Any tips for my first guerilla grow?

[SenshiGrows]

Hi all, I'm doing my first proper attempt at a guerilla grow in the UK. I'm using autos as I don't have control of the light cycles and British weather is pretty unpredictable so the fast cycle and extra hardiness is essential. Plus it seems to me from the photos and reported THC content that the genetics have come a long way.

I'm using .5 seeds of 420 fast buds Gorilla Cookies auto
. 3 seeds of 420 fast buds Gorilla zkittlez auto
. 1 seed of sweets seeds diablo rojo XL
I put them all into one glass when I germinated them, so telling them apart once they have grown will be part of the fun lol.

I started them indoors for a week using 2 LEDs, perhaps 300 watts worth of energy consumption 24hr cycle. And they seemed to all do very well.
We had a heat wave on their first few days of being outside and then they had heavy rain. I put them in the shed for the rest of the day on one of the days so they didn't get too battered.
So currently they are pretty over watered from the rain which I'm hoping will dry out before any serious issues are caused. The leaves on a few of them were looking a little bit soggy.
Luckily today the weather is dry so I'll pray for better days for a while.

I moved them to their final spot last night as I had them in the garden on the first week outside. I'll go back soon to dig them into the ground and cut the grow bags (15litre) to give the roots more room.

Now I have a few questions for anyone with experience doing guerilla grows If you're happy for me to pick your brains.

. If you live in a country with high waterfall, how do you prevent over watering and furthermore how do you get extra nutrients to the plants if they have already got enough water from rain? (I'm using the biobiz organic kit with veg, bloom and bloom booster)

. How often should I be paying the plants a visit? I am very happy with my spot, almost hidden in plane sight in a forgotten part of an urban area with a fence to get through out of sight and other strong smells around to disguise just encase anyone gets slightly close to the spot.
Even though I'm happy with my spot I would like to limit my visits to a minimum just to be safe.

. Once I have a successful harvest , I will need to dry and cure my goods. Ideally I don't want to take them anywhere indoors because of the smell.
My idea was to perhaps set up a tent near the spot to hang them in and setup some battery powered fans. If anyone thinks that idea won't work or they have a better idea that doesn't involve bringing them home to hang up for days, I'm all ears.
.Any other tips or any crucial points you think I may be missing that will help?

Thanks in advance.

 

[dankstranger]

yeah id slow down a little here

autos outside in the uk are already kind of a gamble with the rain and short windows. they dont give you much time to fix mistakes. once they get shocked they just keep aging anyway

the main thing id watch is wet feet. rain itself dont hurt a plant, but sitting in cold soaked ground will. if the soil drains good theyll usually handle weather better than people think. if its heavy mud then roots go sour quick

i wouldnt be dumping feed after every rain either. rain doesnt mean the plant is empty. lotta new growers feed because they feel like they gotta do something. most times doing less is better

cant help with sneaking around or setting up hidden dry spots. that part gets messy fast. but as plant advice, keep em in air, dont let em sit wet and crowded, and dont expect much forgiveness from modern auto candy lines. they aint old outdoor work plants bred to take a beating

 

[SenshiGrows]

yeah id slow down a little here

autos outside in the uk are already kind of a gamble with the rain and short windows. they dont give you much time to fix mistakes. once they get shocked they just keep aging anyway

the main thing id watch is wet feet. rain itself dont hurt a plant, but sitting in cold soaked ground will. if the soil drains good theyll usually handle weather better than people think. if its heavy mud then roots go sour quick

i wouldnt be dumping feed after every rain either. rain doesnt mean the plant is empty. lotta new growers feed because they feel like they gotta do something. most times doing less is better

cant help with sneaking around or setting up hidden dry spots. that part gets messy fast. but as plant advice, keep em in air, dont let em sit wet and crowded, and dont expect much forgiveness from modern auto candy lines. they aint old outdoor work plants bred to take a beating

Thanks for your advice, I haven't given them any nutrients since the last time I watered on the day I put them outside. Even then I was only adding a couple of drops just to be cautious.
Sadly they did get too much rain over the past few days but I've used the biobizz mix that has plenty of perlite in it and it appears very light to me even when damp. Currently the atmosphere is fairly moist but that's only when it has been wet due to being hidden amongst a field of stinging nettles that are currently taller than my plants. What I can do is clear a larger area around the plants to help with airflow when I visit next.
We're due a heat wave soon so I'm hoping that will be enough to get them back on track.
I did a bit of research with my seeds and the fast buds Gorilla Cookies seemed the best choice for me as it is ready in 10 weeks and is supposed to be very resilient and easy for beginners. The 3 seeds of Gorilla z came with it as a promo which is supposed to like colder climates and is even faster at 9 weeks. The sweet seeds diablo rojo was also a freebie, I'm not so sure how well that will cope but we will see, its actually the fastest at 8 weeks advertised. I'm interested to see if there will be some red flowers on that one.
I'll do my best to keep the climate as dry as I can and see how I get on.
Kind regards.

 

[Itscheese94]

Thanks for your advice, I haven't given them any nutrients since the last time I watered on the day I put them outside. Even then I was only adding a couple of drops just to be cautious.
Sadly they did get too much rain over the past few days but I've used the biobizz mix that has plenty of perlite in it and it appears very light to me even when damp. Currently the atmosphere is fairly moist but that's only when it has been wet due to being hidden amongst a field of stinging nettles that are currently taller than my plants. What I can do is clear a larger area around the plants to help with airflow when I visit next.
We're due a heat wave soon so I'm hoping that will be enough to get them back on track.
I did a bit of research with my seeds and the fast buds Gorilla Cookies seemed the best choice for me as it is ready in 10 weeks and is supposed to be very resilient and easy for beginners. The 3 seeds of Gorilla z came with it as a promo which is supposed to like colder climates and is even faster at 9 weeks. The sweet seeds diablo rojo was also a freebie, I'm not so sure how well that will cope but we will see, its actually the fastest at 8 weeks advertised. I'm interested to see if there will be some red flowers on that one.
I'll do my best to keep the climate as dry as I can and see how I get on.
Kind regards.

biobizz soil amended, straight into the ground soil does awesome. You must watch out for slug and snail damage though. Is a big thing growing outdoor in the uk. Copper tape works great

 

[SenshiGrows]

biobizz soil amended, straight into the ground soil does awesome. You must watch out for slug and snail damage though. Is a big thing growing outdoor in the uk. Copper tape works great

Thanks for the advice. I will try the Copper tape asap. I have already been chuckingb no

biobizz soil amended, straight into the ground soil does awesome. You must watch out for slug and snail damage though. Is a big thing growing outdoor in the uk. Copper tape works great

Thank you very much for your slugs solution. It is actually my biggest worry pests wise. I have already been picking slugs out of the pot at night but now they're at the final spot I can't do that. I'm actually a little worried what damage could have been done last night whilst I was away. I will go there today and hopefully I find some copper tape at a local shop on the way.

 

[SenshiGrows]

Seems you've put a lot of thought into it already. Wishing you good weather and a smooth first outdoor run. Those autos should make for an interesting season. Especially with deals like theseedpharm's BOGOAUTO promo making it easy to stock up on a few extras.

Thanks for the good wishes. I went to attitude seed bank as they tend to have tonnes of promos and when I checked 420 fast buds was doing a promo for the 3 gorilla z seeds on a 5 pack. That along with attitudes standard promo on orders over £40 got me the diablo rojo seed as well as other photo periods that I'm saving for an indoor grow at some point.
I'll check out that promo you spoke of as it might be worth stocking up or even trying to get a second harvest in with some extra fast seeds. There's plenty of space at my spot for more.

 

[Itscheese94]

Thanks for the advice. I will try the Copper tape asap. I have already been chuckingb no

Thank you very much for your slugs solution. It is actually my biggest worry pests wise. I have already been picking slugs out of the pot at night but now they're at the final spot I can't do that. I'm actually a little worried what damage could have been done last night whilst I was away. I will go there today and hopefully I find some copper tape at a local shop on the way.

No worries buddy, a good tip is to use plastic cups with the tape as a barrier.

 

[SenshiGrows]

congrats on the first run. British weather is tough but those genetics can take it. I always use a heavy perlite mix in my soil to help with heavy rain. my last outdoor batch from the Seed Pharm did great with that setup. good luck man.

Thanks for the advice. I just went for the biobizz mix which already has perlite mixed in however I do think I might as some more to the mix on my next run.

 

[SenshiGrows]

Thought I'd just post this as a little update on how it's going. Cut open the bottoms today, it doesn't look like the tap root was bottoming yet so I wasn't too late. I still need to dig them into the ground, I was holding off just encase I decided to move them and I don't like to hang around too long so it'll have to be next time.
Growth seems to be pretty decent although im not sure if they're a bit small for 3 weeks. Perhaps you guys can let me know what you think. If you cant tell from the video they're between 150-200mm tall I would estimate.
The soil is still a bit moist from the recent rainfall however it is improving and we are due dry sunny weather over the next week. I'm hoping the soil dries enough for me to water them with some nutrients.
It has been a couple of weeks now since I have given any nutrients and whilst I can't see signs of nutrients deficiency, I think it must be time to give some conservatively soon. Does anyone have a suggestion of doing this without over watering? I was thinking it might be okay to dilute the feed with a much smaller amount of water and letting rainfall do the rest of the diluting.
Cheers.

 

[Itscheese94]

Thought I'd just post this as a little update on how it's going. Cut open the bottoms today, it doesn't look like the tap root was bottoming yet so I wasn't too late. I still need to dig them into the ground, I was holding off just encase I decided to move them and I don't like to hang around too long so it'll have to be next time.
Growth seems to be pretty decent although im not sure if they're a bit small for 3 weeks. Perhaps you guys can let me know what you think. If you cant tell from the video they're between 150-200mm tall I would estimate.
The soil is still a bit moist from the recent rainfall however it is improving and we are due dry sunny weather over the next week. I'm hoping the soil dries enough for me to water them with some nutrients.
It has been a couple of weeks now since I have given any nutrients and whilst I can't see signs of nutrients deficiency, I think it must be time to give some conservatively soon. Does anyone have a suggestion of doing this without over watering? I was thinking it might be okay to dilute the feed with a much smaller amount of water and letting rainfall do the rest of the diluting.
Cheers.

Yo nice man the tape should help alot with the pests. they look fine for 3 week, plants generally take quite a while to get established to the outdoor weather. But when they are they grow like mad from there on. They should be fine for nutrients right now has the soil holds enough nutrition for around 4 weeks. Then You could just wait until the soils dry, then feed like half / quarter strength of the recommend dose from there. I think bio bizz is 4 ml per litre max strength. So around 2 ml per litre would be half strength.

 

[SenshiGrows]

Yo nice man the tape should help alot with the pests. they look fine for 3 week, plants generally take quite a while to get established to the outdoor weather. But when they are they grow like mad from there on. They should be fine for nutrients right now has the soil holds enough nutrition for around 4 weeks. Then You could just wait until the soils dry, then feed like half / quarter strength of the recommend dose from there. I think bio bizz is 4 ml per litre max strength. So around 2 ml per litre would be half strength.

Thanks again for these tips, I am sure the copper tape has been keeping slugs and snails at bay. I just visited again today. We've had dry weather and the soil has been drying out. It'll be at least another couple days until they will want watering again, that's if it doesn't rain.
I'll be very mindful with the nutrients. I get the impression it's a lot better to give them slightly too little than too much. I ought to get myself a syringe so I'm sure. I'll post a little update from today in another post.

 

[SenshiGrows]

Hi so the update from today is that growth is looking good!
There does seem to be some pest issues on a few of them but they're not rampant enough to be doing any major damage.
The main issues I noticed were:
. Some leaves have some chunks out of them though I don't think they were recent, I believe it was from before I put down pest measures for slugs as well as accidental damage during transit as the leaves were frail and sodden on some of them.
.Some leaves had small holes in them, I've tried to capture them in the video. These I believe were more recent and quite potentially on going.
. On a couple of the pots there was some spider webbing on the rim of the pot, literally a single web thread on 2 pots. I tried to capture in the video but it was too small.
.I saw some small insects on the side of the fabric. I don't know much but my research suggested it could be stink bugs and that could be an issue if I don't deal with it.
. One of the plants is a bit of a problem one. I have shown a photo. The older leaves have received some damage but the height of the plant is above average to the rest. My dilemma is why are the newer leaves clawing and why is it a slightly darker shade than the others? Perhaps this is the sweet seeds diablo rojo and it's not coping so well. I suspect it's a combination of over watering and stress to the roots whilst I was transporting them. Hopefully it recovers well.
If anyone has tips for dealing with pests like sting bugs and caterpillars that would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Itscheese94]

Thanks again for these tips, I am sure the copper tape has been keeping slugs and snails at bay. I just visited again today. We've had dry weather and the soil has been drying out. It'll be at least another couple days until they will want watering again, that's if it doesn't rain.
I'll be very mindful with the nutrients. I get the impression it's a lot better to give them slightly too little than too much. I ought to get myself a syringe so I'm sure. I'll post a little update from today in another post.

No worries bud your right is better to build up, the nutrients has you go. There looking good so far. Awesome idea with the fabric pots, they should help a lot with drying out. If you peel the label back on the bio bizz bottle. It has the recommend dose there on the back of the label. Is pretty hard to overfeed with bio, so don't worry about that.

 

[Itscheese94]

Hi so the update from today is that growth is looking good!
There does seem to be some pest issues on a few of them but they're not rampant enough to be doing any major damage.
The main issues I noticed were:
. Some leaves have some chunks out of them though I don't think they were recent, I believe it was from before I put down pest measures for slugs as well as accidental damage during transit as the leaves were frail and sodden on some of them.
.Some leaves had small holes in them, I've tried to capture them in the video. These I believe were more recent and quite potentially on going.
. On a couple of the pots there was some spider webbing on the rim of the pot, literally a single web thread on 2 pots. I tried to capture in the video but it was too small.
.I saw some small insects on the side of the fabric. I don't know much but my research suggested it could be stink bugs and that could be an issue if I don't deal with it.
. One of the plants is a bit of a problem one. I have shown a photo. The older leaves have received some damage but the height of the plant is above average to the rest. My dilemma is why are the newer leaves clawing and why is it a slightly darker shade than the others? Perhaps this is the sweet seeds diablo rojo and it's not coping so well. I suspect it's a combination of over watering and stress to the roots whilst I was transporting them. Hopefully it recovers well.
If anyone has tips for dealing with pests like sting bugs and caterpillars that would be appreciated.
Thanks

Nice spot man, the damaged one, should grow out of it, it kinda looks like slug damage. The little holes could possibly be leaf hoppers. Either way they should grow out of it. I used to give the plants a little shake. When I visited that helps knock of the caterpillars and such. This is good stuff for pest.

 

[SenshiGrows]

Hi all just another update, everything seems to be going steady for now with some good growth showing in all of them. I
watered them with about 4-5 liters between the 9 plants and added some nutrients. It turns out I've actually got the Terra aquatica pro organic starter kit for my nutrients, not biobiz. It's what was recommended to me in the store as the best value kit.
It also came with a bagy of fungi called trichoderma harzianum. I looked it up and it can be used to suppress fungal pathogens. Is this something I should use as a preventative measure or just as and when needed?
They must be in their 4th week now but I can't see any signs they are transitioning to the flowering cycle but please tell me if I'm missing something. I was worried they would start flowering before they had achieved enough growth so I hope they take as long as they please.
Overall it feels like a success to get them all to this stage in the challenging conditions.. but as always if anyone has any more ideas to help them achieve their full potential, I'm all ears.
Btw the weather from now on is perfect so I'm expecting them to explode.

 

[Itscheese94]

Hi all just another update, everything seems to be going steady for now with some good growth showing in all of them. I
watered them with about 4-5 liters between the 9 plants and added some nutrients. It turns out I've actually got the Terra aquatica pro organic starter kit for my nutrients, not biobiz. It's what was recommended to me in the store as the best value kit.
It also came with a bagy of fungi called trichoderma harzianum. I looked it up and it can be used to suppress fungal pathogens. Is this something I should use as a preventative measure or just as and when needed?
They must be in their 4th week now but I can't see any signs they are transitioning to the flowering cycle but please tell me if I'm missing something. I was worried they would start flowering before they had achieved enough growth so I hope they take as long as they please.
Overall it feels like a success to get them all to this stage in the challenging conditions.. but as always if anyone has any more ideas to help them achieve their full potential, I'm all ears.
Btw the weather from now on is perfect so I'm expecting them to explode.

Nice there looking good man,there's gonna be some good weather from here on.

 

[Itscheese94]

Hi all just another update, everything seems to be going steady for now with some good growth showing in all of them. I
watered them with about 4-5 liters between the 9 plants and added some nutrients. It turns out I've actually got the Terra aquatica pro organic starter kit for my nutrients, not biobiz. It's what was recommended to me in the store as the best value kit.
It also came with a bagy of fungi called trichoderma harzianum. I looked it up and it can be used to suppress fungal pathogens. Is this something I should use as a preventative measure or just as and when needed?
They must be in their 4th week now but I can't see any signs they are transitioning to the flowering cycle but please tell me if I'm missing something. I was worried they would start flowering before they had achieved enough growth so I hope they take as long as they please.
Overall it feels like a success to get them all to this stage in the challenging conditions.. but as always if anyone has any more ideas to help them achieve their full potential, I'm all ears.
Btw the weather from now on is perfect so I'm expecting them to explode.

The Trichoderma should be fine to use through out the grow

 

[SenshiGrows]

Nice there looking good man,there's gonna be some good weather from here on.

Yes! It's been such good weather this week. I've been to the lake district this week but I'm coming back today so I will post an update tomorrow. I expect they have exploded this week but we shall see.. I'll probably take some bamboo sticks encase they need some extra support now.

 

[Itscheese94]

Yes! It's been such good weather this week. I've been to the lake district this week but I'm coming back today so I will post an update tomorrow. I expect they have exploded this week but we shall see.. I'll probably take some bamboo sticks encase they need some extra support now.

Yeah man nice, they should be doing great in this weather. there where some nice rain about a hour ago too so that should of watered them