Self-Sustainable Gorilla Grow, VIC (first timers)

[Cultivation Salvation]

My girl and I have recently migrated to Melbourne and have found ourselves in a pickle. This pickle being the fact that we are both relatively big smokers, but no longer have the money nor connections to realistically sort ourselves for the years ahead. This has led me to make a big decision and therefore prepare myself do something that I have dreamt of for almost a decade now – I’m/we’re going to do a Gorilla Grow.

 

That being said, we need your help.

 

Considering another dilemma of ours is the fact that we will struggle to make regular visits to a patch, I aspire to make this grow self-sustainable. The way I aim to do this is by finding a suitable patch within reasonable proximity to a river/creek, and then using this river/creek to water the patch via a solar powered, timed, 12volt water pump.

As for the plants themselves, I have managed to get hold of 40 non-feminized seeds which are said to be suitable for outdoor-growing, and despite all risks and variables attached, I am hoping to harvest a final yield of 2.5lbs, which would sort us for a year.

 

Therefore, here is a rough final harvest objective that I am hoping to achieve (assuming I can sprout 20 healthy seedlings).

 

- 20 plants/2 (accounting for males) = 10 plants x 4oz (each plant) = 2.5lb (goal weight)

 

My first question: is this a realistic procedure and estimation? And if so, what needs to be done to give me the best chance of achieving this?

 

- Where is a good location to search in Melbourne/Victoria?

- What to look for in a patch?

- Optimum/necessary soil conditions?

- Base fertilizers?

- Water frequency?

- Protection/camouflage?

- Anything else?

 

By the way, we are happy to put some weeks aside to search and dig!

 

Thanks guys, and much love.

 

-- Those who grow cannabis together, have happiness together. --

[Sir PsychoHashy]

Have a search through the outdoor growing forums, paying particular attention to diaries tagged with "guerilla", should help you with a few ideas on many of the issues you are worried about.  I've done a couple, but vastly different location and climate to South Eastern Vic, but I know there's been several Vic members that have done guerilla grows.  Can't help with viable locations.

 

Dunno where you migrated from, but in Oz we have a variety of animals that can decimate a canna crop in the bush, both ferals and natives, so you'll need to figure out some sort of fencing that doesn't stand out and draw attention.

 

Biggest issue I see though is your watering plan.  Both rippers and cops pay special attention to waterways when looking for crops, so anywhere near water is risky.  Start poking pipes and pumps into a creek, and you might as well put up direction signs.  A solar panel out in the bush is a shiny, reflective, geometric shape, this will stand out like a dogs bollocks, so again, you might as well put up a direction sign.  I don't know if the Vic cops do annual outings with choppers, dirt bikes, and dogs, looking for bush crops like they do up and down the ranges and coastal fringe here in NSW, but even if they don't you need to be careful, and the rippers will still be out looking, and it's a lot of time, effort, and expense down the drain if you lose a crop.

 

2.5lb's/year is easy to achieve indoors, if that's a viable option for you.

 

Best of luck 

[Cultivation Salvation]

You make my tactics sound like a game of Russian roulette, and I have to admit, you're completely right.

I'm racking my brain for other options though, because unfortunately, just like manual watering, an indoor grow setup is not an option.

That being said, if it were easy to just put a crop in the bush and let it grow by itself, I guess everyone would be doing it, aye! [emoji23]

Appreciate the advice my man ✌️

[sunseeker]

Yeh Hashy is spot on it's a hard slog in the bush and the only way I can see your solar pump working would be to go really deep, like No man has ever even managed to walk this deep into the bush, unless you can creep onto private property that is a friends or is unvacated and has no cows/sheep etc roaming on it. Tap into the dam and go for it. All bush grows play a big risk. If you and the mrs are that keen I'd set up a little grow cupboard in your bedroom. You'd be surprised what you can get away with indoors otherwise rent a house in the burbs and crack two big Mumma over summer. That will see you 2-3p easy. I hate to sound negative but the only success I've had in the bush is going deep and putting in the hard yards and even still been ripped off a plenty

[Sir PsychoHashy]

Well said SS.

 

I'm the same, I've got an area of bush which saw next to zero human activity when I first started using it, but even then I had a couple of plots get found, so I went deeper into it and found a couple of tiny spots that I got away with for a couple of years, but being in a dry climate with no on site water it was just way too much for my old and unhealthy body to cope with, the long daily slog up steep hills in rough bushland during our long heatwave condition summers broke me after the last full season run, but that's what it took to get away with it where I am.

 

I still do a Spring autoflower run every year for now though, because I love being in the bush, and there's something special about canna out in the bush.  But that generally only yields me 300g or so.

 

Take a good hard look at your situation, you might be able to figure a home grown option out.  I ended up putting up a garden shed on my rental property and setting it up with a couple of grow tents, but the time, effort, and planning in setting it all up to be stealthy in a residential backyard, and able to deal with our local heat in Autumn and Spring was not inconsequential.  Urban growing needs special attention to odour control, light leaks, and noise if you don't want the neighbours to notice.  This site is full of info and examples on all this sort of stuff.

[phenix]

I think you're goals are unrealistic.

 

I've been priveleged to witness quite closely the work of a guerilla grower in Vic over the last couple years and in spite of MASSIVE effort and $ (I'm talking $,000's) I'm pretty sure his yields didn't hit 2.5lb this year or last.  And he would've started with at least 40 plants (no shortage of seeds).  I kid you not it makes me cry to see the amount of effort he puts into his guerilla grows.  

 

So maybe don't have too high expectations, especially if you're not prepared to put in in terms of effort and equipment.  

 

Termites were the main problem I believe and I saw a Qld grower just posting recently about similar threat.  So definitely have a termite prevention plan if you're to have any hope of success.

 

Good luck with your endeavors.  Personally, I think it's be easier and more reliable to find a way to grow indoors.

[Cultivation Salvation]

Thanks guys. It sounds like its time for me to rack my mind a little harder, but I'm not ready to quit yet.

[Indycar]

Been there, done that, twenty odd years ago. It was hard enough then trying to get away from everyone, and that was in a rural area (not vic). Get roughly a 100 bagseed seedlings up to a foot high, then plant them out when you once could kinda depend on seasonal rain in November. By the time various things like ripping males/hermies out, wildlife, bush fires, rippers and so on. That 100 could've dwindled down to about 10 decent girls come end of season. Admittedly the odd mistake were made along the way. So it basically turned out to be a lot of hard work that would only keep me in smoke for about 4-6 months a year.

 

So considering how the urban sprawl has claimed a lot of those areas now, and the population boom that has come with it., as well as knowing what I do now. I'd have to also advise against it. I tend to believe you'd be better trying to find a dealer who doesn't handle commercial bud and buy off of them. In the long run it'll save a lot of heartache and leg work. Or seriously consider what others have already mentioned in this thread.

 

But you seem determined, CS. All I can do is wish you the best with your guerilla endevours.

[Sir PsychoHashy]

All of this shit is true, but thought I should chuck in a "dont' give up on the idea".

 

Seriously, if you can manage it, it's a very rewarding trip, just go in with your eyes wide open.  Setting up an automated watering system like you're thinking is a big no no though.  If you can find somewhere you can get to regularly with a couple of stealthy spots for small plots (2m x 2m ish), and go for 2-4 smaller plants in each one, in a good year you'll hit 2.5lb, if you're lucky.  I set up small reservoirs and used Tropf Blumat drippers last few runs.  Still had to cart water most days in high summer, but it minimised water usage whilst keeping the plants hydrated.  A bigger res will extend time between visits, but requires carting more water and will be a lot harder to make stealthy.  I dug out holes up the hill under bush cover to hide them, and let gravity do the work, but also had to fence the res to stop animals trashing the res looking for water.  I think my last full season photoperiod grow was 6 plants in 2 plots on the Blumats and yielded about 900g, so with Vic's usually more friendly climate you should be able to do easier and better if you plan it right.

 

That grow is in this diary:  https://cannabis.community.forums.ozstoners.com/topic/70105-mr-tommy-mr-marin-grow-some-bean-trees/   if you want a rough idea of what can be involved, but like I said earlier I'm in a different location and climate with it's own set of different issues.

 

A shitload easier indoors though.

[phenix]

Nice words of encouragement Hashy....  I should've tried to be more positive in my attempts to scale down the OP's expectations

 

I'm thinking of trying guerilla myself this season... depends on whether the local creek still has any water in it come December.  If it does I'm going to try a wicking swamp type of grow  I definitely get how it could be rewarding and fun.

 

Have a go Cultivation Salvation, better than doing nothing while you're working on a way to try indoors.  And there is truly something very rewarding about smoking your own grown