starting my fiirst outdoor guerrilla grow

Day 0 of my first outdoor guerrilla grow, or first grow for that matter.

Today I spent a great deal of time outdoors moving my materials and clones up to the grow spot that took me a few weeks to find.
However, I didn't manage to capture any photos of my grow area or the clones there. Mainly because after hauling 30 pounds up and down hills in the forest for multiple trips time speed by and the nice day that I had in the morning turned heavily rainy once I had actually moved almost everything into the spot I had selected. (Save for two 7 gallon pots of soil, which I will have to move tomorrow)
And so I spent my time in the rain before I needed to get out ensuring nothing would disturb the plants I had placed there. I sprayed an organic food-safe organic Deer & Elk deterrent not only on the clones but around the entire premises and throughout the whole area. I also spread an organic food-safe small mammal deterrent as well. I also treated my plants gently with a triple action formula that contains neem oil and Pyrethrum, which is a compound derived from Marigolds flowers. Which should prevent bugs from attacking them until my ladybugs arrive.

The Deer and Elk deterrent seemed potent and I still have more left for when i choose the near final location of each plant and will respray as well as 3 or 4 months into the season when I should spray again. What makes it organic and extremely effective, apparently this stuff can keep deer away from about ~400 crops 1ft and that's because they just give you a bag of dried predator blood powder, they also say it can serve as a fertilizer for the plant. But you have to make bloody water to do it, so I'm confident my babies will prosper unhindered in their new environment.

For photos I have a few of the clones in their infancy in my closet and a side angle view of them.
And one of mixing the blood


The clones are currently outside in one gallon cloth pots filled with black gold organic potting soil. Tomorrow I will have the job of digging out their new locations and filling up the larger seven gallon pots which are currently filled halfway with a supersoil mix and then I will fill the rest with black gold again and plant the one gallon cloth pot clones into them and then the seven gallon pots with the soil mix will go into the ground.

A little about the strain. I know from the owner of the mother that it's blue cheese which makes me excited for my first grow. Because from what I have read Indica's tend to be easier for first time growers than Sativa strains.

My favorite resource so far has been The Cannabis Grow Bible. Nothings better than having a hulking textbook that can never go offline or run out of batteries. Or require some wifi or "always on" feature especially when I'll be in the woods.

The fact that the plant is an indica is also why I believe a 7 gallon pot with the supersoil/black gold mix will be suited for it's needs even though my plants will be exposed to the full photoperiod. I'm expecting 7'-8'? A foot a gallon. I could be off however worst case they grow through the 7 gallon cloth pots as well.

More to come tomorrow.

Looks and sounds like you've got a great start. Welcome to RIU and keep us updated!

Hi

So my reasoning behind this being the official day 1 of week 1 is that I chose to move the plants up yesterday because today would be Sunday first day of the week. Also I don't have a precise date/time on the clones so I'm arbitrarily declaring this their very first week as well.

Anyways, on to what's important. Determined to get my girls established today I spent several hours in my location, with my partner. We managed to clear a great deal of the area. Then we got the 7 gallon pots situated in their spots. The plants were drooping slightly when we arrived -- however I hope I am right here in logically assuming it is only because of the water weight as it had been raining yesterday and throughout most of today. However as we worked the sunlight was still beginning to become visible in the area through the cloud cover and I take it as a good sign for the area's sun exposure. But we still have to take more time clear cutting lower nearby tree branches especially a nearby Evergreen in order to ensure more sun exposure. Though we did spend some time today as well cutting with a machette, really need to come back with better and some longer reaching tools next time (Taking suggestions here if anyone has any).

Another thing I did today was another light treatment with the triple action bug formula and then spread another form of the granular blood pellet deterrent. I plan on coming during a sunny dry day to blood spray the perimeter and area again to just ensure their safety though it says it will last 4 months in rainy and 6 months in dry conditions. I just want to get their perimeter established so no animals think they can get away with getting at some tempting fresh greeens.


I managed to get quite a few photos which I'll just leave here.



Planning my next excursion for a sunny day or at least the before the end of the week, will update then.

*Edit for some reason still don't know how to remove that double photo - pay no attention to it

Just a small update folks. Mainly for my own purposes of tracking the weather for my location.

Haven't been up to my location since Sunday. And I am getting rather anxious to see how the girls have been doing up there.
For my record keeping purposes; the plants have experienced plenty of rain on Sunday with some breaks in the cloud cover throughout the week allowing some good deal of afternoon sun in the area. However today it is raining again. Note to self plants most likely will not need to be watered this week, nature's been doing a pretty decent job of that for me.

The second reason for my update is in the nature of security. In order to really ensure my secret grove remains just that, a secret. I spent some time looking around a few nurseries in my area to find a great cover plant to serve as the ultimate people deterrent.

I'm confident I've found a species very well suited to my needs. It is known as a Black Hawthorn. It is a species native to my grow area and won't be attracting any unwarranted attention by it being in the area.

The species is hardy and resilient and grows to the full height of a tree. It's branches and stems are covered in sharp protruding thorns -- exactly the kind of people deterrent I was looking for. In order to employ these tactfully in my grow, I'm going to use them to establish a perimeter to the east of my plants. (Their most vulnerable front) The trees are only 2 ft tall at the moment and their location is going to be selected in order to eliminate the possibility of them obscuring light in my garden.

Here are a few photos of the Black Hawthorn species for those interested ( these are off the internet and are not my photos, I only use them to show the species potential to establish an impassable perimeter. )

Today the weather was awesome and I really took advantage of this and got out to my spot again -- not only to check on the Blue Cheese out there but to begin planting my black hawthorn trees I discussed in my last entry. While I only managed to get five out of my fifteen total trees out there, I've found a very good spot for them around the perimeter and they will do their job very well.

Now for a bit about the Blue Cheese itself, when I arrived the area was in complete sunlight and stayed in direct sunlight the several hours I was there for. I'm assuming the sun exposure in the area is adequate as the plants were very perky and showing new growth already when I arrived to check on them.

The Cheese is looking great I got a picture of each of the plants if anybody is interested in comparing their progress with my first posts.


Along with getting the black hawthorns partially established today, I also spent time spraying my organic 'Critter' deterrent around the area. As the weather was pretty nice I assumed the blood spray would have time to dry in the area even though it says it lasts up to 4 months in rainy conditions -- I wanted to ensure the area stays animal free.

Also, I hit my plants with another round of my triple action natural insecticide with pyrthum and neem oil. The insecticide appears to be doing a great job, nothing has gotten on my plants so far.

My plants should remain completely undisturbed to grow freely.

Just to note, if I haven't done so already. The four blue cheese plants I am growing are being grown completely organic. I use only organic-amendments in my supersoil mix that follows subcool's recipe. And I only treat the plants with organic only insecticide and organic only animal deterrent which is also a fertilizer.

And here's some photo updates of their condition. ( Feel free to comment, especially how you think they're doing or acclimating to the area. All input is welcomed )

guerilla grow. sweet. subscribed

still looking good!!

I need immediate help. It is currently snowing outdoors, though my plants are pretty well established. Do I need to get out there and get something around them? What can I do? It is 43 Fahrenheit outside, so not freezing temperatures. Help please!

tangerinedreamer said:

I need immediate help. It is currently snowing outdoors, though my plants are pretty well established. Do I need to get out there and get something around them? What can I do? It is 43 Fahrenheit outside, so not freezing temperatures. Help please!

Click to expand...

I dunno what to say bro, it don't snow here.

got pics of the snow?


lol

Fortunately enough, it isn't cold enough to stick at all. And now its turned into more of a rain slush. I'm curious though if anyone knows how cold it can get outside without my plants dying from it. There was no frost on the ground this morning, just concerned about seeing that snow.

nice work smart pots and everything did you cut the bottoms out of the smaller ones? you should try to make some kind of green houses like cutting bottom off of a gallon jug

I didn't cut the pots at all, they're made from cloth fibers and the roots will be strong enough to penetrate them and grow into the next medium, which will be the "hot" nutrient heavy sub-cool super soil mix! I also plan on using Actively Aerated Compost Teas or AACTs with high Phosphorus bat guano & a mix of worm castings( recently copied a post to a journal entry for this ) during flowering to increase the amount of phosphorus they get during that time.

Right on brother. I'm stoked to see what kind of results you get with 7 gallons of subcool's recipe which I'm also gonna be using. What kind of temps you been seeing the last few days? Also any idea of what strain your running?

I'm growing some blue cheese out there, and temperature wise. It has been very varied in my area, getting into high to low 40s at night, but upper 50s low 60s in direct sun during the day time. It has rained almost every other day so far, so I haven't had to go up to water in a few days. I'm planning on making a return trip sometime this week, hopefully Thursday. To check on how they're doing. Should have another update after then.

Also, I've been doing a bit of research lately and have been considering attempting some Low-Stress Training on my girls for the possibility of increasing their yield.

The plants can take cold up to 32' and maybe a short frost Mine have been out side and it was 32-35 for two nights with out issue.

There a fairly hardy plant.

Went and visited my location again today.

The weather for the past three days has been sunny during the day but decently cold during the night time. And as of last night it has been raining on and off up here. Regardless I took the chance to get up there again, and brought up another five of the black hawthorn trees, though I still have five left to get up there for a total of fifteen.

Though I wanted to water the area earlier this week since it hadn't rained for some time I saw no need for that, as the plants were being adequately supplied a natural water source!

Here are a few photos of how they're doing. I don't know if I should be concerned though about the new growths, if someone wouldn't mind taking a look? In person the plant was drooping though not severely ( again i'm assuming the rain's water weight is the main factor for this ) but the new growths look slightly different colored. I'm not sure if they've suffered from the few days of colder weather earlier in the week.

looks like hearty young lasses to me especially taking a late spring cold front....
new growth is going to be lighter until it fills with chlorophyll filling in the color.

If you want to add a little N with worm castings, bat guano with high N ratio it couldn't hurt.
If you do see this in these same set of leaves as the next new set forms then yes add organic blood meal too.

After three days of consecutive sunny skies and no clouds whatsoever I decided today would be as good as any to get up there and get my girls some natural spring water.

I've got several photos from this trip. But I also could really use someone's advice or professional opinion. When I visited today I noticed 1 plant is growing extremely well, and two others are growing at about the same pace a little slower than the biggest one. But then the last plant's growth is extremely stunted and non-existent.

I have several photos to upload, a shot of each plant. But then upclose shots of the leaves. Here is where I could really use some help -- each plant to varying degrees is showing this same problem on its leaves. Even the largest and healthiest looking one had leaves with these small white patches. I'm really unsure what could be causing this so advice is absolutely welcome here!!

Two pics of the healthiest - largest


One photo of each of the other two - equally paced yet behind the strongest grower



Here are two photos of the plant I am most concerned about



This plant shows very little growth especially in comparison to the others, which I find strange because they all share the same genetics. They're all from the same mother.

Also, I have this very last set of photos to show close ups of the white spots if any of you can help me out here. What can I do to prevent this, what kind've damage is it doing to the plants because aside from the one that appears to be growing weakly they still seem healthy. So what exactly is this going on here?




If anyone knows whats going on the feedback would be appreciated.

Just a small update for now. With hopefully another to follow later today.

I finally received a package I've been waiting for, for some time now, in the mail today. My small army of ladybugs!


Just thought I would give a small little update as I was pretty excited they finally got here. From this point on, as long as the ladybugs colonize my plants -- I see no need for applying the organic insecticide I have. So hopefully I will have the opportunity to get up there and deploy my small army today. From what I've read, the best way to introduce these gals to their new environment, my blue cheese girls, is to do it in early morning or late evening when the sun isn't as hot in the sky. This way they'll be more likely to stay around where I deploy them.

Anyways, If I do manage to get up there and get my ladybugs out there, I will be sure to post another plant update!

My apologies on the delay between my posting but I'm here again with another update! I've been up twice since my last post when the lady bugs had arrived and both times I've gone up in the interest of watering and applying those beneficial bugs. The first time I went up to apply the ladybugs I also managed to get some photos of how they were doing at that time, but the photo quality was rather shoddy at best. However a brief description will do, the plants were in rather poor condition at that time -- I could tell there was leaf damage consistent with insects or pests eating at them. I've deduced that it resulted from the lack of my organic insecticide as I hadn't sprayed in ~2 weeks time, so I was very enthusiastic to have another completely organic pest deterrent, those lady bugs. So at that time I applied a few ladybugs and made sure to water the plants as well.

And then I managed to get up there again today. I got several photos of the plants, except for one. I believe one of my plants may be beyond recovery from the bug invasion I've been working at combating. I didn't manage to get a picture of that one, but it appears it hasn't grown much since first planted and the new growths were being completely eaten away. Perhaps it may be able to recover if it's no longer being eaten at? But I'm not so sure.

Aside from that plant it really looks like the other three have recovered well from the bug attack and the ladybugs must be doing their job. So I ensured they would be protected further and added more ladybugs to them and watered as well as the soil has been getting dry from the continuous sunshine in the area.

Here are a few photos of the three healthier plants, they've been developing healthy new growth which I was worried could not happen when I visited the first time and saw them in such poor condition.




I think battling these bugs has become my biggest priority and my lack of supervision and control over my grow really could have set me back much worse then it has. While I may have lost one plant I plan on keeping my plants protected with these ladybugs. Also I plan on going up in the next few days to check on their condition and if no more ladybugs are present in the area I will resume the regiment of insecticide with much more diligence this time around.

Also I've gotten a magnifying LED Loupe to inspect my plants more closely and I'm very sure I've diagnosed the situation adequately.

Here is an up close photo of one of the leaves



What I think has been going on is that insects are laying eggs on my girls leaves and when the larva hatch they eat away at the plant until they mature and fly away, whatever they do. But the ladybugs appear to be taking care of this problem but I will definitely switch back to the organic insecticide once the ladybugs are no longer around as I believe the insecticide would deter the lady bugs as well and I don't want that to happen unless I'm sure they've gone away.