Outdoor growing & Security measures

[dizzydauno]

Sup ICMag crew,

This year we plan on doing a outdoor grow here in Central Cali and had a few questions, mostly related to security. The area that we have choosen is pretty well secure but only has one main problem for now; choppers.
I had recently purchased a camo netting that was 10' X 20' and didn't do much good seeing how the area itself is 17' X 22' ATM, and the camo netting seemed to cause more harm than actually do any good.
Is it possible to cover more footage, hoping to cover atleast 30' X 35', with either by using camo netting or an alternative method?
The reason I want to cover so much ground is because there are a lot of surrounding trees which can be used to easily hang a netting thats 30' X 35' and blend in perfectly with the environment. Also, the major problem with alternatives like parachutes was that enough light wouldn't have leaked through the coverage to actually benefit the grow.

And in case anyone mentions, I wouldn't want to purchase multiple camo nets that are 10' X 20' because that becomes more of a hassle to setup and seeing how the camo netting didn't come with any stands and we had to improvise with wood sticks, it didn't turn out all too well.

Any help would be greatly apprechiated,

Blaze one for the nation.

 

[Guyute54]

How remote is this location? If someone walks even close to this camo netting there going to know somethings up. And another good rule to follow is don't put all your plants in one spot. If your spot gets spotted by a ripper or the authorities all your hard work is gone. If you have a couple spots if they get one of your plots atleast it wasn't everything you had. And also what bothers me is you saying "we" plan on doing an outdoor grow. I have seen many people get there plot ripped by there supposedly best freind. Well the best advice I can give you though is be safe and be smart.

 

[dizzydauno]

How remote is this location? If someone walks even close to this camo netting there going to know somethings up. And another good rule to follow is don't put all your plants in one spot. If your spot gets spotted by a ripper or the authorities all your hard work is gone. If you have a couple spots if they get one of your plots atleast it wasn't everything you had. And also what bothers me is you saying "we" plan on doing an outdoor grow. I have seen many people get there plot ripped by there supposedly best freind. Well the best advice I can give you though is be safe and be smart.

The location happens to be 374 sq. feet on privately owned land, so no one else has access to this space. My exact concern was that from up close the camo net becomes irrelevant to use as a security measure, thats why I was asking if there is another alternative method to doing so. As far as not planting all of them in one spot, this is the one spot thats available so theres really no other option. When I say "WE", its a family thing more than a friend thing, I don't have any friends and don't need em. My exact purpose of the post is to be on the safe side before actually proceeding forward, and seems that the only issue left to deal with is these choppers, and although they do not fly directly over the spot and fly pretty high up, all the wild stories I've heard about choppers and spotters had me thinking twice.

Thanks for the reply, but any other remedy that will aid this situation will be apprechiated.

 

[Gantz]

privately owned land...hmmm...if it doesn't have a fence anyone can get in. and even with a fence....
even family can turn you in...
i don't think that choppers would bother with a small number of plants. if they are a few here, a few there...etc...it may look natural and they might leave them be.
don't put all your eggs in one basket. have a spot for: freak nature incidents, bugs and animals, rippers, the cops, and finally one for yourself. this way you can be shure you'll harvest something. and when you harvest have a good rason for being there. it's not your fault if you were doing something else and you found the plants...stranger things have happened...

 

[SpacemanSpliff]

Quite frankly, if they want to see your grow from a helicopter, they will. There's not much you can do to effectively hide it. Luckily, you're in California, and it doesn't sound like you're planning a huge grow, so I wouldn't worry too much about choppers. I'd be more worried about ripoffs, mold, pests, etc.

 

[dizzydauno]

Gantz, shit man sound like you have a lot of personal problem if you think FAMILY can't even be trusted. Either you watch too many movies, or had a bad childhood growin up. Whichever it is that's not why this topic was created for.

Movin on..

Guys, seems like only a few are actually reading my posts, the rest are skiping through words. I said I will NOT be able to grow individually, all of them have to grow together. The space is secure man, TRUST ME. It's not a strangers property and ripoffs won't happen. Donno why we even staggered onto that topic since that wasn't even the issue at hand.

SpacemanSpliff; I apprechiate your reply. It actually will be a small grow consisting of only 20 plants AT MOST, give or take a few. Although pests might be an issue, including bigger animals, I will just have to wait and see what happens. Worst come to worst I'll plan it smarter for next year.

 

[slyfoxberg]

despite all that has been mentioned, split your grow up into smaller plots of plants. 2 here, 3 there, 1 or 2 in the other place. in other words, don't put all your eggs in one basket.
the folks on this site are just looking out for your best interests. i have seen many a person posting here and on OG.com about pissed off relatives narcing on or ripping off site memebrs. yes, it sucks and its bullshit, but it does happen.
you camo netting thing sounds like something out of Cheech and Chong's "Nice Dreams", the one with the swimming pool tarp over the outdoor grow. seems to me that the netting will just block out the sunlight too much and be more of a detriment to your grow. just spread them out and you will be much better off.
oh, and as for choppers... CA is one of the states that uses them most, good luck with that. the main thing you have going for you as far as choppers go is that usually state cops use national guard choppers to search for grows. makes it cheaper cause the only people paying are taxpayers. fortunatley for us outdoor gorwers, a lot of the national guard choppers are serving duty in Iraq right now and are unable to go out looking for pot plants. good luck.

 

[dizzydauno]

slyfoxberg; Thanks man. So what you're saying is in that one grow area to not bunch em all up together but rather plant 2-3 in one spot of that area, than perhaps one by itself basically spreading it out. Seems like a decent working plan. The area I'm using specifically is not on open grounds don't get me wrong. Its actually on the sloping side of a hill thats covered by huge amounts of bushes, trees, and theres a tiny stream that even flows through there. It's nessteled pretty nicely and TRUST me, I would have not gone forward with this grow if I knew it was going to be even the slightest bit of a safety hazard. Also, by watching the chopper and I realized it doesn't fly directly over the spot, if that makes much of a difference, and fly VERY high up. I would have imagined they would need to be closer to the groud to actually spot anything from up there.

The camo idea would have worked out better if it wasn't for what you had mentioned. That, and plus the fact that it sticks out like a sore thumb unless your viewing it from a chopper. So that had to go and if someones planning on doing that, I don't really recommened it..AT ALL.

I don't really know about the situation in Iraq, but last time I saw this chopper was maybe a week ago. Prior to that it must have been 5-6 months atleast. It doesn't come by everyday from what I have witnessed and thats from spending a few months on the land, but could have shown up when I wasn't there. Who knows.

I don't really want to post any pics of the place, but I have a few diagrams that I drew out labeling key things that I was focusing on preparing and am willing to scan that and post it up if anyone is interested.

 

[slyfoxberg]

first off, if the last time you saw this chopper was a week ago, then it probably isn't a drug narco chopper. its is way too early in the season to even be looking for plants. speaking of which... i like the TV show COPS. last season COPS went to Hawaii and flew in helicopters looking for illegal pot grows. they were quite successful. pot plants are very very green and stand out quite well no matter what other shades of green might be behind them. breaking up your grow spots not only makes it more difficult to spot them, but also, if one or 2 spots get popped by cops or rippers, you hopefully have a few more spots that they didn't find so you still get a crop.

 

[dizzydauno]

slyfoxberg; I have seen that episode of cops, thats why I was saying they were flying PRETTY high up to be spotting for plants around here. The problem like I said with having more than 1 spot, is that its not possible for what I am doing. It's only this one spot that will work out. THAT's why I'm saying, would it be too risky to grow 20 plants like that and not having scattered spots all around with 1-2 plants?

If this wasn't a grow chopper, than I doubt the other chopper I have seen are grow choppers either. But if its not, then what kinda choppers are they?

 

[slyfoxberg]

in calif it could be some movie star going from place to place, out on the East coast most choppers i see or here are medevac choppers, usually airlifting auto accident victims.
you said earlier you were looking at a sloping hill. thats the same kind of spot i am looking at this year. just a few at the bottom of the slope, a few in the middle and a few at the top. look for natural camo. plant amongst other folliage and also consider buckets or pots, that way, if all else fails and you get paranoid or the choppers seem to plentiful, you can move your plants.
20 plants is a lot. i don't know what kind of experience you have or what you are looking for out of your harvest (commercial-vs-personal grow), but if its your first grow and you just want some personal smoke, cut down on the number of plants. good luck and be cool.

 

[dizzydauno]

slyfoxberg: Well, the place where I'm going isn't where you would really find movie stars, but I had my doubts that it would not be who I was hoping it won't be. Interesting to hear you had almost the same thing in mind, but like I said, I only have 374 sq feet to work with. Thats 17' feet X 22' feet so you can imagine it a bit better. I might keep the number of plants lower man. 20 was a overstatement, ATM its just 7 plants. I might add a few more but not gonna do anything over 10 plants seems like. I've been growing for some time now so its not a new thing. Most of the time it was in a heavily condensed city like L.A. in backyards, but had to move on to bigger and better things. Never had a prob with choppers before thats really the reason I was doubting this whole thing.

Thanks for the kind words slyfoxberg, wish you good luck on the mission you are going to embark on yourself and stay safe as well.

 

[Gantz]

Gantz, shit man sound like you have a lot of personal problem if you think FAMILY can't even be trusted. Either you watch too many movies, or had a bad childhood growin up. Whichever it is that's not why this topic was created for.

thanks for insulting me man. but let's see how you feal when a family members turns u in even though you 2 were in it together...

from a high altitude you can see far away but not in great detail...now if you could hide them...lets say but planting something else with it...that could work better than you might expect....
let me run this idea by u

http://playbud.com/Outdoor SCROG Get the Most from your grow.htm

an outdoor SCROG and within it a few other plants like sunflower or corn...or something... might work.

 

[sm0kateer4204]

no offense but i think the camo netting is a terrible idea i think it would be easier to spot from the air than pot plant's considering it would be one big square of the same color and textures. and no 20 plants isnt alot for a guerilla grower considering half will be male and half of your females will die from natural causes. that leaves you five plants. these are the odd's you have to expect from outdoor growing.

 

[dizzydauno]

Gantz; don't get me wrong, it wasn't entitled as a way to offened you, its just in my family things are a bit different. Sorry bout that. Another thing, I was JUST thinking about planting other plants around em yesterday before I signed off these forums. Might do that might not, but the SCROG idea seems pretty good. Only drawback is that with all those wooden sticks that the guy used in that link to create it, I think even THAT will be easier to spot from a chopper than to leave the plants just grow. Am I right there or wrong?
Only way to make that less vidible would be to paint the wood a different shade of color like brown. But would it be POSSIBLE to use a chicken wire fence? I've seen that done plenty of times indoor but never out, and never on this big of a scale. I would love to try something like that if a few of you would agree that it wouldn't be a waste of time and might actually be more beneficial. But then another problem arises from using chicken wire is that it will reflect seeing how its metal. Hmm..

I need your opinions on this.

sm0kateer4204; Camo was a bad idea, but I wouldn't have been completely convinced it was unless I had seen it for myself. Which I did. Good suggestion on the males/females ratio, that skiped my mind. Will probably just get a few more females clones than rather than start from seed.

Thanks Gantz & sm0kateer for the contributions, looking forward to seeing what you guys will be willing to share next.

 

[DirtDevil]

i wouldnt be worried about the choppers, they can find shit buutttt theyre fucking blinde to!

 

[Guest]

Buy some black bailing wire for scroggin'. I think you're right to nix the camo netting idea. Doesn't help you with an alternative, but hey, at least you're narrowing it down by eliminating options that won't work. It's really too bad you can separate the plants or grow along the perimeter of a stand of trees or something. You'll figure it out, man. Keep us posted.

.canine.

 

[dizzydauno]

DirtDevil; LOL.

.canine.; Hmm, where can I get some black bailing wire from, Home Depot or some online shop?

I was pondering about the SCROG today and my biggest concern would have been its visibilty not only from the sky, but also from the ground. So I came up with an idea to build a scrog screen, have it stand a few inches/feet off the floor, and on the wood that will hold the screen to hang off the camo netting off to the sides. That way when the plants do grow, the camo netting will cover ALL sides of the grow and just the tops of the plants will be visible, and not TOO much cause the net will be holding it down.

What are your opionions on this? Could it be a possible remedy to this dillema?

One more thing. I've never really done scrog before, so how high does it actually have to be off the ground?. A few of the plants are already there but more will probably be planted in later April if everything turns out right. So I don't know the exact flowering date but I'm guessing atleast September. So from that bit of info if someone can give some meaningful advice as to how the SCROG should be set up, I would greatly apprechiate that.

Thanks again to everyone who are willingly contributing their knowledge and ideas. It means a great deal to me.

 

[Guest]

Only have a sec' here... I've never done a scrog but you could build a trellis or screen, either one, anything to allow you to train the plants to grow horizontally rather than vertically. Of course, the bigger the plants get the more complicated this will get, so you may wanna take that into account... maybe put them out later or something.

Personally, i'd think along the lines of constructing my entire trellis or screen out of black bailing wire. No wood or anything. The wire would be extremely hard to see from more than 50 yards or so.

I bought my last roll of bailing wire at the hardware store. Or maybe wally world. Had it for a different purpose. Buy something that's like 16 guage or so. That will be plenty rigid and anything thicker may be tough to bend/work with.

.c.

 

[PHL8T ME]

Just a thought, I've tried this in a new-low growing field with great results. Now I know you said you can only visit like once a month, but if you can make it twice this should work.
Heres the plan. buy some sturdy, yet flexable wire. Soft green sticks will work, croquet hoops are perfect. Any way, bend to make about a 6 inch across upside-down U. Leave the legs long enough to hold down the plants. You will have to vary the sizes some when plants are small. In fullblown veg the plants will really grow, but if you can get there about every two weeks you should be able to keep up ok.
Now, these loops, take and stake the plants to the ground, spread out and stake the branches. Once flowering starts you can quit staking. Much like scrog setups, this may also maxinize yeild. LOTS of small and med size buds because you will be maximizing the plants exposure to the sun.....And the best part? They don't look like 10' christmas trees!!

GOOD LUCK