Camouflage

[Guest]

This is just an idea and probably a stupid one but it occured to me that for outdoor grows in the bush the biggest problems are bushwalkers and copper choppers. If its your own land then you really just have the aerial surveillance to worry about.

 

Your big back garden plant glowing with golden heads is a dead give away to alert police riding a chopper over your property but the human eye is easily tricked. When I was in the army I was told that if I stood perfectly still an enemy chopper would just as likely think I was a tree as a soldier and go straight over me. Obviously what separated me from the surrounding foliage was my running like a man posessed.

 

What makes pot stand out is its colour. Especially during the dry april may period when everything else is all shrivelled up and dead. Obviously we can't cut the buds and leaves off to make it blend in. But what about adding some colours? I'm not sure about what bush flowers are appearing around the same time as cannabis blooms but I'm sure the cops in the sky know.

 

If there is anything with fairly similar leaf colour to pot but totally different flowers then maybe pot could be disguised to resemble a native bush. I saw a really interesting thread on merging pot with bamboo. Very clever. Could we stick a few bright but fake flowers on a pot plant to make it look like something else? This is just an idea and maybe someone else has tried it. If so I'd be interested in knowing which plant they copied.

 

[wade ounce]

in my opinion it wouldnt work.

 

I live in the bush and if i came upon an articial plant i reckon i'd spot it before i'd spot an m.j plant.

 

As far as the choppers go i think the same result would apply. These pilots are used to the vegetation that they are flying over. they should be, they fly over it every day

if something wierd was to pop up like a fake plant i reckon they would spot it a mile off.

 

Imho you are far better off to surround your crop with same native noxious weed like dogweed or wattle. They flower at basically the same time with the same yellow/amber coloured flower.

 

If you have a perimetre of some sort around your grow(ie fence), i suggest to find some native creeper and plant it in a couple of spots around the perimetre.

Not only does it give camourflage to your fence, but will also creep over it and give it strength.

This is a definate advantage when the heavey, westerly winds come through. It provides a good,strong windbreak

[Guest]

There are some really beautiful bush flowers around so I thought it might be worth looking into. I was thinking of white flowers held on with sticky tape. A chopper cop a hundred feet up surely wouldn't know the difference would he? Oh well. Just an idea.

 

Hey WD. Is there anything thorny or stinging that grows thick and tall and might be good to surround pot with?

[WantDaChronic]

im pretty sure poison ivy isnt native let alone if u can get some seeds imported but putting something like that on ur fence would work a treat

 

also banksias resemble very sativa dom plants...if u topped ur plants like 2 or 3 times during the season and had them close by they would blend in really weel

[wade ounce]

Poison ivy from memory is a pretty dark foliaged plant. it could possible blend in a rainforest type of vegetation, but in the bush , where the main colours are greys and light greens it may stand out.

 

Another concern with poison ivy is the native wildlife.

Imagine the amount of poison ivy that 1 kangaroo could spread through the bush by the seeds simply sticking to it's fur.

Within a coupla years ivy would have taken over your whole surrounding area.

 

Ya best best it to go for a days walk around your prospective growing plots and find the camourflage plants locally. You'd be amazed at the amount of creepers and shrubs we have growing locally.

 

Banksia are a coastal tree. great if ya live on the Australian coastline but may seem a little odd growing in clumps around the place if you live inland.

[Guest]

Thanks for the help guys. Great input. Banksias might not be a good idea for out west but if I ever move to the coast I'll certainly keep that idea in mind. Whatever camouflage I use I'd like to help encourage the stuff. Not just where my baby would be hidden but all over the place as a distraction. Would make the cops job a lot harder. So long as its a native weed. We have enough fucking Lantana and other shit choking our forests.

 

I did a search on Wattle. Our national flower Golden Wattle(Acacia pycnantha) doesn't grow up in QLD where I am. But other varieties do.

 

http://www.aussie-info.com/identity/flora/wattle2.jpg

Webpage

Golden Wattle occurs in the understorey of open forest or woodland and in open scrub formations in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, in temperate regions with mean annual rainfall of 350 mm to 1000 mm. It has been introduced into the Stirling Ranges near Perth where it threatens to become weedy. It regenerates freely after fires, which usually kill the parent plants but stimulate the germination of seeds stored in the soil if rain follows soon after. Regeneration may produce dense thickets in forests and woodlands and along roadsides.

 

The brilliant yellow, fragrant flowers of Golden Wattle make it a popular garden plant. It is moderately frost tolerant and grows well in a wide range of soils provided drainage is effective, but tends to be short-lived in cultivation. It is easily propagated from seed soaked in hot water to break the hard seed coat, and the seedlings can be transplanted to pots of soil mix for growing on before planting out in a lightly shaded or open position.

 

Webpage

There are over 600 different species distributed throughout Australia with shapes varying from low, spreading shrubs to large, upright trees. It is often called 'Mulga'. Whilst most are early spring and summer-flowering, there are wattles that bloom all year round.

 

Wattles are the most widespread of all Australian plants, some inhabiting the most remote and inhospitable areas, growing in parched sand in the desert under the scorching sun, spiked, hard and leafless. In the rainforest gullies they have soft feathery foliage with pale golden heads.

 

Growing Wattle

 

Despite the popularity of native plants in Australian gardens, the growing of wattle has never been widespread. Whilst they are fast growing they do have a short lifespan. They are useful hedge or screen plants.

 

***********************************************

 

Some good info on growing the stuff at that last link. I'm just wondering if it blooms at the right time. They are mostly early spring and summer flowering. March and April might be a bit late in the season. Could end up with ganja buds poking through a thicket of dying bushes as Wattle appears to be quite shortlived. I'll look into it more.

[Guest]

Dogweed

This was a real bastard to look up. Is this what you are talking about Wade?

Webpage

http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Asteraceae/Dyssodia_pentachaeta.jpg

Dyssodia pentachaeta (Golden Dyssodia, Parralena, Dogweed)

 

If so its an american plant which must have been introduced. Fucking shame. Looks good and flowers at the right time. I wouldn't want it to infest the place. Might bring the parks and wildlife commision down on me. ::

[wade ounce]

2 varieies that grow prolific around central qld is black and silver wattle.

 

their seeds germinate with such great success the are classed noxious in these regions and the farmers go to great lengths to eradicate it.

 

personally....i love the stuff

[Guest]

You got me interested. I've been reading up on it and this stuff sounds great. Not only for camouflage from the pigs but to distract other annoying pests too. Insects and animals love acacias so they might leave the ganja alone.

 

http://www.forests.qld.gov.au/qts/treetext.html

Acacias are amongst the most spectacular flowering plants of Australia. They are naturally widespread, playing an important role in soil conservation because of their ability to rapidy colonise disturbed sites. There are hundreds of species from groundcover to rainforest trees. They are also important as nitrogen-fixers, able to convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form which can be used by plants in forest ecosystems. The flowers produce a moderate amount of pollen and also some nectar, but as a group they are not major nectar producers. For this reason, most Acacias are not important sources of food for nectivarous species such as honeyeaters and lorikeets. Their direct value to wildlife comes mainly from their prolific seed production. Birds recorded feeding on Acacia seed include quail, lapwings, pigeons and doves, parrots and cockatoos, quail-thrush and babblers, bowerbirds and choughs. Native mice and rats also eat Acacia seed. Acacias provide food for many different insects. The larvae and nymphs of some insects eat or suck the leaves and may be attended and defended by ants. Beetles such as the lucanid feed on the leaves while others feed on the living wood. Witchetty grubs and weevils feed on the decaying wood. The clerid beetle feeds on the nectar and pollen of some wattles and aid their pollination.

 

The caterpillars which often infest acacias are favoured food for some cockatoos and cuckoos while some smaller birds, like rose robins, feed extensively on insects living on Acacia foliage. Leaves are eaten by crows and ravens. The sap of some acacias were eaten by Aborigines, and is extensively consumed by sugar and squirrel gliders. However some species are poisonous.

 

In inland Australia, large areas of mulga and brigalow are dominated by Acacias. In such habitats, acacias play a major structural role. They not only host insects and produce seed, they also provide shelter for geckoes, skinks and frogs, which hide under flaking bark, and they host mistletoes which are important to nectar-feeding birds and insects such as butterflies.

 

Plus I kind of like to see native critters running around.

 

BLACK WATTLE

 

Height 20m

 

A native of Queensland, Northern Territory and New Guinea. On its preferred sites, can grow up to 30 m in height with a straight stem, but is mostly found at heights from 8 to 20 m, heavily branched and with a short, crooked stem. Enriches soil nitrogen and can grow well on a variety of soil types and on saline sites. Fast growing, and good for fuelwood, erosion control, shade and as an ornamental.

 

Grows a bit fucking large doesn't it?

 

QUEENSLAND SILVER WATTLE,

 

silver wattle, Mt Morgan wattle

 

Height 5m

 

An attractive shrub attaining about 5m in height with rounded silvery-white leaves producing clusters of large golden blooms. It is one of the earliest winter flowering wattles and responds to heavy pruning after flowering. Thrives on practically any soil. Native to southern and central Queensland.

 

Silvery white leaves? I suppose mixing the two plants up would give nice cover.

Edited April 10, 2004 by Chong

[dogsted]

Forget it it will attract the chopper pilots not deter them THIS IS INFO TAKEN FROM HIGH TIMES

First find a good spot that wont get flown over if you do 20 plants or less even if they fly over dont worry they are looking for 100 plant operations which might take 1/4 of an acre or so and 20 plants are fuckin hard to spot if you do it right.

Second what you are looking to do is called SHeet of green what it is is planting your plants about 1 metre or 1.5 meter square area so they grow into each other from the air it just looks like one big green patch and the tell tale leaves cant be seen cause they overlap.If they dont naturally grow together tie them down so they bush out sativas need to be closer if there not the bushy types or really tied well I recommend tying any way it gets better yield and outdoors you dont need to tip u have space I tie the main stem and branches.

Third dont use plants with flouro or light green leaves they dont match the natural vegetation.Use a indica or indica cross with dark leaves they look like gums wattles and bansias and the local small shrubs

Use small patches if you want 40 plants which is way too much in my opinion if you get it right you will have too much and it would freak me out but use 4 X 10 plants

smaller area are almost impossible to spot at all. Your biggest problem will be rippers anyway I know 10 times out of 20 its rippers not copters that will get you So use cama on the ground so if you even walk near them they wont be found no tracks and no obvios human stuff buckets plastic etc

Use clones if you can its not always possible but if you can it wont leave spaces when you pull males if you dont use clones tie your females into the spaces left when you pull males more yield again.