The bush marches on......

[SilentFeet]

Went to check on an old spot that I haven't used for ten years.

Was my most isolated spot, with permanent water.

Soon as I got to my jumping off point into the bush I saw things had changed; I was faced with a thick wall of undergrowth.
It used to be fairly open, sure you had to know to go at this angle for a while and then when you got to here go off on that angle, to avoid the roughest going.
But if you knew which way to go it was fairly easy going.

But the bush has grown, and was so thick I could often only see two yards in front of me.
After lots of pushing through this stuff I actually came out on a stream which I knew was very close to my grow.
I didn't know it but I was actually only about twenty yards from my old grow.

Problem was when I came to the stream I saw ribbons tied to bushes, and then I saw a trail along the bank.
I thought shit, someone must have found my grow site and started growing in it themselves.
So I followed the trail but it just went a short distance and stopped.

So then I went to try and find my old grow site, which I knew was close, but after pushing through this thick undergrowth and going around in a circle, I came back to my start spot near the steam.

So I though there were two ways I went to my grow from the stream, so I will try the other way.
And sure enough I just about walked upon my grow.
Grow equipment still lying around but I couldn't find my garden spade, but I think I know where it might be.

I went and checked the fence, and about 2/3 of it was in a serviceable condition, but the rest had rusted.

Problem is the hot weather is coming, and this spot will require some hard work to get it up and running, such as the fence fixed and then the undergrowth cleared out from it.
This is stuff that is best done in the cool weather.
I think I will have to give that spot a miss this season.

I didn't fancy climbing up out of the valley through all that thick vegetation, it was hard enough coming downhill through it.
But I noticed that the ribbons went along the bank of the stream in the direction of the road, so I followed them and saw that they were marking out a trail.
I worked out it was fishermen who had made a trail along the stream.

Well at least there is an easier way to my grow now by using the fishermens trail, only problem is my grow is about 20 yards away from what seems to be their favourite spot, as you can see where they have been clearing vegetation from the bank so they can fish easier.

It is a well worn trail so obviously they go there a lot, so if I grow there it would have to be very stealth, no trail to my grow, and just rely on them having no reason or will to push through this thick vegetation away from the stream.

Pity, as that spot used to have no human traffic.

I did three hours traversing that rough terrain, just as well I have been doing some training.
Rolled my ankle twice, and slipped over on a slippery rock and hurt my knee and got a couple of leeches on my arm, and some scratches and bruises.

Was going to try and find another old spot tomorrow but I think I will be too tired.

I don't know what the point of this post is, except that the bush changes all the time, it never remains the same, and what was once a fairly easy area to traverse can become empenetrable over a few years, and it all looks different.

I wish I had saved the locations of these old spots in my handheld GPS, but at the time I didn't want any evidence tying me to the spots.

I think you have to be a bit abnormal to be a guerilla grower sometimes, the things we put ourselves through.

 

[Swamp Thang]

I am following this saga. Lots of variables in this equation for sure.

 

[mogrow]

I should go check my old plots.

 

[SilentFeet]

Went to look for another old plot yesterday, it was a spot I set up several years ago but never used.

The problem is the same as the first spot, the bush has grown so much that in this spot it was incredibly slow going pushing through this tangle of undergrowth.
I know I was close to it, but you couldn't just walk freely around, you had to push through and step over all this tangle of undergrowth and branches and vines, and you could not see far in any direction because the bush was so dense.

I was really sure I would find it and I took a spade with me so when I found it I could dig some holes and then this morning I was going to take some seedlings out there and plant them.
But I put in a lot of effort till I was fatigued and didn't find it.

I took my young dog with me who never gets tired, and loves being in the bush, but after pushing around in this horrendous shit for about an hour she was pulling at the leash wanting to get out of it back to the fire trail.

The problem with these two spots is I set them up a few years after wildfires had gone through and cleared out the undergrowth, so at the time I set them up they were a lot more open and clear than they are now.

One thing too is that someone may have found the grow site and taken the fencing to use for themselves, and that's why I couldn't find it.
I don't know, but anyway I think I have put in enough effort looking for this spot, so I'm going to abandon it.
For this year anyway. Maybe next winter if I feel like a hard physical workout I will have another look, and go in from a different direction and see if I can find it that way.

But there comes a time when the work is not worth the reward.

There are another two spots in a different area that I might go check on if we get some cool days soon. See if they are still accessible or the bush has grown too much to get to them.

But I think there will be no guerilla happening this year unfortunately.

Football teams have a saying, the game is won or lost in the off season.
I apply that to guerilla growing; if you get a harvest and how much depends on what you do in the off season.
You have to set everything up in the off season.

Well in this case I didn't do anything in the off season, and so wont be getting a guerilla grow in.

Funnily enough I looked on google maps and where I thought the plot should be there was what looked like a square cleared area.
Could this be it?
The resolution was not clear enough to see, but one thing I though of trying was getting an orienteering compass and then printing out the page from google maps, as there is a landmark nearby which I would take a compass bearing to the possible spot.
And then going there and lining up the compass with north and then making sure I stay on the compass bearing and that will lead me to whatever this feature showing on the map is.

Anyone know an alternative to google maps?

 

[baduy]

How did it turn out?Yeah working your soil when it's dry and hardened and surrounding vegetation already thrives is a pita, and a sure way of making an obvious trail for people to follow. I also work my patches in wintertime
The compass would be perfect. With a map and two daymarks you can find this patch, that's how every sailors safely made their way through reefs till the dawn of GPS, that's good old piloting and that's what I do as well if it's hilly enough.
Talking about hills I found a spot which looks pretty good but I'm a little concerned about conditions. It's in a narrow pass facing a steep slope,20 yards away from a creek. The place is in full sun till late September then half of the day in full sun and just gets 2 hours of light in December/January (Northern hemisphere).
Shity soil but no problemo, plenty of good humus and rotten wood to scavenge in the forest around
I've never grown in such a place, always in lands open enough and windy enough so my concern is humidity as I believe this kind of places turns into damp holes as soon as the sun goes down and can get pretty cold too. Good thing in summer but dangerous in fall. I wonder if it's worth the risk as I don't grow any strain ready to cull earlier than mid-October.

 

[SilentFeet]

How did it turn out?Yeah working your soil when it's dry and hardened and surrounding vegetation already thrives is a pita, and a sure way of making an obvious trail for people to follow. I also work my patches in wintertime
The compass would be perfect. With a map and two daymarks you can find this patch, that's how every sailors safely made their way through reefs till the dawn of GPS, that's good old piloting and that's what I do as well if it's hilly enough.
Talking about hills I found a spot which looks pretty good but I'm a little concerned about conditions. It's in a narrow pass facing a steep slope,20 yards away from a creek. The place is in full sun till late September then half of the day in full sun and just gets 2 hours of light in December/January (Northern hemisphere).
Shity soil but no problemo, plenty of good humus and rotten wood to scavenge in the forest around
I've never grown in such a place, always in lands open enough and windy enough so my concern is humidity as I believe this kind of places turns into damp holes as soon as the sun goes down and can get pretty cold too. Good thing in summer but dangerous in fall. I wonder if it's worth the risk as I don't grow any strain ready to cull earlier than mid-October.

I had a spot which was down in a hollow, and didn't get much breeze.
Mold was always a problem there.

But I would say put some plants in at your spot, but just don't make it your one and only spot.
You might win, might lose, but just make sure you have some alternative spots as well.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket and then be relyin on a harvest from that spot; it might come through or it might not.

 

[baduy]

Yes I will just put two plants, see how it turns. Hopefuly for the best.
If you don't do this season that makes you at least an extented off season to search, find and clear your patches in the bush then go back when the weather is cool and more friendly for field work.

 

[al70]

some f/////ng pressure man, ye 'd go with a small test grow first,goodluck

 

[SilentFeet]

I had problems with rippers finding two of my sites.
Still got to harvest them before the rippers got them.

One site I actually caught the ripper at the spot, he was about to harvest them even though they were far from ready.
So I had to harvest early and got little yield.

And the other spot, I knew rippers had found it, so coming harvest time I set up a camp nearby, not too close or anything, and then I went and harvested in the morning.
Nine big Sensi Northern Lights from memory.
So harvested in the morning and took back to the campsite and hung them from ropes strung between two trees.

That evening I heard the rippers coming back from the spot, I would say they planned on harvesting that day, but I got them early in the morning.

The rippers didn't sound happy, I could hear them from my campsite swearing and hitting the trees with iron bars or lumps of wood as they walked off.

Ha ha, the losers got nothing.

But because I haven't used those spots for a long time, as I have moved house and don't live close anymore, I wouldn't mind betting that the rippers are now growing in my spots.

I will go and check them out near harvest time, and I can assure you if they are growing in my spots then I will take every last plant.

 

[al70]

nice 1