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THE GREAT DIVIDE: INDOORS OR OUTDOORS?

WE NOW COME TO THE CORE DIVIDE in growing marijuana. At this stage you should know something about the history of cannabis, how it is smoked, various species, the high, seeds, the life cycle of the plant, propagation, germination and transplanting. With the exception of transplanting, all these things are generally pre-production methods. Now, you are ready to start growing: you're about to take your seedling and put it into your main grow area. This means that for the next three to nine months your plant is going to be located in a certain environment. That environment will be either indoors or outdoors. So let us talk about each environment in brief for a moment and also discuss the important issue of security before moving on to a more detailed description of indoor and outdoor grow spaces, environmental control and basic and advanced growing techniques in the chapters that follow.
GARDENING TOOLS
Here is a list of the basic items used to grow cannabis plants, both indoors and out.
Light source
Water source and delivery system
Nutrients
Fertilizers
Soil/medium
Propagation trays
Rockwool cubes (Oasis cubes or Jiffy cubes are just as good)
Pots
Scissors and/or a sharp knife

â?¢ Small shovel or trowel
â?¢ Pest control
â?¢ Support sticks
â?¢ Thread

As we advance to the latter sections of this book we'll see that growers can equip themselves with many more items to help them on their quest for bigger buds. The above list of tools represents the basics.

PLANNING FOR INDOOR GROWING
Next to choosing your strain, lighting is the most important factor that you must consider when growing indoors. The first thing you should know is that indoor lights produce bigger flowers (more bud) than natural light coming in the window (the process of utilizing natural light indoors is often called a window grow).This means you get more THC quantity with artificial lights than you will with natural sunlight indoors. Even in countries that have relatively hot sun for six months of the year it is still hard to produce big buds indoors under natural light. Some people have grown plants under an attic window that's open during the dry days. This will grow you bud but not as much as an artificial lighting system will produce. The other side of the coin is that natural light is free, electricity is not and grow lights can be expensive to buy and run.

When using a window grows try to place your plant near a window that receives the most sunlight throughout the day and the seasons. If you plan on a window grow, remember that you want your plant to get most of its light during flowering. If July is the best month for sunlight then you may consider germinating your seedling back in April or May or even as early as early March. Try to estimate when you'll get the best weather and coordinate this with the flowering times directed by the breeder.

Also remember that people might be able to look up and see your plant if it is growing near the window. People washing your windows can also see in. Also, if you have a Sativa plant it will get big and very conspicuous. Take all these factors into consideration when you are growing your plants with natural sunlight indoors but keep in mind that even low wattage indoor grow lights will improve your yields tenfold to a window grow. Window growing can result in a vain attempt to grow bud and is one of the top reasons why first time cannabis growers discontinue growing cannabis. A window grow by no means reflects the cannabis plantsâ?? true potential.

If you are growing indoors then you may have a room or part of a room that you wish to use, such as an attic, closet, basement or spare bathroom. These locations nearly always require artificial light. There are many ways to set up an indoor grow room.

OUTDOOR GROWING
Throughout the discussion that follows, we define outdoor growing as growing on your own property and guerrilla farming as growing away from your property, either in public areas or on someone else's property.

Your grow patch, whether on your own property or public property, must be pre-treated and tended to regularly. Leaving seeds in the soil and coming back four months later is generally not going to get you good results. Two main things must be done to the patch to begin the grow â?? weeding and digging.

Planning for Outdoor Growing and Guerrilla Farming the biggest problem with outdoor growing is keeping your grow area secure and private. Some people will rip off your plants in a second if they see what you have. Others will just create trouble for you. The risks are high and security is vital. I once heard about a small community that lived near a forest and grew titer marijuana near a stream. They eventually had to stop growing as their plants where being ripped off by the locals from the town nearby. And the thieves weren't just teenagers either. Adults will do this too. Some rippers are even professionals, using other people's grow as their main supply.

Perhaps the most affordable, low-key and best way to conceal an outdoor garden is to grow your cannabis plants among other plants that will mask the cannabis. If you have the advantage of living out-of-town and have a garden in which this kind of stuff can be constructed, you could also grow plants inside a brick cubicle with sheets of glass on top. This is much like a very small greenhouse without the glass sides and can be camouflaged to look like a small shed. The problem with enclosed outdoor grows like this is that light only really gets to the canopy of the plants and very little bud is produced under this canopy. The advantage is that this setup does not look like a greenhouse or anything that is housing plants. If you want to use a greenhouse instead, then it is suggested that you paint the sides of the greenhouse white to prevent anyone from looking in. The white will also help reflect the sunlight that enters in above through the glass around the grow area promoting growth on lower leaves and bud areas.

Whatever method you choose: Hide your crop well. Not everyone can easily spot marijuana, but someone who is trained to watch out for the plant will know it right away for what it is.

Guerrilla Farming
Guerrilla growing is hard work and often prone to rip-offs. By planting in a forest or in someone else's field or property, you are not in any danger of being caught with the plants on your property. However, the person's property you plant on is put at risk. Be a nice grower and do not plant on someone else's private property. It is not nice and reflects badly on the cannabis-growing community. Find a public area, such as a forest or a hill slope. Look for an area that is away from the public eye, but will receive plenty of light. There are lots of places for this sort of thing, but you will have to spend time finding the right spot. Finding a good patch is the key to successful guerrilla growing. A patch near a river is ideal because it offers ready access to water and can help your crop survive a short draught.

Most guerrilla farmers prefer to keep it simple and favor the following method. They start their seedlings in small plastic pots indoors. When the seedlings have developed, and the plants are ready to enter the vegetative growth stage of the life cycle, the grower cuts the bottoms of the pots away and tapes a small piece of cardboard to the bottom of each pot. The plants, in their pots, are then taken to the grow patch where the grower digs holes in the ground, removes the cardboard and places the pots and plants in the earth. Then the holes are filled in with soil. This way the grower has germinated the plants and only needs to worry about secondary factors such as light, security and pests. The roots will find their way out of the bottom of the pots and into the soil below. Don't worry about the roots not finding a way out of the pot. They always do, that's their job.

SECURITY
The Most Important Advice Ever About Growing Cannabis
What I am going to tell you is the most important thing you will ever learn about growing marijuana. It is a simple rule, but can be difficult to actually commit to.
Never Tell A Soul that You Are Growing Cannabis!

If you do this then you greatly reduce the risk of detection, other than someone accidentally stumbling into your grow area. Never tell anyone anything. This rule has helped some growers live their whole lives cultivating cannabis without ever having an encounter with the law.

Loose lips cause 99.9 percent of all security-related issues. The remaining 0.1 percent of security breaches is due to poor preparation and growers neglecting to take the time to conceal the area well enough. If you intend to share your crop with friends do it by another means. The only people who should ever know that you grow are the people who live with you and even then, only if it is absolutely necessary.

Security is always an issue whether you are an outdoor or indoor grower. We have learned that to secure your grow area you must prepare yourself for any future eventuality. Pre-production security arrangements are very important. A sudden peak in your electricity bill may attract unwanted attention from certain authorities that look for these things. This may seem odd to you, but it does occur.

It is now common practice in most countries that support cannabis prohibition to set up special task forces to track down growers. The most frequently used technique is tracking purchasing orders. Many agencies keep tabs on grow shops and the items being sold to customers. Tracking requires special court orders, but law enforcement agencies can obtain these with ease. If someone has been identified as buying suspicious grow products, the agency will also try to find out what other items have been bought using the same credit card or other accounts. Many growers have been caught this way. The best way to avoid this trap is to always pay with cash.

Seed banks are also sometimes tracked by agencies that watch for incoming mail with certain stamps and envelope headers. Sometimes it isn't the agency that does the tracking but people in the post office. To get around this, most seed banks don't head their mail anymore. If your seed bank does, it is best to keep away from that seed bank in the future.
If you have done the right thing then you should have all your growing tools and kits bought using cash and your seeds purchased from a seed bank that offers good seeds and a safe, secure way of sending you their product. Many seed banks use great stealth to get you your seeds. It is advised that you never have seeds sent directly to your grow area.

Indoor Security
When growing indoors try to consider certain short-term security factors, like visits from service people. Some growers have a grow room that can be swept clean in under a minute. They have a closet nearby where they can quickly move their plants if visitors do drop by.

Always keep your security closet near your grow area. It's no good walking around your house with five or more plants in your arms. It's a bad idea to use a bathroom as a backup security area unless you have another one that guests can use.

Another thing you must consider with indoor security is odor. Now Super Skunk and Skunk#l are very smelly plants, especially during flowering, hence the name Skunk. If you live in an apartment complex there's no way you'll be able to hide the smell unless you have some form of extraction fan or an ozone generator.

In some indoor setups fans can be used to extract unwanted smells away from corridors and high-traffic areas. Air can be pumped through a window or filter to another area where the smell will not be noticed. Not only that, but plants love fresh air and wind, so the fan can do two things at once for you. An ozone generator is devices that helps to get rid of cannabis odor problems and can be purchased from most grow shops.

Fire is another major security issue for growers. Some people growing indoors use second-rate lights and/or fixtures, creating a very real fire hazard. Never use any lighting kit or fixture that is either damaged or unsuitable for indoor use. Taking shortcuts with lighting and electricity is a big no-no â?? you could be risking your home, and everything and everyone in it. 1 have heard of and met people who have come home only to find the fire department outside just finishing putting out the fire that engulfed part of their house. The same thing happens in every case: The grower approaches and sees a number of police officers looking around the area. The fire officer points to the cause of the fire â?? a half-melted light fixture with burnt-out sockets. They all know what this is all about because they have seen it all before.

New marijuana growers nearly always make the mistake of creating inferior lighting setups. Needless to say this is because of three factors: they don't have the right information; they don't have the money to invest in a proper lighting system; or they just want to grow their pot quickly and cheaply.

Outdoor Security
As previously stated, the best way to secure your outdoor garden is by using a shelter. You must also remember that some outdoor plants do smell and this can carry over a short distance given the right wind conditions and climate. Most people won't know what the smell is but some will! Many growers get around this problem by growing cannabis plants that have very little smell during flowering. Ask about these strains when you contact your seed bank. They should be more than happy to recommend a less smelly strain for you. All cannabis plants smell to some degree, however, during flowering.
The other thing to make sure of is that you can harvest your crop as quickly and as privately as possible. Standing over a small shelter putting cuttings of cannabis into a big black bag is not exactly the most secure way to go about this. Some people go to their garden with black plastic bags and drop the bag over the plant before pulling it up. This way you won't expose your crop to anyone. Some people do their harvesting at night. This is not recommended though as it can draw unwanted attention to you and your setup. A flashlight rummaging around in the darkness is not very stealthy at all. Also during the day you have a clearer view of what is around you. It is much wiser to do your harvesting during the day unless for some reason there is less activity in your area at night.
If you are growing your plants outdoors without shelter and away from the general public then you may want to create a pen for your plants. A pen made from chicken wire will prevent any unwanted predators, such as deer or rodents, from eating your plants.

Guerrilla Growing Security
Tracks left behind from your ventures to and from your grow area are the worst giveaway for any guerrilla farmer. People just love to walk through the woods and say: Oh, looks a nice track, I wonder what's down there? Do not create a track when you go to your grow area. Even by visiting the same spot once every two weeks you will leave a trail, which hikers might see and use. Try to access your grow area through several different routes.

As a guerrilla grower you probably don't want to hack through 100 feet of brambles to access your grow site. When choosing a spot, look for an area that is neither too dense nor too sparse. Some guerrillas growers have even created small grow baskets that hang from trees away from the public eye. If the baskets are well camouflaged then you can get away with loads.

Hanging baskets are easy to make. You need a three-gallon wire hanging basket, a plastic garbage bag to fit inside the basket and some wire. Simply line the inside of the hanging basket with the garbage bag and lightly perforate the bottom of the bag to allow water to drain through. Fill the basket with soil and transplant your seedling to the basket. You can then suspend this basket high up on the branch of a tree. Hanging baskets need to be used in conjunction with slow release fertilizer types like granular foods. All the plant's nutrients should be stored in the soil throughout the plant's grow. Slow release feeding products do this. A popular brand of slow release food is xFish, blood and bone'. Slow release foods are not as controllable as normal feeding products because the nutrient break down in the soil occurs over weeks and months in different quantities, but the foods permit the grower to feed the hanging plants less often. Although hanging baskets are a stealthy way to grow they can be hard to access and maintain. Watering is also a consideration that must be taken into account. It is advised that if you try growing cannabis in hanging baskets that you have a little experience with growing cannabis beforehand.

As a guerrilla grower you should always wear gloves when handling your grow and tools. If you have buckets nearby don't leave fingerprints on any of these. Also, you will want to consider having a good excuse for being in your grow area. Imagine that you're walking back from your path with nothing incriminating on you and someone jumps out and asks what you are doing here? Of course, you know that there's a river nearby so you show your fishing rod or your binoculars and bird-spotting book. There are many things you can take with you to make you look like somebody other than a cannabis grower. I have heard cases of grow sites being staked out by people you would definitely not like to meet. Always check the area around your grow site for suspicious-looking people.
The worst security time for any guerrilla grower is during the harvest. This is when you must go from your grow area to your home or another location with your growing rewards. Always do this in the morning, as early as possible. Double-check the area for any suspicious-looking people. Pack your buds and plants into bags (brown paper bags are better or alternatively, use black plastic bags) and then put these into a backpack. Before you approach your vehicle, drop your bag against a bush and cover it up. Walk toward your vehicle and look around again. You may even want to drive for about five minutes and look out for anything suspicious or anyone who might be following. Remember, you can always leave the bag and go to a nearby town (not home â?? leave that until the situation is well under control again). If things look okay, you can drive back to where you left your bag, pick it up, stow it out of sight (the trunk for example) and drive home carefully.

Some people can get away with guerrilla farming lots of pot. This is commercial growing on a risky scale but still occurs in various parts of the world where cannabis is banned. The growers usually live deep in the forest miles away from the nearest town. They may spend up to seven months on their own, cultivating the crop. Recent grow busts by the police have identified several tons of bud being grown by as few as three people living in a remote region of British Colombia.

There isn't much more to guerrilla growing than this. Most of the elements that you need to complete your outdoor and guerrilla grow site are in the indoor growing chapters of this book. Read through this and it should give you ideas about how to treat your outdoor grow patch.

Guerrilla growing is so popular in some places around the world that it has become competitive and dangerous. Remember that not all growers are nice people. Some of them don't even smoke cannabis and just want to make money. Check your local news media for information relating to seizures of Guerrilla grows and if those arrested were armed. This is huge problem associated with cannabis prohibition.


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