Guerilla Grow Guide

[SouthernGuerila]

[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif]Guerilla Grow Guide[/FONT]​

[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif]A strong back and thick skin is needed. [/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] This paper is going to assume you live in a country that has unfair laws regarding personal use of cannabis and intend to grow in a woodland environment. Also that you have an active Law Enforcement Organization(s), which would include scouting via the sky for cannabis plants. This paper is not useful for obtaining maximum yield, commercial scale growing, or even basic plant growing knowledge. [/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif]General LEO Scouting Tactics.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] LEO uses planes and helicopters to scout areas near major roads, creeks, rivers, ponds that are suspected to supply the locals with cannabis. They use thermal equipment as well as the naked eye. They also look for heavily beaten paths from rivers, creeks, ponds, roads and interstates that ultimately lead to cannabis plants. Plants in clearings, fields and organized plots of >3 plants are easily spotted. Aerial detection remains the most effective method of detecting illegal cannabis crop plots. [/FONT]​

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“[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif]Growers prefer to insulate themselves from prosecution and civil forfeiture by using lands they do not own, such as public woodland areas or timberland. The plots are usually located close to a water source with [/FONT]​

[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif]watering systems ranging from small solar powered pumps to shallow hand dug wells. ” [/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] Public lands and Timberland(land used for a source of timber) are generally semi-high traffic environments. Game Wardens, Park Rangers, Hunters and other people using the land for recreational or work related activity may discover you and your crop. [/FONT]​

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“[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif]...law enforcement quickly became aware, through intelligence and the appearance of domestic marijuana on the streets...” [/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif]The above statement is why you should not sell and trust no one![/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] One informant can bring down an entire network. Though it is rare for LEO to focus on those who are only growing for their own personal use. They are more apt to destroy your crop and move on looking for street suppliers and dealers. Growing on a commercial scale will make them highly interested in arresting you. [/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif]Plot Selection[/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] Since aerial detection is LEO's prime choice of detection, do not plant in open fields, up in the top of trees. Planting in a diverse woodland environment amongst conifer type trees(pines, cedars, etc..) and hardwood trees will help the cannabis shade of green blend in better. It is also rumored that conifer type trees have a similar or quite near the same thermal signature as cannabis plants.[/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] It is very possible to achieve >6hours of direct sun dispersed throughout the day when planting in woodland environments while your crop is camouflaged by the canopy of the trees. Finding such a spot in dense growth isn't always as easy. Know your intended grow area better than you know yourself BEFORE you plant seeds or clones. [/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif]Naturalizing Your Plot[/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] Do not completely remove all undergrowth where you intend to have your plot(s). The different shades of green help prevent to a degree the detection of your cannabis plant(s). Use preferably live briers and other vines as fencing. [/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] Do not leave ANYTHING that you take with you to your grow area. Cups, bottles, jugs, bags, etc... These are also easily spotted. If you must leave something, bury it underground or under thick brush and make sure it is completely concealed. Try to leave your plots undisturbed as possible. [/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif]Water[/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] Here you have several options. Be creative! Dig a well or a reservoir of some sort(buried buckets?) in a depressed area to collect water. You could dig a reservoir into the side of a hill, channel rainwater down hill to a focal point where the water will collect into a reservoir. [/FONT]​

[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] [/FONT]​

[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] What seems most popular is running a hose / pipe of some sort from a river or a creek to your crop. I'm not a fan of this as it is a security risk - those wandering around banks of creeks / rivers(LEO may do this in what they consider high risk areas). They could discover the hose / pipe, follow it and discover your crop. I suppose if ran hose from a river or creek to your plants and removed it after you finished watering, it should be less risky.[/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] Using gravity to feed water down your hose from your reservoir or other water supply(river / creek / pond) / lake) will make things a lot easier. [/FONT]​

[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif]Backpacking in water is a very labor intensive job. Can be done but is very suspicious if you're spotted wandering around with gallons of water. [/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] I would suggest digging a well or reservoir away (>1mile or 2km)from river, creeks, and ponds. Since LEO looks in these general areas for cannabis plots. Finding a natural spring that flows year round would be optimal.[/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif]Soil / Plot Preparation [/FONT]​

[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] [/FONT]​

[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] I highly recommend 100% ORGANIC methods, techniques and fertilizers. It is best to prepare you intended grow areas in late fall / early winter, or at least most of your soil preparation. [/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] Setup compost piles near your grow or on top of future spots where you intend to grow, with materials abundant in the wilderness. Cold compost piles take longer to produce usable material but do not harm beneficial organisms. Which in turn provides lots of tiny bugs and bacteria that will help your plants in the long run. Some say feed your soil, not your plants and the soil will take care of your crops. [/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] In late fall / early winter turn over the top 6inches of soil, leaves and other debris, this will add / return beneficial matter to the soil. You can then plant green manure plants to grow during the winter / early spring. Remember cannabis plants do best in neutral to slightly alkaline soils, pH of 6.5 to 7.0. Sulfur will make the pH more acidic and lime or hardwood ash will make the soil more alkaline. If your soil is acidic I suggest using hardwood ash, because it adds other beneficial nutrients. Such as potassium. [/FONT]​

[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif]Test your soil's pH in several areas in your intended grow area.[/FONT]​

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[FONT=Century Schoolbook L, serif] If your intended grow area does not have suitable soil, get ready to bring it in on your back. Dig a hole about 2ft deep, 2 to 3ft wide and long. Some suggest digging a hole 3ft / 1meter cubed. 3Ft x 3ft x 3ft(long, wide, deep). Which in my opinion is a lot of extra work which is useless unless you're planting in a rubbermaid container, or a stone box. People manage to get fairly good sized plants from using 5 to 10 gallon buckets. Trust your own judgment and experience, hopefully you have experience growing some sort of plants. [/FONT]​

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Maybe one day I'll add more to this...
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[Gunnarguchi]

Im growing in corn with early genetics as its the easiest way here as LEO dont do much flyovers here, but theres some good valid info in this post
thumbs up

 

[FirstTracks]

I think its important to note which organic amendments are good and bad......
examples......blood and bone meal will cause a freshly prepped hole to be dug out by omnivorous and carnivorous animals in the area sometimes. If you prep ahead of time, no big deal. If you're digging and planting all at once, say bye bye to your plants.

some good basic tips/info otherwise

 

[Jiu Jitsu Playa]

good info, i keep reading everyone here talking about infared and what cannabis infared looks like. i got a news update walter cronkite. Infared/thermal imaging or what the militatry/police use FLIR cannot distinguish what one plant looks like from another. Infared and thermal imaging only pick up heat signatures, so what ever heat the plant is giving off is going to be the same all around, because they all reflect off the same sun. this is coming from someone who has spent the greater part of a year scanning through FLIR for terrorists. IR will not pick up different kind of plants, and it is true that cedar or pine trees are able to block IR, but this is only if something hot is underneath them(dog, person) you are not able to see them. So everything the sun hits will appear a similar shade, things hotter than the surroundings will appear hot or white. so you can see a mouse in a field at 2km but you cant tell if a plant is a tomato plant or cannabis... just so you know

 

[L-Thirt33n]

good info, i keep reading everyone here talking about infared and what cannabis infared looks like. i got a news update walter cronkite. Infared/thermal imaging or what the militatry/police use FLIR cannot distinguish what one plant looks like from another. Infared and thermal imaging only pick up heat signatures, so what ever heat the plant is giving off is going to be the same all around, because they all reflect off the same sun. this is coming from someone who has spent the greater part of a year scanning through FLIR for terrorists. IR will not pick up different kind of plants, and it is true that cedar or pine trees are able to block IR, but this is only if something hot is underneath them(dog, person) you are not able to see them. So everything the sun hits will appear a similar shade, things hotter than the surroundings will appear hot or white. so you can see a mouse in a field at 2km but you cant tell if a plant is a tomato plant or cannabis... just so you know

Agreed. 100%

People need to understand this.

Infrared is for HEAT only. You cannot use IR to distinguish different plants in the forest. Sorry that will never work. I have an IR camera. I KNOW how IR technology works.

When police do flyovers looking for cannabis outdoors, they just use thier eyes and fly low. Large plots of cannabis are VERY easy to spot from above with just the naked eye...

Law enforcement does NOT use IR to locate fields or crops of cannabis, EVER. They use it to locate large INDOOR grows within a facility, if and only if suspected of such activity. They can see hot spots in structures and determine what part of the structure the grow is being done in. However, they can't use that as the only evidence against one and cannot even get a warrant with recorded FLIR sessions. Now if they already have probable cause based on other evidence, then things will be VERY different.

In states with Medical MJ FLIR is no longer used as evidence.

Great post though!

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

True on the use of Infra-red, it is not a practical way to find outdoor Cannabis, naked eye is the most effective tool used.

That said, Infra-red was used in the past to scan large areas(many square miles from high altitude) for huge grows in dry country like California. In the California summer most of the grass and other annual native plants die by mid-summer, the remaining living plants are trees and other woody shrubs.

These trees, shrubs, and dead grass reflect a much more subdued IR signature(gray for dead plants, dark reds for trees) than lush, green Cannabis plants who in large plantings stick out like sore thumbs(bright pink).
Searching with IR like this would only be practical for searching out large plots(50+plants) in dry, rainless summer climates like California. This method would be useless in climates with more summer rainfall, where native grasses and other lush plants stay green all summer long.

At this point, few growers are still growing huge plots in open dry country, and I doubt this method is still in use. Unless you live in a very dry summer climate, and grow large numbers of huge plants all together, it should be of no worry at all.

 

[scaramanga]

Very good information Southernguerila. I would like to add a thing or two if i might.

It is extremely important to pre-scout any areas that you plan to use, for several reasons. First you want to know what the area is going to look like when your plants are going to be out there. Is there going to be enough light in that spot, is that creek up the hill seasonal, are there going to be hunters crawling all over the place, etc... You also want to make sure that you will be able to safely get out with your harvest.


And remember the number one rule, TELL NO ONE.

 

[BigTex]

Cool thread SG, and good points everyone. I once got the pleasure of picking a "Fly Boy" s brain and this is what he said...

-90% of cannabis erradicated was visually spotted, no IR. Bout 10% from tips.
-#1 way to stand out from the air is irrigation lines.
#2 way to stand out from above is having plants evenly spaced or just spaced between with little or no surrounding vegetation.( Pretty green dots on brown)
-#3 way to draw attention from above is trails, but trails aren't as risky as one might think. Trails are everywhere made by humans and animals and very few lead to cannabis.

1 and 3 are self explanitory but let me elaborate on #2.... Most of the time people will walk complete circles around their individual plants or small groups of plants...Big no no when trying to avoid aerial detection. Surrounding vegetation and lack of trails is key to being undetected. Also don't till the soil like a conventional garden... big eyesore. When growing multiple plants keep them close together so that from above it looks like one large green spot, not pok-a-dots.

A good way to hide a large plot is to group your plants tightly together and have large trees on both the north and south side, real close, plants in full sun but blocked from view on two sides.

Once while watering I had two choppers come directly over me...doors open, guys leaning out, the whole 9. They were close enough I could easily see the patches on their flight suits! I jumped in my water source to avoid my body showing an IR signature and the plants were tightly grouped with good tree cover so they didn't see em. It was one part good planning and one part luck. A month or so later I harvested 15lbs. from that patch...not the biggest patch but big enough to see...

 

[foo_bird]

FLIR will show irrigation lines they are cooler and look like
lines from water source to patch

 

[Guest]

I always recommend that a grower analyize his area for dew, fog , frost, sunlight and other criteria, and then choose a strain that might tolerate those conditions. Its often problematic that a grower buys exotic breeds, that theyre intriqued by, and then place them in an enviroment in which they wont perform. they end the season with more disappointment than the grower who has grown a strain that will perform, even if its not quite so potent. I have some low lying areas that I grow in that I would be foolish to plant N lights or some heavy budded indica in as dew in the fall is on the plants until lunch. I have another area on a knob and its so windy, that only compact affies or low growers can be grown . I have one spot where the deer are so numerous and voracious that I can only grow Maple leaf indica which for some unknown reason, deer just dont eat it. I live in an area with the highest deer population in america, with 45-50 deer per square mile. Ive grown MLI for 8 years and have never had a plant eaten. Strain selection has a direct correlation to the success of a grow and should consist of more than breeder description and indoor grow reports.

Never jeopordize your entire seasons efforts by placing your hopes on a strain you arent familiar with. I grow strains that i dont know, but my years worth of smoke isn't dependent on wheter it performs or not. I have some old standby's growing for that insurance

Aerial flyovers are daily and last for hours here. They fly low, 250 feet. You can almost feel the wind from the blades.

Last year, the federal and state eradication agencies that are located here began to cooperate with the Diebold co. in the development of an experimental computer program which was originally developed by the defense dept for spy satellite photo clarity.
Instead of relying on site, the purpose of the flyover is to provide a photographic grid, which is taken back, fed into the computer program and analyised pixel by pixel for cannabis coloring. The goal of the program is to allow the computer to spot the plants that human eyes could not detect.

We in this area have become experts at aierial deciet. We buy 50 lb bags of urea pure nitrogen in an effort to confuse the picture and we make hundreds of plants in the area dark green, desensitizing the law from targeting "dark green" view from the air. We know that they can not see one plant, even if its 10 feet tall and has 2lbs of weed, one plant is not detectable. We have other area specific activities as well.

 

[LazLo]

With the world economy as it is, I'm more concerned than ever about "potential growers." Last year I found 7 clearings in MY woods. Been using several sites there for over 10 years and that was the first time I found evidence of anyone else with the same idea.

They didn't find my sites but I still made a new one for last year's grow. Posted my NOTICEs at each clearing and they never came back. Rookies. The kind that leave beer cans, cigarette butts and hiking boot footprints. And I'm sure the kind that are more ripper than grower!

BigTex
My favorite spot is in a thicket with an almost open south face. Put 20 seedlings there and the thicket is filled out. Five ways to get to it and each a deer track. Some grass clippings and dried leaves disguise the watering path.

The only flyovers in my parts concentrate on highways. There is one single engine plane that passes 500 ft right over my woods to and from the hanger. Flys lower in Oct but still on the same route. Yet.......no matter when it is above, I'm under cover.

I sprinkle some granulated flower fertz along my routes in spring to and from the sites to keep the surrounding vegetation healthy and leave fewer footprints where it is green. Pays off when all those fall asters are tall, thick and blooming. I put up deer netting and they grow around it and I leave a few in each site as well.

scaramanga
Each grower has their own issues and creative ways of dealing with them. It is the dumb and desperate that threaten growing outdoors for the rest of us. Scouting is an ongoing activity for me. NO COMFORT ZONE IN GUERILLA GROWING!

If sex doesn't scare the cat, you're not doing it right.

 

[BigTex]

Hey SB right on bout trying those exotic strains. Diversity is always good when working with new stuff.

I've got four new strains going at the moment and I'll be happy if two will do well here. Plants that aren't drought or heat tolerant don't usually do well here.

Over the last few years aerial flyovers have become nonexistant in my area. I attribute this to the war in Irac. Anyone else notice this? Now that the war is supposedly coming to an end does that mean we should expect more flyovers?

 

[scaramanga]

Yeah, I hear you LazLo. Scouting is a never ending activity for me as well. Being very particular about my spots, I spend a great deal of time in the field.

 

[weedster]

nice thread