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.
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 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
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