How to hide marijuana plants

Nowadays, it is getting more and more difficult to grow marijuana outdoors . It's not about pests, diseases or adverse climates... the number one enemy of marijuana growers are thieves.

Marijuana hidden in an olive tree

Here you will learn a system to camouflage your marijuana plants -a rather curious technique as well as safer than the usual methods.

With the increase of information and number of people growing marijuana, it is hard to find a place where the plant can go unnoticed.

It will be easier if you have a small garden with fruit trees, olive trees and ornamental trees. If this is not the case, you can also try the camouflage method, but it requires a little more work because you will have to apply this technique to the trees you find in the woods, always in private land - we must own it..

Needed stuff:

PVC pipe or tube, 150 mm in diameter and 2 m long (depending on the tree)

Flanges, wire or rope

50 L Light Mix substrate or similar

Vermicompost (worm humus)

Bat Guano

Bio Super Mix

Cannabis seeds or cuttings (in this case, we used the Queso strain from Kannabia seeds).

Spray polyurethane foam with applicator

Matte brown or greenish/grey paint

Applying polyurethane to the PVC pipe

Construction of a pot-pipe to camouflage the cannabis plant

Dig a hole - about 25 cm in diameter and about 25 cm deep - at about forty centimetres from the base of a tree - an olive tree in this case.

Apply polyurethane foam on the surface of the PVC pipe. It is advisable to do it moving downward so the foam doesn't give off the pipe. Leave 25 cm of space to be buried in the soil.

Once it is dry, use a cutter and sandpaper to give it a resemblance to a tree trunk and immediately paint it trying to make it go unnoticed.

Tree trunk with polyurethane foam

Place the part of the PVC tube without foam in the hole in the ground. As you will see, the hole diameter is larger than the tube - the soil previously dug out will be used around the tube to bury it, always on the outside. It needs to be well pressed and immediately watered to make it stay firm.

Attach the top part of the tube to the nearest branch. To do this, use flanges, wires, ropes or any material that fix it safely.

Once fixed, the end of the pot-tube is at about 180 cm high, and it's now ready to be filled with substrate.

Substrate preparation and finishing the camouflage

In addition to choosing your marijuana seeds, if you want to succeed in cultivation it is very important to acquire a quality substrate. You will need about 50 l of substrate to fill the pot-tube, and in this case, as we are using a soil enricher , you must prepare the mixture before using it.

To prepare the substrate you should find a clean spot, while a 100l plastic container or a large barrel may be useful for mixing. Pour the soil and add the worm humus, bat guano and Bio Mix, using the recommended dosage by the manufacturer.

You can use flanges to fix the tube

Mix it until it gets completely uniform. This step is very important for the plant to get the nutrients it needs throughout the growing period, hence it should be done with patience and care. We can use bat guano granules, for this type of nutrients are released more slowly.

Once mixed, fill up the tube with it and immediately add 10/20 litres of water, so the substrate settles.

If you skip this step, there is the risk that the plant lowers too much inside the tube. As previous experiences show, this was a common mistake in the first attempts. If this happens, to avoid problems with botrytis we recommend trimming the plant section inside the tube.

When we are certain that the substrate doesn't lower anymore, remaining 20 cm below the top edge, we can transplant our plant.

How to transplant marijuana plants

As we mentioned, the strain used in this post is Queso from Kannabia seeds. Of course, you can use any other strain, either seeds or cuttings -just bear in mind the size of the tree and the plant characteristics. You can also use the camouflage method with autoflowering cannabis seeds. In this case, we recommend no more than 30L of substrate, using a smaller tube that can also be fixed in bushes.

Starting from seed, we should germinate it first. Once it opens and the root is 1 cm long, it is planted into a 0.52 l pot and placed in a sunny spot. After 15-20 days, when the roots expand in the pot, it is transplanted in the pot-tube with a 10 cm soil layer and 20% of vermicompost. Then it needs to be watered with tap water.

If you start from a cutting, once it is rooted using clonex gel, transplant it into the pot-tube in the same way as the seeds.

How to fertilise and water

Using this substrate mixture allows us to grow the plant without the need of fertilising it. You can use a liquid fertilizer, although the results are quite good without using it , what has great advantages as you will see. If we use Ph6 water, we ensure the absorption of all needed nutrients for the plant to grow. This is an important aspect, sometimes it is worth buying a Ph meter rather than using additives or stimulators.

Choosing the mixture and whether or not to use liquid fertilizers is an entirely personal decision. You can use the fertilising method of your choice, like in any other marijuana crop.

Before watering, we must flood the base of the pot; by doing so the roots grow throughout the tube-pot, seeking the moisture in the ground. Especially in the first two months of growth, the top part also needs to be watered, a fairly easy job if done with an irrigation lance with curved end.

Flood watering

Given the difficulty of checking if the substrate is dry from the top, you must sharpen your sense of observation and interpret the behaviour of the plant against possible water stress, which can be either excess or lack of watering. The knowledge of the strain and your experience will make you improve as you grow marijuana. We recommend the product Aptus Regulator , which reduces the water needs of marijuana plants by up to 30%.

Advantages of camouflaging marijuana plants

Growing 2 meter high marijuana with roots reaching the ground has great advantages.

As it merges with the tree greenery, the plant is perfectly camouflaged preventing it from being seen by anyone passing near where you have planted it. Friends, nosy people, thieves, hunters and environmentalists in uniform... they can only spot it if they walk very close to the trees. It can't be seen! Very little or nothing can be spotted from the top as well, it can easily go unnoticed by a helicopter or any other flying object.

Completely camouflaged marijuana

The length of available space fot the roots promotes their rapid and healthy growth, resulting in a pest and disease resistant, strong and healthy plant. A plant that develops at more than 2 meter high is properly ventilated, preventing pests.

We used olive trees here, but it also works with lemon trees, orange trees, almond trees, willows, bay trees or elsewhere, as long as there is an abundant plant mass; even brambles can be used, although it can be painful because of their thorns. We'll talk about guerrilla cultivation techniques related to the best suited marijuana plants for this kind of cultivation in next posts.

Alright folks, I hope these lines and pictures help you growing and camouflaging your marijuana plants. With your experience you can improve and adjust the camouflage method to your needs and conditions. For instance, as you can see in the pictures, painting the tube was something I made after the start of this crop.

Queso in a tube-pot

One love!

We are not going to say goodbye without first thanking María Otro for her contributions. Thanks María, you are legend!