Review/Critique my Grow Plan

Seed strain/breeder: Hindu Kush / Nirvana Seed Co.
Germination date: End of April
Grow type: Guerrilla

This is my first outdoor grow, and although I have been told to just keep it very simple, I have strong urges to treat these babies like royalty.

Here is what I have planned thus far:

Spot of grow -

I found this spot using Google maps satellite images around my area (Google maps is amazing for finding guerrilla spots) and then I went to check the place out in person. The area is surrounded by woods for at least 300 meters in all direction. The clearing is about the size of a typical backyard (maybe 20 x 20 m but I am not sure). There is a pond which is fairly deep (around 5 ft) which is about 100 m from the grow spot. The whole area is farmland around the trees except for a golf course about 400 m to the south. Although surrounding the spot is very dense with trees, this clearing is completely void of any sun impairing foliage other than a few bushes which I will pull or use for camo.

To get to there I can take roads to about 400 m away from the spot and park at the golf course. From there it is a walk through the woods. The golf course is approximately 5 miles from my house so I plan on traveling by bike frequently as well. All supplies will be brought to the site by car & then backpack.

Edit:

Yeah I kept debating whether or not this (proximity to golf course) would turn into a serious problem so I decided to do a little more scouting for possible sites. After some more Google mapping, I found a spot that is incredible. It has 4 ponds all within 200M of each other, all in old farmland that has become overgrown with shrubs but not yet large trees. There are large trees that were not cleared surrounding the field.

The spot is about a half mile south of a landfill, which has several large dirt parking lots and the whole place looks pretty low key, maybe even vacant. This area is surrounded by trees to the east, west, and north for a very far distance. About 50M to the south of where I am planning to plant is a highway with no exits within 5 miles.

This spot seems perfect. The only downside is that it is about 10 miles from my house. I have no problem driving out there, but I was really looking forward to taking bike trips to the spot and 10 miles seems pretty far for a casual bike trip every other day or so. (consider I will be going there and back which is 20 miles of biking every time I go!)

I haven't had a chance to check the spot out in person but it looks very nice from the satellite images. Unfortunately I wont be able to check it out until late April which will be when I return home and begin growing. If it turns out the spot is infested with rabbits or something I could always use the old site near the golf course.

Growing plans-

Seeds will be germinated indoors in a cup of water. Once the coat breaks they will be brought to the spot and placed into half gallon pots, filled with
1/2 Miracle gro for vegetables and 1/2 topsoil from the area. Pots will be placed in the shade of the trees so light exposure is not too intense for the first few weeks.

I will bring 10 x 5 gallon water jugs (camping style) to the spot and I will use 2 for watering during seedling stage (the main purpose of using 10 will be explained later). The jugs will simply be taken from my spot to the pond and filled with water. Then I will bring them back and use that water to keep the potting soil moist. Other than watering the pots, I will leave the plants alone for the next few weeks while I prepare the spot for transplant.

Preparing for transplant-

Some of this may seem a little bit extreme for a first time grow, but I really want to see what these plants are capable of.

10 spots approximately 3'x3' will be determined and marked. All plants on these spots will be pulled (sorry plants ). Using a shovel I will dig a circular hole with a diameter of 2' and a depth of about 1.5' for each plot. 10x64Quart (16 gallon) bags of Miracle gro will be used to fill in the holes. Each plot gets 1 bag which is mixed with surrounding topsoil to fill the hole. Once filled, each 3'x3' plot will be covered in around 4" of mulch (probably wood chips or similar). The middle of each plot will be left uncovered for transplanting. The mulch and surrounding the area 5'x5' of the plot will be covered in loose, white fabric (probably polyester). This is to prevent other seeds from starting while allowing water to pass through. This will also serve as somewhat of a reflector, keeping the lower branches happy A hole will be made for the stem of the plant to grow through.

The way I plan on watering my plants during veg is thus: Each plot will get its own 5 gallon jug. Each jug will have a hole poked in the bottom with a needle (very small hole). Jugs will be placed on the mulch surrounding the plant and allowed to slowly drain the water into the soil. When near empty, I will take each jug back to the pond to fill it up. I will adjust number of holes until I have each jug draining in about 2 days.

By the time I have all of this set up hopefully my plants will be close to being ready for transplant.

Transplant -

About 1 week before I plan to move the plants to their permanent home I will start moving them out of the shade. By the time they are ready to transplant they will have spent at least 2 days in full sun.

Typical transplant (tipping pot over and gently patting until root ball comes out) will be used. I will dig a hole in the middle of the plots large enough for the root balls to fit. Once transplanted, the plot will be given a full 5 gallons of water applied over the 3'x3' area. I will wait to see how the plants react to the water to determine how to set up my high tech auto watering system (holes poked in jugs lol). When mixing the soil around the transplant spot, I will use mostly topsoil so that it is not too intense for the first root growth in the soil. Once the plant is decently established the roots will be long enough to start feeding on the Miracle Gro / top soil mix that the plot was filled with.

Vegetative growth -

I plan to visit at least 5 times a week, taking bicycle trips at around 6:00 A.M. to the spot. If something major needs to be taken there I will drive it to the golf course and then backpack.

For this most part this stage will just be checking up on my plants, filling the jugs, and learning everything they can teach me.

Flowering -

As soon as I see pre-flowering the males will be covered in a trash bag and chopped. The trash bags will be disposed of somehow (not sure how I want to do that yet lol.). When I see female buds appearing I will start adding Miracle gro blooming fertilizer to the 5 gallon jugs so that the plants get a steady source of P and K. Jugs that were used for the chopped males will be added to the females for additional watering since in September I will not be able to visit often.

The longest I will ever be gone is in September when I have to go back to school and I will visit at least 1 time a week to fill water jugs. (some holes will be covered so that the jugs drain slower). If the plants are not getting enough water I will pick up some milk jugs and use those as slow waterer's too.

I am a little more nervous about flowering because I will not be able to keep as close of a eye on them as I had been, but hopefully they are ok (after all these things grow in the wild.)

I have never smoked more than 1/8th / week so if I get at least 6-7 ounces it will last me until next year

The harvest / curing will be a whole other story for another day.

If you actually read this whole thing, props! Whatever advise you have please share, and if you are wondering why Miracle gro products? Well that is the most affordable quality soil in my area and I have used it extensively for landscaping with only positive results!


Edits / Updates:
I cannot find any 5 gallon containers in my area, so I am planning on using 2.5 gallon water jugs from Meijer. I realized that 5 gallons per 2 days is pretty extreme and 2.5 gallons will probably be more than enough supplemental water (we get a decent amount of rainfall).

Regarding the seedlings I have thought of a way to protect them. I realized that leaving them in their little pots out in the open would not be a very safe plan because they will get eaten and have bugs all over them. So, this is what I decided to do:

I will get a cardboard box (from a TV or something) and cut out the top or open it so that the top part is open. Instead of half gallon containers I am going to use 18 Oz plastic cups. The cups will be put inside the box and then on top of the box I am going to lay a somewhat loose mesh (I found some replacement nets for those fishing nets that will work). I will probably tack it onto the sides so it stays up and is removable for watering.

This should keep most bugs out as well as keep my seeds out of direct light. Should I get a bug problem, I will buy a bag of ladybugs and just open it in the middle of my box!

 

Sounds like a plan I wish I had read a review of Lowryder earlier for you - 8 weeks from seed to bud. Look into it if your time constraints remain in the future. Sucker will even flower in 24 hours of light.

MG soil is fine btw alot of people use it.

Good Luck!

 

Minor problem. I don't like the parking at the golf course part. Golfers will be there whenever there is daylight; they park there to play golf. You're going to cycle up, park the bike, strap on your backpack, and take off into the woods. Hmm. Something funny going on there, and after a while some of the regulars will get very curious about what it is you are up to. Mix up your routine somehow and you should do OK.

 

I considered growing Lowryder but something about that plant just doesn't seem natural to me. It is probably fine and would be a great choice for an early finish though, although seeds are quite costly (>$60.00 I believe).

I found a nursery in a city near mine that sells Fox Farm products, but god damn! that stuff is so expensive.

2 cubic feet bags of MG are $11.00, 1.5 cubic feet bags of Fox Farm Ocean Forest are $21.95 EACH!!!. That is over 200 dollars in potting soil so I think I will stick with MG.

I am considering using Spray N Grow along with Coco-wet as a foliage spray. Spray N Grow is said to basically make everything healthier in your plant, as well as promoting earlier flowering which would be beneficial. It is impossible to burn with the spray as well so it should be relatively safe (I hope!).

 

When I ride my bike I will not use the golf course parking lot. I can ride right up to within 500m East of the spot, which is a dirt road. From there I will move my bike into the woods out of site and start hiking! Plus all bike rides will be at 6:00 AM to and earlier than 8:00 AM back home.

The parking lot is a possible problem though because I will probably be driving there during operating hours so there will be a lot of people. One possible solution I have thought of is to drive my car on the dirt road that I use when biking and to briefly park on the side of the road and unload all of the soil / empty water buckets / shovel / any other supplies brought by car. The road is fairly deserted (it is in the middle of farmland) and runs to a dead end so traffic should be light enough that I will have enough time to unload inconspicuously. Once unloaded I could drive back to the golf course and park then just walk out the exit of the course and enter the woods out of sight.

I want to keep car trips to a minimum though and probably will only drive a few times during the entire grow. Thanks for the advice though this is definitely a factor I will have to plan out thoroughly.

 

Wow, this looks and sounds very thought out! I have pretty much the same background as you, school gets out at the end of April and I go back up at the end of August. One thing I would suggest is a grow buddy. I think this would solve some of your problems about driving and looking suspicious. If you had 2 different cars (this is assuming your buddy has a car as well) then golfers wouldn't really notice or think anything of it. Also, if your partner stays in your hometown for school (mine does!) then he could do the work while you're away. Just a thought, don't know your whole situation, though so it may not be a great idea.

Seriously though, this looks like a very solid plan, I think I'll adopt it! If you stick to it then I bet your harvest will be awesome!! Expect more than 6-7 ounces per plant if your plan is this good!

 

Thank you! I would love to have a grow buddy but unfortunately I get the feeling that if I told any of the people I used to smoke with (haven't smoked since last summer ) that I was growing they would rip it in an instant.

I do have good news though. Next fall I will be transferring to Eastern MI that is only 15 minutes away from my grow spot. In case you were wondering I am not transferring to be closer to my babies it is actually a career move.

Anyway, things are looking good. I got my seeds in the mail yesterday and to my delight, seed boutique threw in 5 Original Haze x Skunk # 1's by sam the skunkman!!!

I am actually considering throwing the extra 5 beans in as well but I am not sure if they will last all the way until end of flowering which is in October or even November for those strains. Still it would be amazing to have some pure indica as well has a haze hybrid (skunk nonetheless!!) to smoke.

Happy toking all, I will be planting in about 40 days!

 

Sounds awesome! Looks like you got a sweet plan. If you have nothing to do with the male plants, can you make some hash with it?! Just make sure those golfers do not get suspicious of a dude carrying lots of shit all the time. I think 6 is a popular golf time, but thats a guess.

 

Brooooo!!! I am attempting the same thing this April almost exactly the same except i'll be driving to my location each time. Wow its weird how setups outdoor are similar due to restrictions around town. Its gonna be tough but, i'm up for the challenge.

 

Yeah I kept debating whether or not this would turn into a serious problem so I decided to do a little more scouting for possible sites. After some more Google mapping, I found a spot that is incredible. It has 4 ponds all within 200M of each other, all in old farmland that has become overgrown with shrubs but not yet large trees. There are large trees that were not cleared surrounding the field.

The spot is about a half mile south of a landfill, which has several large dirt parking lots and the whole place looks pretty low key, maybe even vacant. This area is surrounded by trees to the east, west, and north for a very far distance. About 50M to the south of where I am planning to plant is a highway with no exits within 5 miles.

This spot seems perfect. The only downside is that it is about 10 miles from my house. I have no problem driving out there, but I was really looking forward to taking bike trips to the spot and 10 miles seems pretty far for a casual bike trip every other day or so. (consider I will be going there and back which is 20 miles of biking every time I go!)

I haven't had a chance to check the spot out in person but it looks very nice from the satellite images. Unfortunately I wont be able to check it out until late April which will be when I return home and begin growing. If it turns out the spot is infested with rabbits or something I could always use the old site near the golf course.

 

For sure, I will be making a grow log for this maybe we could compare our grows if our setups are similar enough. What strains are you planning to grow?

 

DO NOT USE MIRACLE GRO!!!...it will destroy your thc output other than that it all sounds good...im guesing you live in the south.

 

Whoa sandbar, you're gonna go to Eastern? Dude, I live in Michigan too! I go to Central! Where did you go before Eastern?

 

i lost my first attempt at a guerilla grow to hungry critters...

look into some lines of defense there. i have heard of people sprinkling human hair around the area, making a fishing line barrier at about ankle level, etc., most of which to prevent deer...

anywho, good luck

 

I have similar spots behind my house. There's all unowned, unoperated farm land. Lots of it, actually. I'd love to grow back there, because there are some perfect locations.

Can't seem to get my hands on any seeds though. The weed I buy never comes with any seeds, and I've tried buying from different dealers to better my chances at finding any. I've also asked around. No luck.

Where do you guys get your seeds from? Keep in mind, I'm in the USA so I couldn't order online or anything.

 

Hey when is this crop going to be finished sandbar?