in a corner, or under the stairs.
 
Never forget this, just like a main stem that is left in the ground after harvesting, these plant materials can be used by law enforcement as evidence that you have produced the devils plant, AKA marijuana. Even though stems and fan leaves are not smoke-able, they are still part of the cannabis plant, and are illegal to possess under state and federal law. In the 1980's, a friend of mine, from Westmont, Illinois, was charged by the police with possession of 2 pounds of marijuana. The "marijuana" that he was in possession of consisted of a 5-gallon, glass water bottle, filled halfway to the top with old seeds!

After all of the harvest chores are finished, do a careful survey of your trimming house, checking every nook and cranny for any of these "leftovers". By this time, the leaves and the stems should be dry enough to burn easily. Throw them on your fire pile, or in your patio fireplace, and burn them thoroughly. I like to burn all of this stuff during a late night session, while smoking a giant blunt filled with some dried and cured product from the prior years harvest. Never place cut stems, or leaf material, into a plastic garbage bag, and dispose of them in the trash. The cut ends of the stems will easily poke through the thin plastic garbage bags. Most people these days, including your garbage man, know what a marijuana stem looks like, and some of them will call the police if they see this stuff in your garbage. Any judge in the country will issue a search warrant based on this evidence, and, if your final product is inside your house drying and curing, you will have a very large legal problem on your hands!

During the actual trimming process, keep a sharp knife on hand (be careful), and use it to to scrape, and collect, the resin that collects on the trimming blades. Keep this stuff for smoking later.....it is a high quality hashish consisting of almost pure resin glands. Yummy!

After the trimming chore is over, and all waste is properly disposed of, it is time to turn your attention to cleaning, and maintaining, your trimming tools. Scissors, both manual and electric, end up covered with gooey, sticky, resin glands, during the manicuring process. In order to remove the collected resin, wipe down the blades with rubbing alcohol, and a soft cloth. After the blades are clean, use a a scissor sharpener to put a sharp edge on the blades. Then, wipe them down with a cloth soaked in sewing machine oil, or a wd-40 type product. Do not use salad or vegetable oils, because these contain water, which will promote rusty tools. After the tools are oiled, wrap them in an oil coated rag, just like you would store a handgun. Place the wrapped tools in a toolbox, or a drawer for use next season.

If you use electric trimming scissors, like the $300 to $500 Testarossa, or Bonsai, electric cutters, disassemble and inspect them for damage. Make sure that all of the interior parts are in good condition and are undamaged. Oil all of these interior parts thoroughly, using oil that is recommended by the manufacturer. Again, do not use salad oil, because it contains water and will promote rust. Never disassemble the electric motors, or the power supplies, because this will void the manufacturers warranty. If the blades are dull, they can be removed and sent to the dealer, or the manufacturer, for sharpening.

Since the trimming/manicure process usually involves "sampling" a multitude of your recently harvested marijuana, most guerilla growers become too lazy at this time of year to get these cleanup chores done. They figure that they successfully got through the growing season without being caught, so they reason that they are safe, even with piles of plant materials (evidence) lying around all over the place. Please do not fall into this frame of mind! Anything can happen at any time...a small fire at your place, a break in by a thief, or even accidentally dialing 911, and the shit will hit the fan, hard and fast! Hell, the other night one of our neighbors had his house searched because an escaped criminal, who was being chased by police helicopters for hours and hours, was tracked to their property. You never know what kind of crazy stuff could happen, at any time! I know that it seems like I am taking all of the "fun" out of growing weed, but these chores have got to be done, as fast as possible. This is F**KING reality!!! I am not trying to scare you, I am trying to smarten you up. Why risk a felony charge on something as stupid as leftover stems in your garage, or leaves in your garbage? If you do want to scare yourself into action, call a defense lawyer and ask him what he will want (up front) to defend you on a drug felony....or go look at court records and learn that child molesters usually get a lower bail than marijuana growers do! This means that if you do not have $10,000 cash lying around to cover 10% of your $100,000 bail, you could end up doing 30-60 days in a concrete room, with a bunch of fine fellows, just for being arrested...and who knows how long if a conviction comes into play!
 
 
My book "Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets: Hints Kinks and Tips for the Clandestine Cannabis Grower" is based on this premise. The book gives the "budding" cannabis grower hints and tips on the actual mechanics of growing the marijuana plant....not just the general guidelines found in all of the other picture books out there! 8.5 x 11 inches and almost 400 pages in length...it is a virtual thesis paper on the art of outdoor marijuana growing....this book walks you through the mechanics of successfully harvesting an outdoor, bin-busting, guerilla crop. Check out the table of contents from this book:
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!

***********************

Containing within its text hundreds and hundreds of ideas, tactics, techniques, and true accounts
of successful guerilla growing operations from over the past couple of decades

by
 
Vinnie Kaz


TRADE SECRETS PUBLISHING COMPANY PO BOX 683 BROOKFIELD, IL.



TABLE OF CONTENTS
 
 
Introduction ............................................................................................ I

How To Use This Book …........................................................................ V

       1 Preseason Preparations...................................................01

       2 Selecting A Potential Grow Site......................................12
 
       3 Soil Testing And pH Adjustment.....................................23
 
       4 Hybrids......................................................................... 29

       5 Seedlings vs. Clones...................................................... 31

       6 Seed Germination.......................................................... 35

       7 Sexing And PreFlowering.............................................. 42

       8 Fertilizers: Chemical vs. Organics................................... 45

        9 Compost and Compost Teas........................................ 74
 
      10 Foliar Feeding and Gadgets.......................................... 83

      11 Hardening Off.............................................................. 95

      12 Transplanting: Techniques and Potions.......................... 98

      13 Soil and Grow Mixes..................................................101
 
      14 Camouflage and Grow Holes......................................121

      15 Mulching....................................................................131

      16 Grow Bags and Containers........................................ 135

      17 Trails and Grow Locations......................................... 145

      18 Deer Rats…and Other Pests.......................................152
 
      19 Water Collection And Storage................................... 181

     20 Pruning Trimming Bending...........................................214

     21 Weather Damage Weather Repairs..............................228

     22 Know Thine Opponent............................................... 236

     23 Airplanes Helicopters Satellites Surveillance................. 242

      24 Security Devices…Cameras, Detectors….................. 257

      25 Flushing Finishing Taste.............................................. 274

      26 Frosts And Freezing................................................... 281
 
      27 Harvest Timing........................................................... 284

      28 Yields........................................................................ 290

      29 Curing Techniques..................................................... 299

      30 Pushing The Plant....................................................... 305
 
      31 Multi-Cropping: Small Plants Short Season................. 312

      32 Cornfield Growing...................................................... 321

      33 Swamp Growing.........................................................333

       34 How To Grow A Five Pound Plant............................ 349
 
More information, techniques, and tactics than a single guerilla grower could apply over an entire lifetime of outdoor marijuana cultivation!!
Order your copy of Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets here

Sunday, November 11, 2012

After the "fun" is over...it is not yet party time...there is much more work to be done!

First, and most important....after harvesting your buds, be sure to dig up, and remove completely, all root balls and mainstems that would usually just be left in the ground over the wintertime. If the root balls will not come out of the ground, uproot them using a gorilla bar, or something similar. Very large plants leave behind "tree stumps" that are easily spotted from a distance. The cops can charge you with growing marijuana, and the only "evidence" that they need to obtain a conviction is root balls and stems that are left in the ground after harvesting! Just as an example, I reside in Illinois, and felony charges come into play if you grow 5 plants, or more. How would you like to have to deal with a felony charge, and the resulting legal fees, just because you were too lazy to dig the root balls out of the ground, or to remove then from your growing container?


A full season oudoor cannabis plant can grow a stem the size of a small tree trunk in a single Summer! Dispose of this "evidence" thoroughly!
Always remember, your growing season is never completely over until all tools, garbage, and especially, root balls and stems, are dug up and eliminated.

The best way to get rid of this evidence is to either dig a hole and bury them deep, or burn the stems in your firepit until nothing but ashes are left. Never, ever, dispose of them in the garbage! If you do not have a firepit, use a barbeque gril, or a backyard fireplace to burn them. Also, do not start an outdoor fire on your property if there are still plants growing there. If someone calls the police about the fire, they now have every right to enter your property. Think before you do anything, when there are living, growing plants on your premises.

Do not just dig them up and throw them ten or twenty feet into the bush! This is not something to be lazy about, this is court admissable evidence of your marijuana cultivation activities! Growers have been arrested on federal charges (100 or more cultivated plants) based on nothing more than the remaining stems that the police found in the ground.

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

"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
Hints Kinks and Tips for the Clandestine Cannabis Grower.


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-breaking 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.


Check out a really cool 88 page flash viewer preview of "Guerilla Growing Trade Secrets
click here
 
 
 

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Glorified pitchforks capable of breaking any kind of soil

Hello fellow guerilla growers, and Happy New Year 2012!


Ever come across what could be called your "dream" guerilla gardening area. Almost inaccessible, lots of cover camouflage, short trees, and maybe even a water supply close by? The only problem being is that the soil in the area is hard-packed, almost like concrete...filled with rocks and tree roots, and completely overgrown with a thick layer of three foot tall wild grasses, brush, and small bushes. When the guerilla grower attempts to break up this soil, the only thing that gets broken up is the guerilla growers hands, and tools! Soil like this will quickly break a tool with a wooden or fiberglass handle, including shovels, and "normal" pitchforks.

Do not even think about using a small, "army shovel" to dig out an area like this, as your hands and wrists will quickly be beaten to a pulp by the hard-rock conditions. Pickaxes, root grubbing tools, and root jacks can be used to clear the area of vegetation before the actual digging gets started. The problem with using a pickaxe is the leverage problem; a pickaxe has to be lifted over the head, and swung forcibly into the earth to break it up, and just wait until you swing that thing and hit a rock; the shock wave travels through your entire body, causing pain and injury. This happens a lot when digging in rocky soil, but is almost unavoidable if you have some very hard packed soil to break up. After the soil is broken into chunks, a shovel is used to scoop the material out of the hole. Unless you are used to swinging a pickaxe daily, you will find out what real pain is when you wake up the morning after digging out a garden. Your hands will be filled with blisters (even if you were wearing gloves) and your back will feel like it is broken. Good luck trying to crawl out of bed!

Think back to the early pioneers and farmers; they had to use a sharpened, steel plow, pulled along by a mule or a pack horse, to break ground like this into narrow rows, usually to a depth of no more than six to eight inches. Even with a horse doing all of the work, it would take the farmer many days, even weeks, to break up a small, previously undisturbed, patch of earth. The guerilla grower wants to dig down to at least 12 inches, preferably 18, when setting up the garden site. Breaking up a rock hard soil like this requires a high-quality tool, preferably constructed of steel alloy, or steel tubing, that has been properly welded together into an almost indestructable, solid steel assembly.

I started my growing career in the rocky, root-filled soils of the Klamath national forest, located near the town of Happy Camp in northern Cali. In the few years that I cultivated marijuana out there, guerilla style, I have broken up more undisturbed, rocky, root-filled ground, than I even care to recollect. After a couple of years of this torture, my hands were rock hard, capable of breaking someone's arm by simply hitting it (I practice a lot of chinese style martial arts where the first move is arm to arm contact (tiger form Shaolin), breaking the opponents arm right off of the bat...fight over). Even the hand and arm conditioning drills that we did under my chinese master did not compare to the beating that my hands took from all of that digging.

All of this changed when I realized that there must be someone out there who has gone through the same type of sod-busting experiences, but with mainstream farming techniques. Why reinvent the wheel? Marijuana cultivation uses the same techniques as mainstream farming, so I inquired to the professionals, figuring that these people had probably already developed the heavy duty hand tools needed for this type of task before farm automation, gas engines, and tractors came along. After a little bit of research (and this was 1985 or so, which meant no internet!) I learned about Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, located about 50 miles south of Happy Camp in Grass Valley, California. These guys were the masters when it came to organic gardening techniques, supplies, tools, chemicals, and organic amendments, and they definitely had a couple of heavy-duty, welded-steel, digging implements in stock, including:

The Deep Spader, a glorified, heavy duty pitchfork, which has been called the "heavyweight champion of forks" in the organic gardening community. The deep Spader is a super strong, four tine pitchfork, capable of breaking up the soil to a depth of 16 inches in one stroke. Digging a garden out to this depth allows your cannabis plants roots to reach deeper into the ground in search of food and moisture. The deep spader is perfect for the concerned organic gardener, since it breaks up, rather than overturns, the soil. This means that the rich, organic matter, found in the first two inches of soil, stays in place, instead of being mixed throughout, and buried under, the rest of the overturned soil. The deep spader is constructed of corrosion resistant, pointed steel tines, that are sixteen inches in length. These tines are welded to an eighteen inch wide, tubular steel crossbar, which contains a fitting for attaching a heavy-duty steel handle. The recommended handle is a 40 inch length of one-inch pipe, which bolts to the crossbar.

Since you add the handle, different lengths of pipe can be used when more leverage is needed: the longer the pipe, the more prying power available for those cement-hard, rocky soils. The deep spader is not designed for breaking rock and prying, but more for digging and aeration purposes, although it will handle these chores if that is what you choose it for. I use it to push through the soil as deep as possible, and then rock it back and forth, loosening it up for the spud bar or pickaxe. When a rock is hit, the spud bar, or the pick, is used to "pop" it out of the ground. A thick root will require a pickaxe, or even a cutter mattock (see prior blog posts) to cut it off at the ends and pop it out of the ground.

The price for a steel deep spader (handle not included) at Peaceful Valley is $229.00 plus shipping from California. This is a high-quality, professional tool, and it is very much worth the price for the amount of hard work, and broken backs, that it will save you from.

Next, we have the Broadfork: essentially a set of pointed, tubular, steel tines, welded to a heavy-duty steel crossbar. The old school tool was the Glaser Bio-Fork, an all steel broadfork, with detatchable tines for the lawn and garden. The bio fork part is still sold here and there, but the author could not find the tines available for sale anywhere on the net. Peaceful Valley has started carrying the "Valley Oak Broadfork", with five, twelve-inch tines, and two, inch and a half diameter post hole digger handles. The post hole digger handles are tough, and they are used because they are easily replaceable. The price is $200, plus shipping, from California.

The state of the art broadfork these days is the Gulland Broadfork, featuring five, nine inch long tines, and two, heavy-duty ash handles. Dual handles are used to increase leverage even further. The crossbar is twenty inches wide. This is a very heavy duty tool, manufactured by a blacksmith whose goal was to manufacture a broadfork that would last for years. Even better, it only costs $185 plus $25 shipping.