Hiding in Plain Sight

[NPK]

I enjoy entertaining outdoors, and barbecue season is on the horizon. However, I don't want guests to see the marijuana plants--and once I cull out all the males, I expect to have around 12-15 fat ladies (Big Bud and White Widow) growing outside. I hope they'll be fairly invisible until the end of the summer, when, gawd willin', they'll be nice-sized trees. I'm not too concerned about the plants' visibility in early-to-mid veg. My experience is that people simply don't see them...but until this year I've never grown more than a few plants outside. A dozen or more will be harder to disguise.

Anyway, I'm going to plant them in the far end of the garden, far away from the seating area. I'm going to mix 'em in with big, showy flowers--sunflowers and delphiniums--plus a couple of tomato and pepper plants. (I also need more tall-ish screening plants between my top terrace and the house next door.) And I'm not going to host larger gatherings as the plants become mature.

I believe that the people who are most likely to notice the plants are other gardeners: they're the ones who really scrutinize a garden's layout and contents.

Cut to the chase--how do other outdoors growers hide their plants? How many have you grown without visitors noticing? Also, has anyone tried growing heavily scented things (jasmine, for example) as a means of disguising odor? That will definitely be a factor with my White Widows.

 

[usawontstopme]

try cutting the larger fan leaves off that way only buds show, also plant corn its nice and tall and blends in very well.

 

[DirtDevil]

hiding in plain sight is kind of an oxy-moron, all i could suggest is to tie them down or something

 

[medicaluser420]

It is impossible unless the person is very ignorant. If you see a pot plant most people wont say anything but they know (problem). you can try and hide it but it will most likely outgrow them all if you dont want people to see them Don't show them and dont tell them especially towards the end. I dont think you would be able to mask the smell too much. Just try not to have anyone back there.I like the corn idea have a big wall of corn blocking the view although i have never really grown behind or in the cover of other plants. Just keep them clean and watch out for bugs. Good Luck

 

[jaykush]

be very careful! that sounds like a sketchy plan to me.

 

[bentom187]

plant some japanese maple trees (saplings) and it should do the trick till flowering.i would try to put a purple strain nest to these trees or if you happen to have a purple pheno in your strain that would be better cause the trees have a purpleish/red color to them.

 

[NPK]

Ya know, I think I knew the best answer even before putting up this post: don't entertain in the back yard this season. It's a shame cuz I LOVE firing up the grill...but I would definitely NOT love seeing my crop ripped off.

I'm definitely going to proceed as planned, disguising my plants amidst the "regular" garden...but I won't be hosting large gatherings.

It's funny, because with all my efforts to hide the ladies, I expect my back yard is going to look especially great this year. Ah well--my girlfriend and willl enjoy it.

 

[Guest]

NPK,I've grown 8-10 foot beauties horizontally that never were over 4 foot tall vertically.I start tying them down at approx. the 3 foot tall point and continue moving the tie down string as the plant grows.also by tying over you allow the lower branches better light=better buddage.you won't eliminate any plant mass by tying over,but you'll make it harder to spot.'Buz

 

[PazVerdeRadical]

NPK, why don't you build a green-house and keep it locked? but for the present time, you can just surround your ladies with a netting, if someone asks, it is to keep the wind from damaging anything.

be well and much luck.
peace.

 

[Guest]

NPK..........The single biggest thing about that many plants in a garden area is that after everything`s dead (even corn if you decide on it)your bigbud` and ww`s will be glow-in-the-dark lime green and huge..................I used to grow behind honeysuckle patches and tie em down like Buz does(easier to work with come harvest time with way better light distribution to plants).........honeysuckle stays green til bout dec.round here........Find somethin that`ll be green till nov and help hide those monsters.......Anyways......good luck dewd.......PEACE..........DHF............

 

[NPK]

Hey guys, thanks for the comments. thcbuz, good call on tying down the plants: I will do that for sure. I also like the honeysuckle idea because the stuff is fragrant. Might help with odor issues.

I'm beginning to realize that the number of plants I've got planned will be hard to hide, especially since they'll likely be pretty damned big. Disguising a dozen or more stinky trees might be tougher than I bargained for. Tell ya what, though, I am up to the challenge. Huge motivator to improve my garden design skills! Think I'll document this grow in a journal...never done that before.

 

[usawontstopme]

Also try using aone of those camo tarps... just while you have ppl. over and right before they come by spray the places down with the smellest pesticide you can find it can only help you know.

 

[jaykush]

why not build a small greenhouse? it will cover them more than enough and you could have people over without them seing it. unless they want to seee your greenhouse :O

 

[NPK]

Hey there Jaykush (heh, my name's Jay too), a greenhouse is a tempting idea. I saw one at CostCo the other day and totally ogled it! Thing is, I suspect having a greenhouse would attract more attention than not having one, if that makes any sense...with respect to guests, anyway. So my best bet would be not to invite a lot of people over at once.

I'm still somewhat concerned about the neighbor issue. The people in that house aren't nosy or invasive, thank god, but I should still improve the barrier between our properties. The fence is only waist-high and there are gaps in the foliage that they can easily see through. Gonna need a couple of shrubs or vines to fill in the spaces--heavily scented ones, ideally. Or hell, maybe it's time to put in a taller fence.

 

[Guest]

NPK...........I`m not sure if it`ll work where you are and by no means is it a quick fix,(takes couple yrs to settle in)but bamboo is real fast-growin and puts out horizontal runners to fill in borders and grows tall like a mofo........borders all 3 sides in my backyard and NO neighbors can see ..........I dont grow back there ,but if I wanna go out my back door and piss ,or run around the pool nekkid.....well you get the message....lmao........PEACE.........DHF............

 

[NPK]

Hey man, I am a big fan of bamboo. The only reason I haven't put any in is that it's so aggressive with the runners you mentioned. I'd be concerned that I'd have bamboo popping up in unwanted places.

HOWEVAH, you have given me a most excellent idea! I'm gonna get a roll of bamboo screening and attach it to the fence I already have--a cheap, easy, effective solution, and it looks good, too.

Thanks Fred!!

 

[Guest]

DEWD........if youve got the right soil and drainage,bamboo is the shit diggity..........Wont help yas against helicopters......lmao..............I think adding bamboo screening to your existing fence might throw up a red flag as to why youre doin it.........Go with the garden and tie em down while plantin bamboo sprigs all alon g a straight line around the back........Youll be surprised at how goog it looks after a few years.............PEACE.......DHF.......

 

[NPK]

I just realized I have two outdoor grow journals in this forum. I like the title of this one best, so it's the one I'll keep current.

So, a quick refresher: I was forced to move my plants outdoors early, on April 1, because of space constraints. I was able to keep 'em warmer and relatively protected with a clear plastic covering, and now that early move is paying off with several strong, healthy ladies up to 20 inches tall. Out of 25 plants, I have 13 females, four males, and eight unconfirmed. I'm growing White Widow and Big Bud--started 'em from seed.

Speaking of the outside garden, it's gone from this...

to this

in a little more than three weeks.

Oh, and I also have some nice little Caramellas growing from clones:

I'm also growing Caramella indoors and am very happy with this plant's performance. I cannot wait to see what the strain yields outdoors.

 

[NPK]

So, I'm not going to be able to begin putting up a new fence between my house and the neighbor's until next week, but several of my plants are pushing two feet tall and were getting root-bound in their one-gallon pots; so, I decided to start putting my White Widows in the ground yesterday. I've planted ten so far...got a bunch more, but they're destined for the top-level terrace, and I can't plant them until I get the fence up.

Nice strong root system here!

A representative sample of what I've been working on.

I also transplanted my Caramellas from one-quart containers to one-gallon pots. This strain is delicious and a heavy yielder, too. Just for kicks, I'm going to cross it with a male White Widder when they're all sexually mature.

Speaking of Caramella, I'm growing that strain indoors right now. This bush is so heavy with bud it started tipping over until I staked it up. I've got five more like it...harvesting in six days.

OK, back outside:

First one in!

I started preparing the ground for this grow well over a month ago, loosening up the heavy clay soil with a turning fork, Kellogg's bagged mix (it has a super-light, almost fluffy consistency and includes worm castings and bat guano--the shit is perfect and is cheaper than FF Ocean Forest), lime, coarse construction sand, and my own worm-packed compost. We've had a ton of rain in Northern California this spring, so everything has ripened beautifully. The holes practically dug themselves, the soil is so loose.

Here's what the terraces looked like at the end of the day:

I definitely need more screening plants. My beans, miniature cantaloupes, tomatoes, tomatilloes, and various flowers need to get going if they're going to perform this function.

Other stuff in my garden:

It's pretty and helps divert attention from the green.

 

[solrebl]

Nice plants. I'm using corn plants as "camouflage". They seem well-suited for that. I'll also hopefully germ some lavender seeds that will help with the smell come flowering time.