For those living under the oppressive conditions of an ongoing ‘war on cannabis’, becoming a guerrilla grower is one way to fight back. From the Spanish for ‘little war’, the term “guerrilla” refers to locally- or self-organized resistance uprisings and the folks who participate in them.
(NB: If you came here to learn how to grow like a gorilla, don’t miss the section on growing in trees – and if you’re really “stuck” on the word, why not give Gorilla Glue (GG4) Autoflowering cannabis a shot?!)
The pros and cons of cannabis guerrilla growing
The pros and cons (either of which, incidentally, you might become if you undertake illegal cannabis cultivation – a ‘pro’fessional at hiding plants and growing under challenging conditions, or a ‘con’vict if you’re not so great at it) of guerrilla growing are important considerations before you start.
Arguments for why you’d want to start a guerrilla grow include:
Access to much-needed or desired medicine in a place that otherwise refuses you the right to it
Opportunity to connect directly with the plant you’ll consume and know how it’s been grown
Excitement in performing legal disobedience against what you perceive as an unjust status quo
Arguments against it are:
Risk to your health and freedom if found out by authorities, displeased landowners, or rivals
Time, energy, and money spent that may never pay off in cases of plant loss from natural causes, destruction, or theft
Reduced quality control over final yields
If you decide to take on the challenges and risks of guerrilla growing, you’ll be part of a rich tradition that has been documented since at least the 1600s.
Before we go any further, let me be clear: I cannot advocate you break any laws or put yourself at any peril to grow cannabis. Despite my firm belief that the plant is a healing companion and gift of nature, any tips or tricks you may gain from this (or any other) article must be taken as imaginative food for thought, not advice upon which to act.
The best spot for a guerrilla grow
The best spot for a guerrilla grow allows the plants to grow fairly autonomously. Of course, you’ll want to visit them, but each time you do, you can get caught or unintentionally leave a Hansel-and-Gretel trail straight to your secret garden(s).
The best place to decide where a guerrilla grow will go depends on your ambitions, resources, and how well you can satisfy the on-site needs of your guerrilla crop.
Remember that the selected spot’s character may change throughout the season. Until you’ve successfully brought in the harvest, you are always balancing risk and reward.
Living soil that won’t dry out in between rains, plenty of air circulation, and abundant sunlight are all on the ‘wish list’ when it comes to finding or creating an ideal spot for a guerrilla grow.
Preparing your guerrilla grow
Research and preparation are keys to a successful guerrilla grow. Ideally, you’re very familiar with where you want to locate your guerrilla grow. Further along in this article, I’ll talk more about the types of places people have tried guerrilla gardening cannabis.
Starting your grow
Your guerrilla grow starts at home. Germinate autoflowering, feminized seeds according to your best practices, aiming to grow the cannabis seedlings to about 8-12 inches (24-30cm) before transplanting at the chosen site.
Top or FIM your seedlings under grow lights to encourage a bushy structure before bringing them to the guerrilla garden, and harden them off as you would any plant being moved from indoors to outdoors in the late spring.
The best strains for guerrilla growing
Feminized and autoflowering varietals (strains) are the best for guerrilla growing. This affords cannabis growers the best chance of having a successful harvest of sinsemilla buds.
Aside from choosing from available feminized and autoflowering cannabis seed types, the best selections for guerrilla growing finish quickly and are naturally low maintenance. They have genetic resilience to mold and pests and are forgiving of over- and under-watering.
Most guerrilla growers choose shorter, stockier varietals (strains) to reduce the chance that their cannabis will stretch up and over the surrounding camouflage vegetation, becoming easier to spot as it grows and takes on its characteristic shape that will catch people’s eyes.
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Since people generally expect cannabis to be green, types that naturally turn dark colors in cool temperatures may also be less obvious in a natural environment that contains similarly changing foliage.
In flower, some types smell more like the already-existing local aromas. Those with pinene-dominated terpene profiles may be less detectable in evergreen forests, and skunky weed could be suitable if growing somewhere those critters are known to frequent.
In the past, some cultivators attempted to breed cannabis to “smell less” to reduce the chance of being sniffed out, but this sacrifice seems less common today.
Preparing the guerrilla grow site
Assuming you are going to put your plants straight into the ground, evaluate the available substrate (soil), water, and surrounding vegetation. If you can manage it, a nice big plant would enjoy a round hole about three feet wide and deep.
Bring some soil mix with good water-holding capacity, and replace or combine what you dug from the hole with this substrate. Big piles of recently dug earth are a pretty obvious sign of human activity, so make sure to redistribute any excavated materials.
Indigenous microorganisms will move in on your soil mixture, but if you have access to cannabis-specific beneficial mycorrhizae (fungi) and bacteria, prepare the root zone with these amendments at the time of transplantation.
Good quality time-released dry fertilizers are commonly deployed by guerrillas, as are amendments like guano or worm castings that have a self-balancing nature.
Protecting your cannabis plants
The best way of protecting your cannabis plants in a guerrilla grow is by attempting to achieve invisibility. Judge a potential guerrilla grow site by how hard, or unlikely, it is to be visited by someone who didn’t know it was there.
How to keep your guerrilla grow hidden
The best way to keep your guerrilla grow hidden is to leave no trace of human activity and to disturb the site as little as possible. Unnatural materials, whether metal, plastic, or fabric, can readily catch the eye. Avoid leaving anything like this at or near your site.
A healthy mix of distracting local plants is a guerrilla’s friend. Thickets of thorny species like wild roses or blackberries are prickly deterrents that make for great ‘companion’ plants for your cannabis. Tall, colorful weeds that bloom through the late summer into autumn also add natural camouflage.
Off-putting patches of nettle or other noxious plants can also send unwanted visitors packing. If you do find nettles, consider it a gift — carefully collect some of their tender leaves in the spring and make a compost tea to feed your cannabis plants while they are still young.
Pruning and training cannabis to grow in a wide bush structure, or even horizontally, using ties and stakes, is another tactic that helps make plants blend into an existing landscape.
Protecting your guerrilla grow from wild (nonhuman) beasts
Transplants can benefit from a small cage made from bent wire mesh to discourage nibbling by rabbits, gophers, and other small mammals. Deer are the most likely herbivores to munch on established cannabis plants, so some folks use netting or create temporary fencing around the grow.
Young marijuana plant protected by chicken wire
Remember, these measures are clear signs a person has been in the area and must have had a reason for installing them.
Expect to lose at least a couple of young plants by being overgrown by other vegetation, damaged by animals, or infected with mold. Space them out in a few locations and remember not to walk directly between these spots – if you do create an obvious path, you’re further endangering your guerrilla grow.
Looking after your plants
Looking after your plants in a guerrilla set-up is an exercise in trust. Give them the ideal conditions to thrive on their own, and intervene as little as possible.
Keep an eye on the forecast, and be prepared to visit your guerrilla grow if extreme weather threatens to starve your plants of moisture or damage them by heavy wind, rain, or early frost.
If your plants are located where drying out is possible, it’s ideal to use water catchment strategies to avoid the difficulty of bringing water to the grow site. Some guerrillas engineer a partially buried cistern that will fill during times of rain and slowly release water back to the root zone.
Water container partially buried in order to collect rainwater
Using materials that blend with the land (ideally, cut branches and natural-colored twine), give your cannabis supportive stakes to direct some of its survival energy into increased flower production.
Computer generated image of a trellis for marijuana plants
Charge the soil with bioavailable phosphorus- and potassium-rich amendments at the 4-week mark for ideal nutrient support toward a fast finish and early harvest. At this same time, remove any fan leaves, small lower branches, and shaded bud sites.
Guerrilla gardens are not the place to take a “waste not, want not” approach — you want only fully developed, stacked branches to bring home at the end of the season.
Each visit is an opportunity to perform a harvest “dry run.” Discretely transport the tools of your trade and assess the area’s state as it changes over the season. Take note of hardwood trees losing their leaves, seasonal color changes, signs of other human activity, and other potential for exposure.
Harvesting your guerrilla grow
Harvesting your guerrilla grow should be done in the window of time when peak ripeness intersects with the safest time to collect your concealed crop.
Ideal maturity of plants may need to be sacrificed if frost or mold threatens to destroy your cannabis. Likewise, if you find any signs of unwanted visitors, you might want to consider harvesting early to minimize the risk of theft.
Thanks to advances in cannabis culture technology, smell-resistant bags are now available from many online vendors. Cut and wet-trim your cannabis on site if possible, using these (or other bags, transferring to bins with tight lids) to bring back only the most valued parts of your plants. Conceal the remaining stalks and other discarded materials by burying them where they can add to the compost of the natural seasonal cycles.
Take your harvesting trip when it would seem ordinary to an outside observer. Most guerrillas set to work in the predawn hours of the day, aiming to blend their voyage back to home base with morning traffic or giving the appearance of having completed a foraging or wilderness-appreciation outing.
When you head to your guerilla grow location, make sure you look like you’re there for other reasons than growing marijuana.
Many bug sprays are made with citronella and other essential oils and have an overpowering smell. Consider dousing yourself with one of these if there’s a chance of passing by other people on your way to or from your guerrilla garden.
Choosing a grow site
Growing in forests
Guerrilla growing in forests affords the added bonus of getting out in nature and comes with numerous cover stories for being in the area.
If your region boasts forests accessible to the adventurous public, you may be able to pull off a guerrilla grow in a natural clearing near swales that capture, direct, and retain rainwater.
If you can manage it, place your guerilla grow close to a natural swale like this
A nice big backpack full of supplies, binoculars, and rugged outerwear are inconspicuous if you happen to be approached at your vehicle on a logging road or while using a backcountry trail.
If camping is permitted in the area, you might want to schedule a few overnight trips throughout the growing season within hiking distance of your planned guerrilla grow.
To blend in with typical visitors, learn a handful of bird names or choice mushroom varieties in season, and carry a guidebook. For safety and companionship, you may decide to bring along a trusted friend. Whether human or canine, remember that dogs are typically better at keeping secrets but don’t always understand the meaning of “shush!”
Are you here for growing cannabis or bird-watching? Exactly! Look the part of someone other than a grower.
Unfortunately, guerrilla growing in forests is well-known to authorities. Persons considering this tactic might like to read about how “the other side” has historically identified clues to a possible grow site.
Growing in trees
Unlike our primate relatives, modern urban humans aren’t necessarily the most adept at navigating treetop canopies. If you’re curious about being a “gorilla” guerrilla, there are a few ways to go about it.
First, you can learn skills relating to tree-climbing and tree-sitting. These include ropework, knots, rigging, and harness skills, as well as platform-building and heavy-weight pulley systems. If you’ve ever had to ‘bear bag’ supplies during a backcountry camping trip or have participated in direct-action land defense activities, you might already have the chops to pull this off.
Although the idea of growing plants above the eye line and out of reach is appealing, the downsides to growing plants in trees are pretty plain.
If you’re thinking about doing a guerilla grow up in the trees, think twice. The cons (usually) don’t outweigh the pros
Potential problems include:
A high chance of being damaged or dropped to the ground by strong winds
Difficulty ensuring adequate water and nutrition
Limitations on plant size
These are all strikes against growing cannabis in trees. The common use of drones for aerial surveillance also makes ‘gorilla’ growing cannabis even less worth the effort.
Growing in swamps
The nutrient-dense, water-logged soil in swamps is well suited to plants like rushes, but cannabis is not known to thrive in these conditions naturally. Those who have found some success with guerrilla grows in swamps tend to raise their plants in containers, using wicking systems to take advantage of the abundant and naturally-enriched water from the swamp.
A rise in water could easily dislodge plants or drown their roots altogether. Swamps create a humid microclimate, and while this could benefit cannabis, localized mist on cool autumn mornings may also encourage mold.
Although plenty of tall plants grow well in swamps, northern swamps may be too barren of other bright green vegetation at harvest time to disguise a guerrilla grow. Moose and beavers could trample or dislodge your plants.
I wouldn’t enjoy encountering the snakes and large reptiles who call southern swamps home – especially while taking precautions to ensure nobody knows where I am!
Of course, for that same reason, maybe nobody else would happen upon a gator-guarded guerrilla grow.
Growing in marshes
In contrast to growing in swamps, marshland agricultural techniques have proven quite successful in some parts of the world. You may discover local marsh or river-adjacent places with historically-developed, rich, and fertile pockets perfect for guerrilla growing cannabis.
Access to the best of these places may be limited to canoes, kayaks, or other small boats; if you’re an experienced waterway navigator, tucking a few cannabis plants along the shore could be a good fit.
Growing in the city
Some people guerrilla grow in the city to make a political point, integrating beautiful cannabis plants into existing commercial landscaping or public gardens. Aside from a possible news item, this guerrilla grow technique is unlikely to bear a harvest.
To disguise a cannabis garden in the city for the duration of a full grow cycle, look for accessible and neglected land.
Look for neglected or abandoned urban locations for your city guerilla grow. The less foot traffic, the better
Overgrown greenbelts, sleepy undeveloped suburban lots, or economically depressed areas with slow-moving real estate could work.
However, if there is a reasonable chance that cannabis will grow well there, it’s also reasonable to expect someone else may be aware of and value the location.
Unhoused people might consider it a safe spot to sleep. It could be where people perform survival work or a meeting place for others conducting less-than-licit activities like public (graffiti) artists, underage partiers, etc.
Evidence of such activities is often obvious, but it’s a good idea to check back a few times in case someone has recently done a thorough clean-up.
Risk?
If growing on private property in a city, the risk of being caught trespassing is very high. Ask yourself: can you act your way out of being questioned and get out of the area quickly? It is easy and inexpensive for property management companies to install and monitor surveillance cameras.
Even the most innocent activity (say, walking a dog or having a picnic) can be viewed as suspicious or violating an owner’s rights. Hired security guards, even the police, may respond swiftly to requests to investigate.
To test the viability of your potential guerrilla grow site, consider running a trial by leaving a small, fairly well-disguised, semi-valuable item on the spot. This might be a bag of groceries or an inexpensive but useful find from a yard sale.
Stop and smell the roses, so to speak, and quite innocently leave the item behind. If you return to find it untouched in the same place later, this could be evidence nobody else is paying attention to what goes on there.
Final thoughts on guerrilla growing
Guerrilla growing is not for the faint of heart. The more ambitious, risky grows come with a fair amount of stress, but success comes with the rewards of personal accomplishment and the innumerable benefits of cannabis!
When guerrilla growing cannabis outdoors, you must do your research, prepare for the unexpected, and be adaptable.
Do:
Know exactly which laws apply to your activities, including land-use regulations.
Create an organized plan for your grow from start to finish, noting plant growth timelines and important site visit dates. Note how holidays and local fishing, foraging, or hunting seasons could change the character and number of people in the area.
Be ready with a good story, so do talk the talk, and look the part. Foragers use baskets, people who fish bring coolers, campers, and hikers carry backpacks. Blend in!
Be ready to abandon your plants and disclaim any prior knowledge or ownership of them. Mentally and emotionally, prepare to “let it go” if this season’s guerrilla grow activities fail.
Trust your instincts. If something feels off, there’s probably a reason.
Practice good security culture. Don’t talk about your project, and don’t take photos that will be geolocated and time-stamped (don’t even take a smartphone to the grow).
Leave the site of your guerrilla garden in better condition than it was when you found it.
Don’t:
Expect yields resembling those achieved by other means: you can’t compare the products of a controlled-environment cultivation project to the unpredictable results associated with guerrilla growing. You may be pleasantly surprised at the size and bulk of your hidden harvest or learn valuable lessons about your chosen site and its (in)suitability for future plantings.
Damage or otherwise disrespect the place where you chose to locate your grow. Despite your stealthy tactics, you may still be noticed by folks very familiar with the land. Some will feign ignorance of your activities, allowing you to go about your business as long as they do not feel you are a nuisance.
Be sketchy. I repeat — don’t be sketchy. People tend to be wary of anyone showing up in certain places without a clear reason. Calm confidence and a peaceful manner can go a long way to keeping you and your guerrilla grow safe.
For tips on how to cultivate cannabis in a range of locations and conditions, remember to download Robert’s Grow Bible and visit the ILGM forums — and if you get found out guerrilla growing, don’t tell ‘em I sent you!
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