Share your Outdoor Guerilla MISTAKES here:

[Team Microbe]

GonBush -

Holy shit. That is serious!! I gotta ask you a few questions man -


Why do you think they staked it out? Were you doing big numbers or something?

Was this in a rural setting? Country? It sounds like they were pretty damn dedicated, my state doesn't have as much of a problem with cultivation so they're a little easier on it I feel. You're gettin me paranoid! ahha


That's insane how quick they were to eradicate it, it seems like they must have gotten a tip or something because those are hard to spot from the air ya know? Glad you got away though... you sound like have a set of running legs on you lol.



One time I pulled out of a spot that ducked into the woods and a state cop cruised by (I may have told this story already) but he immediately braked in the bend up ahead. Right when I saw his brake lights I peeled out and went the opposite direction and turned off of the first street I saw on the right hand side. I never pushed my car that hard before but I drop about a mile up hill to get away from this cop that was turning around. I went back that night to harvest 10/12 plants (since 2 were sativas) and got the fuck out of there as fast as I could. I remember hearing my lungs wheeze so hard I thought I was going to bruise them. My mistake at that spot was being lazy and visiting the spot in my car parking in the woods instead of parking nearby and walking in on foot. The cop would have never seen me on foot coming out of there...

long story short those last 2 plants were pulled up before I went back to grab them a week and a half later... I had a feeling they would be too but they weren't producing much so I gave it a shot. Big wide SUV tires were in the mud where I usually parked so I know it was a cop who got a tip from that Statie who spotted me exiting my forest. I'll never drive my wihp in again unless unloading at night or something like that... just aint worth it!

 

[GonBush]

GonBush -

Holy shit. That is serious!! I gotta ask you a few questions man -


Why do you think they staked it out? Were you doing big numbers or something?

Was this in a rural setting? Country?

On the edge of a small city.

I think they staked it out because of the numbers, they were all seedlings but they go on numbers around here.
And also because it was very close to civilisation, they probably wouldn't have staked them out if they had been far out in the woods, but where they were they were about 5 minutes from civilisation so it was easy for them.
And also because they could probably see they were in beer cups so they knew they would need to be watered fairly often.
That wasn't a grow spot, it was just somewhere to raise the seedlings till they got big enough to move out to the grow spots further out.

I remember on at least two occasions a light plane flew low overhead, straight over the top of me, when I was watering them.
In hindsight I think it was the plane that tipped them off, maybe it was a leo plane.
Because planes flying from A to B don't fly that low.

I knew someone had been there recently, but I figured that if they were going to take the plants they would have done so then and there, so I decided to leave them. I was very new at growing at the time.
But knowing someone had been there saved me because I was extra quiet approaching the site, and watered quickly and then got straight out of there, where usually I would spend more time there.

Glad you got most of your plants anyway, leo was probably pissed seeing that you had got the rest before him.
Just shows, it can take just one mistake or one cut corner to bring your grow down.

 

[GonBush]

To be an accomplished guerrilla grower you need to know how leo operates.
And how they operate might be different according to your area.
Country town cops might have nothing much do do, so they might spend more time looking for grows on foot, and also a drug bust will make them feel like the big city cops they see on tv.

Stinkymutt found that they will set up cameras on grows in his area, where others simply pull them up.

They might be in the habit of parking at the entrance to the forest at harvest time and stopping and searching cars coming out of the forest.

Time spent in your area and experiences will help you get an idea of how they operate.

But after reading Stinkymutt's post I will be definately be covering my face with a bandanna or something in the future.

I have found that local residents will often tip leo off if they see you going into the forest often. Best defence if you can't bypass them by going in a different way is to look like a genuine hiker.

 

[Team Microbe]

Good points GonBush. The best offense is complete knowledge of your enemy - just like the military operates. I've seen LEO posted up in the entrance to the forest near one of my grows once... I have to drive past it to get to my patch and actually saw him on my way to harvest one afternoon posted up there. I bet he was doing exactly what you say he was doing too... that forest is 100 acres +. Lucky me I know backroads and headed back the long way home... couldn't even risk it.

 

[idiit]

The cops around here always pull them up, maybe they are scared they will regrow again, or they don't even want to leave you a tiny bit of popcorn near the base of the stem.

^^ ditto.

Starting seeds too early, putting them out early and get them re-veg on me...

^^ dito.

Shitty genetics, big waste of a season.

^^ big ditto

To be an accomplished guerrilla grower you need to know how leo operates.
And how they operate might be different according to your area.

sunday is safest day in my area. friday-saturday afternoon most dangerous for stakeouts.

I have found that local residents will often tip leo off if they see you going into the forest often. Best defence if you can't bypass them by going in a different way is to look like a genuine hiker.

yes on both. multiple points of egress is a must for me. ppl pick up on the pattern of coming and going. it's the repeated trips in even if you look like a hiker that draws suspicion. multiple points of entry/exit eliminates pattern being picked up by locals/neighbors.

looking legit is "selling it". "selling it" is basically drawing no suspicion. right clothes, right manner going in/out; metal detector and prospector or geologist bumper stickers (on vehicle ), walking cane, water shoes instead of boots works surprisingly well (you don't look like you are dressed for any work activities), parking in a place that does not draw attention ( leaving an exposed to view vehicle for hours drawing "what's he up to" thoughts.), don't carry anything in during grow season ( get everything in during wintertime). the carry bags draw attention. god help you they see you carrying in shovels, buckets.

^^ carrying in transplants obvious exception. fishing pole or even better metal detector good enough excuse to get you by. leaving site to vehicle carrying large garbage bags (harvest) needs to be planned out in advance. you must be able to do this safely before you decide that an area is doable for a grow location.

I have to drive past it to get to my patch and actually saw him on my way to harvest one afternoon posted up there.

^^ ditto again. previews before parking and entering can garner a surprising amount of information.

staying out of the site unless necessary is huge. i love to go see my girls but i now exercise discretion.

more small gardens instead of one or two large gardens is a lot safer. not as big a prize for leo, harder to spot from air and ground by others including leo. unless leo is desperate to make their "canna quota" they won't dedicate resources to catching grower and will just pull plants by root. if someone chopped it's often kids, neighbors.

don't tractor/rototill an entire area. stands out like a glaring bulls eye, especially from the air. an outdoor garden is the size of a 5 gallon bucket. you can place several holes in an area leaving surrounding ground cover as camo.

no trails coming and going into an area. i egress from the woods. no trail. i check out all trails i spot in my area. i do a 360 around all grow sites so i know the area before i start gardening. your biggest mistake would be to get busted for a mega-grow near your site that isn't yours. big time jail sentance and fines for someone else's grow almost happened to me. my preview spotted a lot of ppl in the area and next day see this area on the news with a mega canna garden.



always have trees, heavy shrub or bush growth nearby in case of helicopters. you've got 15 seconds to scadoodle from the time you first hear the thump, thump, thump.

mix up days ( weekday,weekend day) and times (am,pm). predictability is your enemy. sunday am is your friend.


my biggest grow mistake was being seen. i'm the green ghost now. i egress into an area that does not draw attention. my parked vehicle and location cannot be linked visually to possible guerrilla growing. i park where its ok to park w/o suspicion being raised. once i'm not visible from the ground i make my way to the grow site. they don't see me, they don't notice my parked vehicle, they can't see my small gardens due to the surrounding grow cover. i always have escape routes and park far enough away that my vehicle is not correlated to the grow site if i encounter helicopters.

i've been chased by helicopters many times in the beginning. i haven't drawn a helicopter since i went green ghost.. they never got a look at me and never correlated me to my vehicle after i got the hell outta there. if i had bigger grow areas they would have dedicated more resources. once i see that the site is compromised i destroy the evidence and don't come back for years. i never leave any evidence out in the open that the site is a grow area by leaving tools, buckets, pots, bags, etc. hiding stuff in black plastic bags hidden in green growth (i often use evergreens) has worked well for me.

 

[that smell]

Gonbush, your stories scare the hell out of me. I cant undestand why when you saw someone had been there you didnt run like hell and abandon that site and its possessions. There is always tomorrow ...... if you are not in prison that is.

 

[solofoe]

This thread is golden I hypothetically have a limited experience in the bush it started when I was a wet behind the ears teen my first attempt at it was a miserable over ambitious under educated attempt I had approximately 50 plants in giant rubber maid containers in a small wooded area in the midst of a very populated city needless to say they were found and all the soil had been dumped and the containers had been smashed presumably by authorities

My next almost successful attempt was in a heavily wooded area I ended up with one nice female unfortunately I shared my proud accomplishments with my supposed best friends and they snatched it 3 days before I was going to harvest

my first successful attempt at was when I told no one what I was doing so in my experience keeping your mouth shut is first and foremost

 

[GonBush]

Gonbush, your stories scare the hell out of me. I cant undestand why when you saw someone had been there you didnt run like hell and abandon that site and its possessions. There is always tomorrow ...... if you are not in prison that is.

Ah, I was new at the game at the time, so I didn't realise the implications, I thought maybe some hiker had been there.
If it happened now I would have got them out of there straight away, but done it at night.

 

[mojoman]

not a mistake, but more a heads-up...if you have deer probs, lay down chicken wire around your grow...the deer won't walk on the chicken wire...hth




mojo

 

[Rob547]

thanks for reminding me mojoman!

- not protecting enough against pests - anything from deer to slugs.... know your area.
- leaving seedlings out in sunlight. be patient! water all the time
- not double or triple checking for ticks.. see #1
- bagseed is often subpar, for a whole od season.

 

[Stinkymutt]

watched

watched

My plots were watched for 4 years as well . The police report says a hunter found one of our plots while hunting and turned us in. It also says they could not get a good picture of us as we wore rain coats and head nets. The rain coats they mention were merely camo goretex coats from military supply store . And yes on many occasions of checking our plants it happened to be raining. They charged me for a camera they " lost " in the investigation too. They got a picture of my truck going in the jeep trail to access our grows . I had a cabin in there as well so that was a reason to be there . They found 90 of our plants and tried to charge me with 4 yrs x 90 plants . Lawyer did a good job and got it down to simple cultivation . Had I worn a head net that one day I would have gotten out of it period . They found 5 plants at my home all dried but untrimmed and found no scales no cash . They tried to push for trafficking but had nothing to prove it . And after all was said and done , NEVER TRUST YOUR PARTNER . He ran with tail between his legs and offered no help whatsoever. He sold the harvest and told me he burned it . Its a small world and that much is hard to get rid of without someone in the circle knowing . Oh well lesson learned and I lived to fight another day !
peace
mutt

 

[Team Microbe]

Wait so they staked out your plot for 4 years of growing??

That's straight up creepy.... being watched for that long without even knowing it

 

[GonBush]

They were some persistent cops, although with 90 plants that's probably commercial depending on his laws, so maybe if there had been 10 they would have pulled them up, but with 90 maybe they went to extraordinary lengths.

 

[idiit]

They were some persistent cops, although with 90 plants that's probably commercial depending on his laws, so maybe if there had been 10 they would have pulled them up, but with 90 maybe they went to extraordinary lengths.

^^ probably. depends how desperate they were to spread put a handcuffed grower across the hood of their poopoo car and take pics. for the sunday newspaper.

smaller grows are safer. i've gone into a single plant grow site of mine to show a friend thinking it was safe and would't be a big loss if he came back to rip. right in the 1 plant grow area was a 50+ year old male wearin a dea jacket. his back was to us and he didn't see us come in. stealth, stealth, stealth... my friend was so scared he was all over the road coming back in his car.

^^ this is a true story. leo is so whacked out when it comes to cannabis.

 

[Stinkymutt]

Yes 4 yrs they watched us , lol at one point my dad was suspect #1. His trailer sat at our cabin and it has his license plates on it

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

The biggest mistake anyone can make when guerilla growing is to not put up a small fence around smaller plants. Even put a fence on top with zip ties so animals cannot get inside. Once the plants are bigger animals tend not to fuck with them as much. They love young soft juicy plants. I use green plastic garden fence.

 

[eastbeast]

Biggest mistake would be growing outside with unknown genetics. You always need a harvest window, let alone knowing if the plant will even finish in time in your area.

2nd biggest mistake would be using guanos and fish based fertilizers. Especially in an area filled with large animals that enjoy the taste of fish. Coming upon your spot and finding your plants have been dug up by a family of bears really sucks.

 

[Team Microbe]

Biggest mistake would be growing outside with unknown genetics. You always need a harvest window, let alone knowing if the plant will even finish in time in your area.

2nd biggest mistake would be using guanos and fish based fertilizers. Especially in an area filled with large animals that enjoy the taste of fish. Coming upon your spot and finding your plants have been dug up by a family of bears really sucks.

Good points man, genetics are such a big factor outside especially in northern regions!


I'm planting in bear country this year for a change, I'm usually more urban under people's noses. Do you think a veganic super soil would attract any bears/deer? I know bears are omnivores so they eat vegetation too... I'm worried they'll dig up my plants even with the non-animal based amendments


hmmmm...

 

[eastbeast]

I'm planting in bear country this year for a change, I'm usually more urban under people's noses. Do you think a veganic super soil would attract any bears/deer? I know bears are omnivores so they eat vegetation too... I'm worried they'll dig up my plants even with the non-animal based amendments


hmmmm...

You should be ok as long as you aren't using a soil or fertilizer that's composed of fish meal or additives. Bears, raccoons, etc. will dig up and destroy the soil looking for the source of the fish smell. You really have to be diligent about checking the labels. A lot of organic ferts have fish meal or fish emulsion in them, unfortunately.

I've never had a problem with my plants actually being munched on. It also helps keeping the little ones in some sort of mini greenhouse enclosure to prevent that. I use fish tanks. This kept out deer, rabbits, slugs, etc.

 

[jay-toker]

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