The Most Creative Places to Grow Cannabis

While some of us have the luxury of growing cannabis in dedicated tents, makeshift grow rooms, greenhouses, or outdoors in the garden, others are much more limited in where they can grow. Cultivators seeking extreme stealth often opt for guerrilla growing—the act of raising weed plants away from one’s own property. These locations often include forest openings, secluded meadows and fields, and sometimes even abandoned gardens and greenhouses. However, some growers have taken guerrilla growing to the extreme, raising cannabis crops in some of the most unlikely, and at times highly risky, places.

Below, you’re going to discover the five most creative places people have grown weed in the past. While we don’t advise copying them, the information presented will certainly help to get your own creative cogs turning.

What Do You Need to Grow Weed?

The sheer amount of information surrounding cannabis cultivation can make the feat seem complex and difficult. In reality, it takes nothing more than the bare minimum to achieve a good harvest. You’ll need seeds or clones to kickstart your growth, as well as some good-quality potting soil and some containers. You’ll also need to make sure your plant receives enough nutrients, lighting, and water to grow and thrive.

There you have it—growing weed really isn’t that difficult. With just a few supplies to hand, you can cultivate this plant almost anywhere. The fact that it requires so little to churn out a respectable harvest means it’s possible to grow the herb even in less-than-ideal spaces. That’s good news if cultivating in a grow room or garden simply isn’t an option.

The 5 Most Creative Places to Grow Weed

If you need some inspiration on how to grow weed secretly, next up we’re going to take a look at some of the most creative growing locations used by past growers. Again, none of these places are recommended owing to the huge risk involved, but they will serve as inspiration to get your brain ticking.

• Cold War Bunker

Among the most secret places to grow cannabis, a Cold War bunker certainly ranks as the most unusual. Granted, these places are considerably hard to find, but growers of the past have demonstrated their grift in pulling off this gobsmacking feat.

Back in November 2013, police officers discovered a 400-plant cannabis operation worth £650,000 in the Drakelow Tunnels on the outskirts of Kidderminster in the United Kingdom. The network of tunnels served as a headquarters for local government leaders in the event of a nuclear attack in the Cold War era. While growing cannabis in such a dark and concealed location might seem impossible to many, the cultivators responsible for this operation created a secret grow room consisting of hydroponics equipment, heating, lighting, and ventilation.

• Next to a Police Station

Growing weed next to a police station might seem like an incredibly low-IQ move. However, if the words of Pippin from the Lord of the Rings are anything to go by, then “The closer we are to danger, the farther we are from harm”. While not always the case, there certainly is something to the strategy of pulling off the unexpected when trying to remain undetected. This location makes transporting equipment to and from a site very risky, but some growers have attempted to make it work.

Despite ultimately failing at their attempt, growers in Plymouth, England set up a cannabis farm directly behind their local police station. Local officers discovered the site in April 2015 and seized 146 plants with an estimated worth of £60,000, dried cannabis worth £30,000, and grow lights. While this operation failed, who knows how many others have chosen to cultivate in close proximity to the authorities.

• Abandoned Churches

Some growers have taken it upon themselves to grow cannabis in abandoned churches. One famous case comes out of the nation of Costa Rica, where growers set up shop in a recently closed evangelical church, keeping the sign in place to give the appearance of an operational building. However, their lack of effective odour control led to a police raid and the discovery of 226 marijuana plants and 8kg of processed and packaged flowers.

Abandoned churches might seem like a good place to set up a secret grow room, but we don’t advise this approach. First, these buildings are often frequented by urban explorers who could possibly steal your crop or report the operation to the police. Second, abandoned churches are often protected and listed buildings. Accidentally causing damage during your grow could land you in even bigger trouble than just growing a few plants alone.

• Disused Railway Tunnels

Dark, damp, draughty, and spooky, disused railway tunnels aren’t exactly the most pleasant of places to raise a crop of weed. However, their lack of appeal also minimises the chances of getting caught by anyone who isn't a cave-lurking enthusiast. Although creative and covert, this setting provides a major problem: it’s incredibly dark and almost certainly doesn't have functional electricity lines. Thus, you’re going to have to rely on a noisy and expensive generator to run your lights, which will drastically compromise the clandestine nature of your operation.

While it seems almost impossible to pull off, a group of growers did it in Wales in December 2012. Under the guise of a legal mushroom-growing business, four men put together five large secret growing rooms in the disused Faenol tunnels under the Menai Business Park in Bangor. Their operation turned over an estimated £1.5–2 million annually before being shut down.

• Country Manors

Light, airy, spacious, and quaint, country manors are the antithesis of disused railway tunnels. If you’re lucky enough to come across an empty one, you’ll have a plethora of indoor rooms and a bunch of garden space to choose from to raise plants. Some of these sites will likely also have abandoned greenhouses and other garden infrastructure ready and waiting. A group of English growers managed to put together a £5.2 million cannabis farm in a Grade-II listed mansion in the county of Cumbria. Again, country manors might seem hidden, but they’re also in the scope of urban explorers and curious hikers.

Get Creative With Weed Growing

There you have it—you’re by no means limited to secret grow rooms in your house or covert corners of your garden when growing weed! There are endless options out there for the guerrilla growers, from isolated pieces of land to abandoned buildings and transportation infrastructure. With that said, we don’t recommend mimicking the examples above, as cultivation in all of these settings has been met with the firm hand of the law. Instead, use them as a creative inspiration to open up your horticultural horizons!