I have been a GG, for quite a few seasons now and the following always hold true:

Security- anywhere with dog walkers, generally is a no no. If you see rubbish and litter around, it's not a good sign. Rivers and fishermen are an issue, as alot of them have a taste for the green too. I use trial cam, drones to help me find a good spot, with security. Another trick is to leave something at the site and see if it's moved, stolen. Winter is normally a good time for exploring.

Sun- unless your getting 6 hours plus of direct light, it is a waste of time, also consider lower sun in September Vs other times of the Year.

Water- having a good source is good, but you can build good soil to help with retention levels. Don't let this be a deal breaker, your going to have to get off you ass and carry it in, or dig a pond if needs be.

Soil- this again is not a deal breaker and you can work the soil to achieve correct pH levels and nettles are an example of good soil. Bracken and brambles are other ok site locations.

Loose lips sink ships, most important rule of being a successful GG. Lots of resource online, hopefully my input helped you in some way.

Fisherman here laughing hard!!!!!

And the drone scouting 10/10 mate wp

Personally, do in a tent in house couple of plants no issues. if you serious get carbon fan going. my crops were soooo potent but no smell and just half a room of tent

+1 I carp fished totally trashed on most weekends during the 80s!

I think most fisherman use it as an excuse to get away from the better half... I mean connect with nature.

As a stoned angler I can attest to that. Our club recently got really chippy about someone (no idea who... ) smoking 'illicit substances' at the water. Messaged all members threatening expulsion for drinking or smoking on site. Didn't mention vapes though so thats a loophole as far as im, I mean the offender, is concerned

s'funny you should say that .....

A lot of people try it without staking a area correctly then are surprised when it’s pinched lol!

Some f#@kers are professional rippers, come out harvest time, looking for grows. They can put in just as much effect finding your garden as you, but without the growing. Normally people local to the area, I myself have found evidence of previous grows on my travels. Best sites are normally, ones grown at for Years, so once you got one, your sweet.

Watering is key in our opinion! Make sure you can walk in and out unseen and don’t change from ‘carried in water’ to Brook, river, canal .... also need AT LEAST 8 hrs direct sunlight !

UK420.com click on outdoor grows. You’ll meet same minded people on the forum.

Google maps sat view, hours of foot slogging and gps point recording, looking like a hiker, bird-watcher etc helps.

Getting harder each year as more "wild land" gets built on & more people do it! A lot of sites are compromised or the crop is stolen ...

I haven't done it for many years and it was hard enough then, if you are in the wilder areas of say Scotland & Wales it may be a little easier to find sites.

I've visited a few places and I'd agree, it's difficult to find a good spot away from the crowds and close to water. I considered finding a bramble jungle and hacking my way inside and clearing out a patch.

Just a quick one on leaving a trial to site, use one way in and another out. Nettles die down before best potency, bracken can be propped up with bamboo or fishing line, use low tensile strength, you don't want a rotting deer carcass near your site.

Also consider camo and face covering, surplus army supplies are the best gear, but real tree designs ect work ok. Also consider what time of day, when going to site, with local foot traffic.

Best of luck and pm, with any question, if needed.

So informative, but im crying imagining this in my baked mind..

Chronos going MacGuyver 10/10

and deers munching colas, that would be fun go watch (not if my grow) is LOL

Just got back from the first scouting mission, I visited two sites on the map. One was by a river bed, turned out to be a mega steep bank which I almost fell down and there was a sewage pipe close by (which stank) certainly not fit to grow near. The second was a wooded area next to a farm which was heavily fenced and didn't feel safe at all. I noticed some white plastic buckets so defo a no go. On the positive side, I saw a frikking Deer man! First time ever, it was a cool experience (gotta love nature). I'm up early tomorrow to go visit an area I've marked on the map close to a stream (hopefully freshwater) and no visible paths or farmland from satellite images. It's going to be a bit of a trek but it's next to a water source and hopefully a safer area. Will keep you all posted and thanks for all the guidance, I really apprecaite it.

Deers like green, especially the big colas (be warned) scent the site everytime you go. They normally stay away from, humans, so a good sign. I saw my first grass snake of the spring the other day, just chilling in the sun.
Glad your motivated, to get yourself your own private garden, good stuff, what do you plan on growing, strainwise?

6 areas I visited this weekend seem unsuitable, security and sunlight issues being the problem. Forest areas are providing the privacy but not enough light and more open areas are visible from footpaths. I've got a couple of sites to visit this weekend which are more remote, fingers crossed I find somewhere as all 22 of my beans germinated (nicccce).

Strains are:
Strawberry Cheesecake.
Lemon.
Alien Rock Candy.
Magnum.
White Widow.
Blueberry.

I love White Widow, nice selection btw.
Crack open Google maps, and try and find a unpopulated area, within say 10 miles of your area, if you drive.

Generally speaking, if you have large elevation or no point of interest in the area, people are less likely to wander. Stay away from residential areas, this should limit down you choices.

Once you have a few spots which tick the boxes, hit sat view tab and look for South facing areas on the edge of woodlands, think bracken, brambles, or even fallen trees and clearings.

Your auto selection, will not reach more than 1.4m and you may have to get creative, around the site to further improve security. Pulling bushes across animal tracks, moving fallen branches ect. What ever it takes.

I spent 2 Years scouting for my spots and you only need to hit the target once. Don't give up, you still have some time until the last frost, good luck and stay safe.

Just back from another scouting mission and I think I may have found a potential site. I wandered into the centre of a pine tree forest, these pines are quite young and havent grown to the point where they are blocking out too much light. The forest is surrounded by a public footpat but I found it quite difficult to push my way through, I hope will put off potential explorers. Occasionally the forest opened up to a clearing with lots of fallen dead pine trees that could be used as camo, no signs of activity and there are multiple points of entry and exit. My main concern here is water, wildlife and grow pots.

My plan was to bury them in the soil, but the ground is so uneven and full of dead wood I think my best bet would be to carry fabric pots in and fill them at the site and blend into the surroundings as best I can.

Water would have to be carried in, which I think will be acheivable.

And the wildlife, I'm thinking I could wrap the base of the fabric pot with chicken wire and hope it will provide a secure enough protection.

This opens up another concern as it would be clearly a pkint of interest for any passers by.

I quite like the idea of using a drone to scout potential sites and I have a few budgets ones in my amazon list.

After a few days of searching without any luck, today made things a bit more interesting...

My girls are still on the window sill and have shed their shells after only 1 day... nice.

Use around 50cm of chicken wire, roll into a cylinder shape and use bamboo to thread through to secure, abit like sewing. Leave 10cm to go into the ground.

Did you dig into the soil to see the make up?
Do you have a pH meter cheap one on Amazon around £10. Pine is acidic, so depending on soil type, may need potash to raise PH level, slightly.

Bear in mind auto's generally hate having roots messed with and I suggest using nursery bags, which lets them grow through, into existing soil. Fabric pots will need watering more often and defeats the point of natural growing. Build the soil, so you can obtain water retention from rain. Also, your half way there for next Year. Dead wood and leaves are the building blocks of life, how do you think the pines, grow so large? Also will act as mulch, further reducing watering. Look up Hugel culture.

If you get ripped, make them dig or cut, not just walk it half a mile away and harvest later, lol.

If newly planted pines, could be a managed sawmill nearby, especially if planted in rows.

Try the area, at different times of the week, to get an idea of public use. Are you at least 50m, from any path for smell, once flowering?

Glad you pushed through, good things come to those that want it.

Happy 420.

My shovel came today, going back to the site tomorrow evening to do a lil digging.

Friday nights used to be all about going out and getting boggled, now I'm out in the forest doing bits.

Planted some White Widow and Northern Lights today, at one of my sites, good day to be out in the sun.

Lovely, how many weeks till they mature? I read online that Northern Lights are perfect for the UK climate, what do you expect each plant to yield?

My ladies will be ready mid September onwards, probably mid October for WW, depending on the weather. NL is a monster strain, biggest I have had was 3m. Over 90g dried weight easy per plant for NL.

Critical going out this week, happy days.

Wow.... that's some plant. I had to get an oscillating fan yesterday as I noticed my ladies were getting tall and I heard a fan will strengthen the root? So glad I caught this in time ... god bless the internet.

Can't wait to hear how your ladies turn out!

Leggy sprouts are normally lack of light, but a fan does promote stronger stems, but also could just harden them off outside. Build up, starting a few hours a day.

A couple of the seedlings are resting on the side of the nursery bag, the weight of the leaves is pulling them down. I've got a 4 lamp T5 unit from the local hydro shop, and an oscillating fan, hopefully this should help get my girls in good shape before they get planted outside.... oh and I found a site! :D

Glad you got a site, in terms of the light, it will not harden them of to direct sunlight. Think of a sunbed, Vs a real tan, exposure to the sun thickens the leaves and will reduce transplant shock come, putting out.

if they're stretching too the light, drop it down if it won't torch them.

if indoors highly recommend nets and training them.

i got mad bud and lots of it like this

I didn't take any tools with me but the ground was strange in some areas it was really soft and wet and other areas it felt hard like wood, possibly tree roots. I prefer the idea of planting in the ground as they more easily blend into the surroundings.

I found another area in the centre of some felled trees, they were covered in moss and the branches intact. I had to climb through them and found a 5x5m area which seemed like decent ground to plant, I pinned this on my map.

Certainly more than 50m from any paths,I checked for any obvious sign of tracks and saw none. Although, I did notice I left a noticable track going in but maybe this is a good sign that it's never visited?

I checked out Hugelkulture and can confirm this place is riddled with dead wood and leaves. The logs I did step on (tried not to make any obvious signs I'd been there) just crumbled without any effort.

I'll do as you suggested and visit at other times of the day and next time I'll take a small shovel to dig into the ground.

The pines are indeed planted in rows and I saw an area with rows and rows of felled trees but the ones I explored were too young to be cut down, I'm sure.

Ph pen added to the shopping list, thanks for your help Chronus.

No problem mate, knowledge learned should be there to be shared. We all start somewhere.

When walking through plants ect, to site, get a stick, to move stems out the way. Cover your tracks and don't leave a trial.

I found anti-tracking military resources very useful, double back ect. Think escape and evade, make sure you have an escape route, which is awkward to follow and gives you some distance. Also if possible, work on your physical fitness, your going to need it.

Do not park your car, same place, same time, ever week, mix it up. Also use props when scouting, compass, bird book ect, blend in. Camo should be suited to environment.

Don't light up at site, and try to keep visits to bare minium, nature will take care of the rest.

A survival shovel, or short handled one, with pick and knife are useful (folding karambit, preferred).

Forgot to say, don't take your phone, with GPS on- to site, maybe just me, but better safe than sorry. Always best to get a feel for who is about, prior to going to your site, walk the parameter, if unsure.

Yes that's the way... nettle patches are good too & indicate decent soil. Plenty of info on guerilla grow methods online 8)

That is pretty much how we did it. In the brambles every time. Nobody in their right mind would crawl through fox tunnels and nettles.... except us that is.

There;s nothing like the anxiety of driving home with a boot full of bin bags of fresh weed. "Patching" became quite an art for us during the 90's. Living in the far South West we never had too much of a problem in finding an overgrown paddock or bit of wild land away from prying eyes. I haven't bothered for years as it can take a lot of effort and not always pay off - I know many people just grow a couple openly in their gardens or a greenhouse now - nobody seems that fussed about getting caught these days.
Our routine went like this:
*Find a patch in the winter - lot of light exposure whilst being very private and difficult to access, crawl in through fox tunnels etc and cause minimum disturbance.It's a bonus of there is a stream nearby.
* Prep the soil or smuggle in growbags (this can work great) and put up a rabbit fence.
* Start your plants at home in window or greehouse then outside in soil pots - don't put them in your patch until they are at least 8inches high and showing some vigorous growth.
* Visit weekly or more if needed
* Only ever visit at night - always have an alibi ready
* If successful crop on site
* Try not to get too upset when all that hard work only got you some spindly, mouldy buds that taste like lawn cuttings.

Early Pearl, Early Girl, Durban Poison all worked OK - many others didn't flower in time or finish flowering before the damp comes and ruins all your all work, many didn't survive storms, dry spells or deer and rabbits, but mine never got found. It's a lot of hard work and stress if I'm honest and more a labor of love than profitable. You need to be growing dozens and dozens of plants across multiple patches to make money and that is a lot of hard work and bramble scratches. Good luck and happy smoking.

I have done numerous outdoor for personal use. The best places to do is on the edge of the motorways but not too close if you live anywhere nearby. And I wouldn’t put loads in one area that’s how they get found or stolen best to scatter them in different areas. Also you need to prepare the soil and think if slag repellents and also deers love to eat them too

We had a little project going last year born out of curiosity.

I have put a link to the thread below mate. Very addictive once you get started lol :)

I've been growing autoflows in my garden for the past couple of years (up to 6-7 at a time). They don't grow very big and can easily be hidden depending on what's already growing in your garden, fences height, etc... I never found the smell to be too strong for some reason while it's growing. Only problem is keeping the plants dry, wish we had a Spanish weather! Last year, I managed to grow around 200g of decent enough weed. But now I've discovered LB, I don't know if I can go back to homegrown!

In France for example, I know people grow weed in the middle of corn fields, pretty discreet as long as the gendarmes don't take the chopper out! Maybe you know a 420 friendly farmer around you who could spare a few square metres against some bud?

I have some auto beans in a glass of water in the sun and a couple have already cracked. Paper towel next then pulp cups, but I think I'll need a site readied in a couple of weeks at least. I've pinned a few wooded areas that are adjacent to a south facing river bank, I'll update once I've been to visit.

Grows near farms and golf courses, can suffer from water pollution, meaning non- organic. Plus vivid green in a corn field is easy to spot from the air. I spotted my grow on Google maps a few seasons ago.