Growing next season, some newbie questions

So, having been smoking since I was a young teen, I've finally decided to start growing. My wife also tokes occasionally, but not nearly as often as I do. She's fine with me smoking on the back-deck, but she doesn't want me growing indoors for the huge risks around it (if we got caught our lives would be fucked and that's not a risk I'm willing to take over some pot). So I decided to do an outdoor grow, well off our property.

Basically, I drove down a highway about a mile or so out of town, parked the car at a gas station, and walked into the woods. The spot I've chosen is a pine-wood, needles everywhere, but the branches are spindly enough that light gets through at several places. Where I live, the growing season is rather long, it doesn't really start to get cold until mid-November and Winter is pretty much over by early March, so I should have some real beauts by the end

Does this sound like a good spot? I checked and double-checked, the site is not viewable from the road; I imagine you could smell it, but people don't go walking down highways too often . . . the police here do use helicopters, but only in the southwestern and eastern parts of the state, as that's where all of the large, commercial crops are grown.

My second question is whether I should prepare the soil now or in March (I'll plant April 1, leaving me a month to prepare the site if I start preparing in March). I'll probably dig maybe 1-1/2' deep into the ground, and I'm growing around 30 Afghani plants so it'll be rather large (that should be enough to keep me high and to give plenty away; I'm generous with my weed), then I'd fill in the hole with decent soil, toss some worms in, and pee around the edges to help keep animals away.

this is something i posted on another persons question similar to yours



I have had many successful outdoor crops. one of the main ways people lose an outdoor crop is to other people finding it. this happened to me my first time growing. i showed my friend, who showed his friend, and so on. then whoever chopped our buds off did it 1 month too early so its not like they got anything out of it really. pick a spot that you have trouble getting too. the more thorns and bushes and nasty shit in the way, the better a spot it is. and if you can take a different path everytime you go back, do this to avoid making a trail. visiting at night is another way to lower your risk of getting caught. and use flashlights sparingly, because they are very noticeable, obviously. once you find a nice spot, then worry about sunlight penetration. when i found my spot, me and my growing partner spent about 8 hours total clearing out small trees and large branches to allow for more light. then use the bushes, trees, branches and things you cut down and create a barrier-like wall around the grow spot. you can buy some stakes and chicken wire too and fence off your plant area as well. i suggest spraypainting the chicken wire and wooden stakes flat black or dark green for increased camoflouge. and depending on how the soil is in your area, you have a couple of options. you can simply add nutrients to the water you use, or you can be a badass and do what i did. i decided to dig a 6' by 6' area, and about 2' to 3' deep. this took about 2 days. then fill this space with good soil. i used foxfarm. 5 gallon buckets work well too. but again you have to be careful with this because many top quality soils contain blood and bone meal, which can attract critters. i found the best way to keep them away, seriously, is to piss around the perimeter of your spot. some people find this weird but it really works. also human hair, from like a barbershop, can be spread around your area and this can work too. but urine is a way stronger smell and will work better. i would hold it in until i got to my spot and tried to do this everytime. another thing you want to do is LEARN YOUR WOODS!. i cant stress this enough. in the event of an emergency, youll have a much better chance of escape if you know whats around the next corner. i dont know about the local parks in NZ or the amount of wooded area, but if youre still having trouble finding a spot, try volunteering for the parks and recreation service. like a "volunteer park ranger" or something. this is what i did and it worked beautifully. it gave me access to everything, and reason to be there after the parks closed. preparation is the hardest step to growing outdoors. its a lot of work but the results are drastically better and yield is extremely larger than an indoor grow.

Horus said:

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The spot I've chosen is a pine-wood, needles everywhere, but the branches are spindly enough that light gets through at several places.

Does this sound like a good spot?

My second question is whether I should prepare the soil now or in March (I'll plant April 1, leaving me a month to prepare the site if I start preparing in March).

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Sorry, but a pine needle covered spot is usually not a good grow site. One question: are there any other plants growing on the ground? Usually there aren't, because those needles make the soil too acidic. And filtered light thru tall trees doesn't give enough direct sun for a good crop. Maybe the southern edge of the woods, or the north side of a clearing.

Prep your spot in March, that way no one will discover it earlier. If you want to till the spot before winter, it will be easier in March, however.

HTH

Thanks a lot you two Yeah, where I live there are woods everywhere, in fact the nearest town is about 30 miles away. So my new plan is to go on the local hiking trail, then walk straight off-trail about half a mile (these are extrememly thick woods, I might add, it took my 45 minutes to get that far). There's lots of cover, it's just a huge 8' jungle of thorns, so half a mile should be plenty.

thats the shit bro, thorns are a guerilla growers best friend. well more like an ally because if youre too high walking back from your plants and trip over a log, they will still not hesitate to fuck you up lol. ive NEVER had this happen *cough cough.

Haha, yeah I'm a pretty dedicated hiker so I know the woods around here pretty well. So what do you think of my strain choice of Afghani? From what I've read, it gets by far the best yield (up to 700 grams per square meter outdoors, I'd be cool with half that), and is a very hardy plant. I'll be growing 30, so half would be male, then I have 15 gals, and even if I only got 2 ounces per plant I'd have 30 ounces. Basically, depending on how much I get, I'm going to divide it up into weekly bags (like 5g a week or whatever), and I'll likely have enough to give away some here or there (NOT sell, the whole reason I'm doing this is to distance myself from the black market).

'Ghani is an excellent strain. one of the purest, most disease resistant strains around. Joker420 is growing an afghani plant under fluoros and its doing really well. check out his gallery. and its good to hear that youre not doing only for the money. i cant say the same for myself. the money i make growing is actually going toward my tuition and rent and whats left over funds the next grow season.

Sublime757 said:

'Ghani is an excellent strain. one of the purest, most disease resistant strains around. Joker420 is growing an afghani plant under fluoros and its doing really well. check out his gallery. and its good to hear that youre not doing only for the money. i cant say the same for myself. the money i make growing is actually going toward my tuition and rent and whats left over funds the next grow season.

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Yeah if I was still in college I'd sell some too

So I've been wandering around in the woods off-trails about every day now. I found some great spots, too bad I can't find the USB cable for my camera, but I'll upload them next week when I buy a new cord. If I'm growing 30-50 plants I'm probably going to do a bunch of small patches (5-10 plants each) instead of risking my whole harvest. My best spot is at an abandoned quarry that nobody knows about, and I also followed those big white electric poles pretty far (about 15 poles) and will scatter some plants around there since all under those it's just a field.

it may not be the best idea to plant under power lines because of people servicing them unless the plants are short enough to be hidden from sight