Florida guerrilla guide

Hello and welcome to my guide. This guide is a result of many years guerrilla growing in northern Florida. Although it is specific to north Fl many of the methods can be adapted to other areas. You be the judge.

WHAT When choosing what strain to grow you want to stay away from the short flowering indoor strains like kush. They tend to be auto-flowering in Florida’s “short” summer days. You’ll end up with a small low yield plant that finishes way to soon. It’s better to grow the long flowering tropical sativas. You’ll get a better high and a much much better yield. Pay no attention to the weeks flowering stated by the breeder as this only applies to indoors. When grown from clone even 20 week strains finish by the end of November in Florida. The breeder with the largest selection of these strains is probably Ace Seeds.

WHERE This is swamp growin’. You need to find a spot with swampy ground or poorly drained soil. If you find a deep swamp explore the edges rather than the deep part. Dig a small hole at your proposed spot. The soil should seem saturated or the hole should start to fill with water. You can judge the drainage just by looking at the vegetation. Aside from the “wet prairie” poorly drained soil always has thick vegetation. The thicker the better. If your spot doesn’t have enough sunlight then take a battery chainsaw and make some.

HOW The general setup is a 100 gallon smartpot filled with coir based grow-mix sitting in shallow water or on wet ground. Water is absorbed into the mix from the bottom and it always stays moist. The plants are never watered. The pots have a chicken wire cage around them to protect the seedlings from animals and there is also a scaffold of sorts built around the pot to support the weight of the buds.

If the ground has a root mat then using a shovel, ax, and pruners remove a circle of root mat so the pot can sit on clean sand. Make the circle about a foot wider than the pot. Setting the depth of the hole is important. To deep and the plant could drown after heavy rains. To shallow and it might become excessively dry during a drought. You want to set the depth so the high water mark, after a period of heavy rains, is about ¾ high on the pot. You may have to take a guesstimate where this level is. The water level will vary greatly during the season and it will not normally be this high. If the whole pot becomes submerged – and stays submerged – the plant will die but water level staying at ¾ level for a while will not harm the plant. Roots will start growing out of the stem and even up out of the grow mix but the plant will be fine. So your smartpot may sit in a big hole in a dryer area or on top of several pallets in the middle of a beaver pond. Just depending on where the water level is.

The grow mix consists of ¾ coco-coir and ¼ compost. For the coir use the 5kg blocks as they’re easy to carry. Leave the blocks at the site in cheap laundry bags and groundwater or rainfall will expand them. Put some fertilizer in the top of the mix. Expensive organics or cheap lawn fertilizer – it doesn’t really make a difference if you ask me.

When the pot is filled drive some stakes around the outside of the pot. These can be fence posts brought in or saplings cut from the site. Cut some chicken wire from a 3 or 4 foot roll and wrap it around the pot. Use 1 inch mesh wire. Make sure the sides of the pot are covered with chicken wire so animals can’t rip open the pot. Make a chicken wire lid to go on top and secure everything to the stakes with wire. You want everything secure as animals will try desperately to get in and dig out the soil. This is especially true if you use organic fertilizer. If you spray paint this whole mess black it will become invisible.

Yield is dependent on square foot of canopy so when the plant gains some size you will have to train it to be as wide as possible. Make a makeshift scaffold around the pot made of bamboo poles brought in or saplings cut from the site. Bend the branches outward and tie to the poles. Use fishing line to tie with as rats will cut organic string. This structure will later support the weight of the buds. Stash some 5 gal buckets around the site. They will fill with rainwater and you will need this water for something sooner or later. They will also ensure you get swarmed by mosquitoes every time you visit but whatever.

WHEN The main crop is always grown from cuttings and never from seed. Cuttings flower quicker and are prone to less fungus problems. Plant clones out no sooner than July 1. In south Florida you could get away with planting later but never sooner. Flowering your plants in the late fall instead of the early fall avoids several problems. If you have no access to indoor grown clones you can plant outdoor moms in the early spring. Fem seed is easier but most non-fem strains will show preflowers by June if you look closely. Take cuttings about mid June. Put them in a mason jar with a drop of water for transport to an indoor setup. Or you can make clones on site. Take them in the usual manner making sure they have long stems and few leaves. Some will die so take more than you need. Plant them in an fresh setup, water them in, then put the lid on the cage and put some grass or branches on top so it has about 50% shade. Come back in about 10 days and remove the shade. Some will be dead but whatever is still alive will make it. When the clones have rooted cut down and kill the moms! This is difficult I know but they will become sick and won’t produce anything anyway so get rid of them.

PROBLEMS

1 FUNGUS The main limiting factor outdoors in Florida is fungus. It’s not the botrytis that northern growers fear but something different. Fusarium wilt? Verticillium? I do not know. Whatever it is it is a terrible disease. It can quickly kill an entire plant. It only affects flowering plants and always starts after a rain. First the fan leaves on a budding branch turn brown and die. Then the whole branch turns brown and dies. Then it starts spreading trough the main stem taking out branch after branch until the whole plant dies. It grows inside the stems and there’s no fungicide that will stop it. Since it likes heat and rain the only way to avoid it is to flower later in the fall when temps are cooler and there is a lot less rain. The whole reason for planting so late is to avoid fungus problems. Rain is the main problem. No rain during flowering equals picture perfect buds minus any catepiller damage. Planting early and harvesting in Sep results in fungus and catipiller damage. Planting in July and harvesting in November is often problem free. Another way to avoid the rain problem would be to grow in a greenhouse.

2 TERMITES Termites are a little known pest. They are abundant in wet forest soils. Oddly they are fond of devouring cannabis stalks. They chew on the base of the stalk and sometimes hollow out the main stalk and eat it from the inside out. I’ve even had them kill seedlings. Usually the fabric pot sits in a shallow pool of water and this prevents them from entering. They can still get in during periods of dry weather though. Make sure no soil is piled around the sides of the pot. This would be like ringing the termite dinner bell. Signs of termite infestation are plants that grow slowly, lean over or wilt. If you suspect termites dig around the base of the stem and inspect. If you find them you will have to act quickly. Diazinon kills termites malathion does not.

3 RATS Rats are another little known pest but they are actually quit common in forested areas. They chew on the stem and cut branches. If a mystery animal is eating your plants it is likely rats and not deer. Deer are a rare pest in the swamp. The point of the cage is to protect young seedlings from rats and other critters. Make sure to use chicken wire with 1 inch mesh as rats will get through 2 inch mesh.

The solution for rats is a plastic bait station wired in place to prevent animals from running off with it.

4 CATERPILLARS Cats are a well known pest but a pest you can largely avoid by flowering late. They are not common in late fall. The last plant I grew was a landrace ethiopian planted from clone in mid July and harvested in early November. I don’t think it had a single caterpillar on it. Another reason to flower your plants as late as possible.



HARVESTING AND CURING The best time to harvest your plants is when all the stigmas have died or there are just a few white stigmas left at the tip of the buds. This is supposed to be maximum potency. You can transport them to indoors for drying or actually hang whole plants outdoors in a shady spot to dry. Watch the forecast for rain if you do this.

The most I’ve ever gotten from a 100 gal pot is 3.5 pounds. There was only 1 plant in the pot though. There was room for more. You don’t have to grow one plant per pot but can grow 2, 3 or even a dozen. By growing multiple plants in one pot you could get 5+ pounds per pot. I’d say if your clones are small plants transported from indoors then grow one plant per pot. Otherwise grow more than one.

When it comes to curing I’ve tried the “malawi cob” method and had good results with it. I’s say give it a try. It gives a quality product and eliminates the manicuring. A lot has been written about curing but one thing that is never mentioned is that the length of the cure affects the quality of the high. Some landrace strains may seem weak after a month and it takes a long cure (4-6 months) to bring out their potency. Energetic sativas are usually best at one month or less of curing. With a long cure the energetic part goes away and your left with a more introspective effect. Some strong hybrids (i.e. golden tiger) may seem overwhelming or disturbing at first. After a long cure the tension goes away and they become much more fun. The point here is to cure until you think the effect is just great and then seal it up good and feeze it. This will lock in the high.

Anyway, this is the bulk of my knowledge I’ve learned from many years of guerrilla growing in Florida. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it.

Wow, thanks for sharing your knowledge/years of experience. Garunteed this will motivate some ppl in FL Seems to be relatively "harm free" to the enviroment as well.

I’m not experienced in growing in Florida but at one time I had a guy that kept me on his client list with fantastic Chem
His downfall to pest was Rippers
Good luck this season
WELCOME TO RIU