No Watering/No Maintenance Guerilla Growing?

How unlikely is it to simply stick a plant in the ground, and come back 5 months later to harvest?



I live in Southern Ontario Canada. The Summers here are humid and warm/hot. Many
breezy hot sunny days, and many really strong/short thunderstorms.


What I want to do is find a very secluded place, away from the major cities, and prep the sol in that area. I will not be able to visit the garden all summer, and can only hope that by preparing the right plants/strain and choosing the best location/amending the soil very well, I can let nature take care of everything else. I understand that such an ambition is going to have a very high likelihood of failure due to unfavourable weather, animal intervention, mold, drought, or bugs etc. and in my absence I will not be able to control any of those variables.


But is it still possible, even if unlikely? The investment is minimal considering I will be absent the entire grow.

Will drought kill my plants? annual rainfall is 39 inches.

Has anyone had success in this way? How can it be done?

Yes its possible and likely
Im strictly speaking from my experience growing in west tx ... pretty good distance away

Good to hear that it works for you. When I read about outdoor grows it seems watering is a big challenge.
You live in Texas, which I imagine is really dry throughout the summer, how do you overcome drought?


am I correct to think that watering is going to be the single biggest challenge?

I also worry that Deer will with absolute certainty find my plants and chomp down every single one... in which case overcoming drought won't do me any good. Are they really that hungry for weed?

Anyone with experience, give me the warnings as to what I'm up against, so that I can know what to look into.
If it all seems doable I may just make a go at it.

Well sort of.. cannabis actually needs very little water and even with experienced growers, over watering is an issue, if not THE issue. But the watering issue is compounded by growing these plants in relatively small pots. Growing in a pot stops your roots from stretching down to water reserves and instead concentrates roots at the surface where water quickly evaporates, this isn't how the plant wants to grow...you have to remember that these plants grow naturally with no human intervention. However with that said, strains acclimate within a single season and hybridized plants that have been taken down many generations are used to a greenhouse environment. Strains like og kush are then more susceptible to certain types of mold,they like more water and even heavier nutes. Some plants in fact requiring high fert levels in order to pump out frost and yield dense nugs...

But yes growing in Texas we've spent 100 days over 100°…might not see a measurable amount of rain for over a year...that's when farmers across the state are crying though..
But I grow landrace sativas that can handle pretty much anything I throw at them and have actually adapted to handle horrible droughts and the September rainy season. We can grow year round and they will survive the rare frost as well..

I've never had deer or insects of any kind on my bud but growing on an enclosed ranch so...

Your gonna have to do something to the existing soil.. till it as far down as you can. Ammend it as good as you can, your gonna want greensand and Epson. Magnesium is the most common deficiency and your gonna want those micronutes and potassium. The existing soil should be of decent ph. A little clay is good ...you can add those gel water absorbing crystals just in case it doesn't rain..


As a guerilla grower your objective should be to simply harvest a plant..
I can almost guarantee that it will grow as long as the seeds pop the surface. You need to watch rippers though.

The more love you give the better your yield and product

Some strains are used to being neglected. The thing about guerrilla, is that it's kind of a gamble, unless you really know your terrain.

you could use water polymers to help keep the soil moist. I use them in my container plants (annuals not ganja) and they work well. a couple tea spoons is all needed for bout every 5-8 gallons it will suck a lot of water in blow up in size and have the same consitancy of jello and release it slowly back into your soil.

Alright Qwiso That's a big help, thanks for that response. I was just starting to get brainstorming on a guerilla grow technique where potted plants are placed in a swamp, and the mix(usually promix) draws up the moisture as the plant needs it. This sounded like a huge hassle of a way to grow, although I'm sure with the right methods you can harvest huge yields. But you have convinced me that it may not be necessary to go that far to ensure the plants are well watered. Perhaps it would be good for me to try planting direct into soil in one location and attempting the swamp/pot technique in another.

One really big challenge with amending any soil is the bulk and weight of the ingredients that you would be needing to bring to your site. Perlite in my opinion is utterly out of the question for a truly remote grow. My thought for that is to use coco husk to loosen the soil. A product I have used and was impressed by is CocoGrow, it is a condensed coco husk product that is extremely dense and thus very portable. easily fluffs up into a huge volume with water.



I'm feeling slightly encouraged by the feedback. It definitely is a real challenge, but it can be overcome by the sounds of it. It sounds like the biggest obstacles are finding an appropriate strain, and finding the right location. Just finding a location that is completely untravelled and also has south facing sun exposure can be a big challenge.



The Swamp growing idea may catch on with me yet, there are three benefits provided by planting in/on a swamp.

-Complete sunlight, no trees grow in the soaked ground.

-No one ever goes into a swamp.

-If you place pots on the swamp, provided your soil mix has the right properties, you never need to water.

If I do try the swamp method I may be looking at travelling 600km to find my site, just took a look on google earth.

If anyone has any good strain recommendations or happens to have acclimatized genetics for either northern or southern Ontario, PM me, thank you.

I used this method for an outdoor automatic water system so I didn't have to walk in every day. I was close enough to check on it so it was more geared to outdoor apposed to guerilla. So take the following with a grain of salt.

I took a 12v car battery, hooked it up to little solar charger (about 5 amp) with a voltage regulator in-between so I didn't over charge the battery. With an outdoor timer I was able set up a water cycle once every 3-10 days. It varied through the spring and summer months. At the time I had a reservoir hooked up to a pond pump but in a guerilla application I would imagine one hooked up to a stream would do really well. Hiding the piping may be a bit of choir though.

If I was to use this system in a guerrilla I believe digging a hole and burring everything in a plastic container glued shut for moisture control, with the just the solar panel above ground and wire going down to the battery and regulator.

In outdoor grows I like to plant on a north facing hill to catch all the sun. Keep that in consideration when scouting.

Anyway you get the idea and hope you get a few from it. I hope to see you get a bomb ass harvest.
Again take it with a grain of salt....sometimes the best talks are the ones you get ideas from and hope I at least helped a little !

Happy toking

I live in australia so my info probably isnt that relevent but ur best bet is to get out there with a shovel when it jasnt rained in a while , youl find some areas hold lots of moisture in the soil and 15 metres away might be dry , also i find once my plants are well established they can go quite a while with out rain or watering , they seem to find theyre own

Thedillestpickle said:

Good to hear that it works for you. When I read about outdoor grows it seems watering is a big challenge.
You live in Texas, which I imagine is really dry throughout the summer, how do you overcome drought?


am I correct to think that watering is going to be the single biggest challenge?

I also worry that Deer will with absolute certainty find my plants and chomp down every single one... in which case overcoming drought won't do me any good. Are they really that hungry for weed?

Anyone with experience, give me the warnings as to what I'm up against, so that I can know what to look into.
If it all seems doable I may just make a go at it.

Click to expand...

I don't want to be the neigh sayer here and nature is perfectly capable of taking care of your plants for you... BUT in my experience deer love ganj. If you have even one deer around the will eat it all your crop before it even looks at anything else. Don't waste you're money on liquid fence or shotgun repellent they don't work. The only option is to fence them off. Any other questions I can help you with don't hesitate to ask. Good luck and happy growing brothers and sisters

Regarding deer eating your plants; I feel like its specific to your area. I've heard people say that deer decimated their crops, and that may be true. I've had deer tracks all over my plot and never lost so much as leaf.

The real problem I've had is rabbits, believe it or not. They'll eat small plants down to the stem and nibble the low lying branches off the plants. It got bad enough that I had to fence off the stems.

Blackvalor said:

Regarding deer eating your plants; I feel like its specific to your area. I've heard people say that deer decimated their crops, and that may be true. I've had deer tracks all over my plot and never lost so much as leaf.

The real problem I've had is rabbits, believe it or not. They'll eat small plants down to the stem and nibble the low lying branches off the plants. It got bad enough that I had to fence off the stems.

Click to expand...

second that rabbits are the bitches. and as far as deer. if your in a baron area with less food supply for the deer the yes they will eat your edible mj but preferably not.

That is interesting because I've even had a camera up one year and didn't see one rabbit ever even in the frame and I've heard a lot about ground hogs but they didn't give me any trouble. Maybe cause the deer got everything so quickly. For me they seem to prefer it

covert222 said:

That is interesting because I've even had a camera up one year and didn't see one rabbit ever even in the frame and I've heard a lot about ground hogs but they didn't give me any trouble. Maybe cause the deer got everything so quickly. For me they seem to prefer it

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Thank you for the help. I'm looking at possibly growing in a swamp. Where I live it is very hard to find land that isn't either cultivated or completely forested. Most small clearings are on private property, and the only other option to find a decent clearing, that is way out of the way, is a swamp; which will, at least, have the benefit of providing plenty of water to the roots.

I am certain there will be many many deer in this area that I have been looking at, i can only hope that the surounding vegetation will be enough to distract them.
I'm curious what kind of habitat you are having experience with deer eating all the plants? I'm going to have to consider the option of putting up fencing, it definately was never a thought until now. I will head warnings about rabbits and rodents getting at the plants however, because I plan to do 3 feet high chicken wire around the base of each pant.

as bad as deer and rabbits are (I am in your area) I have lost more from mice (eating around the stalk) and cutworms. growing outside your going to loose plants especially growing guerrilla with no daily control. it's best not to dwell on any one thing but be prepared for anything. weekly care is not a must but being able to care for the when young will help a lot. by the time they get a couple foot they generally are unstoppable for the season.

I have spent more time worrying than it was ever worth. making sure you have good plants started is the best measure you can take. the bigger and healthier they are when you put them out the better they are at surviving. you can't prepare for everything growing outdoors where you can not care daily, having well established plants to put outside is the single best thing you can do for their survival.

No watering...no maintenance equal no meds for your lazy ass to enjoy. If u don't wanna put in the work, don't expect nothing. Smoke your shwaggggg,....lol

It's easy as anything and far better than walking in every week leaving tracks to be found. Use rain crystals at the bottom of the hole, give it a good watering when you plant them and come back a week later for another water and you shouldn't need to water them again. If you want proof, check my sig or photo album and see how I've grown guerilla this season - the plants haven't been watered since I've planted them.

Look at how I've done the cage too - you might need a taller cage if you have lots of deer in the area but I live in New Zealand which is renown for large deer populations and I've never had them eat my plants though it could be different in America?.. I use 1 meter high green cages tied back to trees/branches to keep out Wallabies/Possums/Stoats etc that munch the bottom of your plants.

Grow a Malawi with rain crystals. no maintenance, basically no watering from second week onwards fo yo lazy ass lol. Put on the work at the start, expect a lot.
Smoke your trippy psychedelic resinous 2ft buds,....lol

I get 45 inches on average too by the way. Fully agree with Dopeydog.

Other people have mentioned it but I'll bring it up as well. Water retaining crystals are your friend. Just picked up 2 bags myself for the holes I'm amending. The stuff works wonders and is well worth the extremely cheap price of them.
Also if you want to take a low maintenance approach to them then stick them in ground, amended with water crystals. And topdress the first 2 inches or so with Osmocote. By mid season when the plants have really taken off I personally come back and topdress them again once a month. You can skip the re topdressing part if you REALLY want to. It'll only help. But do it at the initial planting and it should keep giving them a good dose of nutes for the first 2 months or so of veg.
Some people forget that these plants survived and thrived (worldwide) without man's intervention for a gorrilion years.

Second everything MG said. You can also dig fish bowl type holes at the bottom for a mini reservoir for the crystals. Do not put crystals on top though! I recently learnt my lesson not to because I found these white worm like bugs(mealy bugs?) crawling through it.

Malawi is highly drought resistant, you can go 6 weeks without any water and still thrive with the crystals. not to mention the rot resistance.