# Pot Grow Site? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 21, 2023, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-grow-site/990499 "2023-09-21T19:56:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Petek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/petek/32/1590_2.png) [@Petek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petek)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-grow-site/990499/1 "2023-09-21T19:56:00Z")
See the following address in Google Maps: [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9129541,-123.4589121,80m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu) Is this a pot grow site? The location is in Mendicino county, a known center for such sites. If not, what is it? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-grow-site/990499/2 "2023-09-21T20:01:44Z")
If it is, there’s a bunch of other ones in the intimidate area. But I’m guessing it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-grow-site/990499/3 "2023-09-21T20:27:32Z")
But, my guess is greenhouses with the plastic laying next to them ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-grow-site/990499/4 "2023-09-21T20:30:27Z")
It probably is. Mendocino County is in the heart of the “Emerald Triangle” and has had pot farms that have been in place for decades (in fact, at one point the sheriff of Mendocino County kept a “registration” list of growers so he could add extra patrols to protect them during harvest). Since legalization, the number has grown. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-grow-site/990499/5 "2023-09-21T20:47:54Z")
That’s what it looks like to me. The white plastic covers next to the rows are to regulate the hours of sunlight. Pot plants outside will go into the flowering stage when daylight is about 12 hours of light, 12 hours of night. Covering them sooner will trigger that change. Also note the lack of outbuildings or farm equipment. Whatever is being grown there will be harvested and proccessed elsewhere. They ain’t growing strawberries. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-grow-site/990499/6 "2023-09-22T01:05:23Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > If it is, there’s a bunch of other ones in the intimidate area. Best for the timid to stay away. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-grow-site/990499/7 "2023-09-22T02:46:52Z")
Option B would be a starter bed for tree seedlings? It seems oddly well organized and tidy for a pot grow-op; plus, if it’s plainly visible on Google Maps, it’s not exactly a secret from the feds, is it? ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-grow-site/990499/8 "2023-09-22T05:14:25Z")
Yeah, those are light dep greenhouses. We’re just at fall equinox, when if the plants were being grown as pure outdoor they’d be just going into flower now. Light dep greenhouses allow the grower to turn out multiple staged crops in a single summer. Friend of mine builds these things for a local company down in southern Oregon. ---
**Author:** ![Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/section_maker_jupe/32/1424_2.png) [@Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Section_Maker_Jupe)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-grow-site/990499/9 "2023-09-22T05:27:09Z")
With the price dropping still, just as likely some nice tasty tomatoes, or other specialty kitchen crop! ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-grow-site/990499/10 "2023-09-22T08:25:40Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > It seems oddly well organized and tidy for a pot grow-op; plus, if it’s plainly visible on Google Maps, it’s not exactly a secret from the feds, is it? The Feds don’t care. They are generally not enforcing the laws against marijuana production, distribution, or possession in the jurisdictions that have legalized it. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-grow-site/990499/11 "2023-09-22T22:57:20Z")
Secret burial trenches for Administration opponents. Or a production site for making chemtrails. You people are _so_ naive. ☠ 🥷 🕵️‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2023, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-grow-site/990499/12 "2023-09-23T19:12:02Z")
> [@eschrodinger](#): > > The Feds don’t care. They are generally not enforcing the laws against marijuana production, distribution, or possession in the jurisdictions that have legalized it. No body cares. In legal grow states the cartels from Mexico have just started to grow here. Gets rid of the smuggling across the border issue. The products are sent to non-legal states. Pot is essentially worthless in a legal state. Sure, you pay for it when you go to a store, but you can just grow your own. Here in Oregon you can grow 4 mature plants, which is enough for you, your family, and your freinds. Probably 10 lbs if you are any kind of gardener at all. And the state and feds are finding illegal grows all of the time. This is just one quick example: [Massive illegal cannabis operation busted across two Oregon counties, over 6,000 plants seized | KTVL](https://ktvl.com/news/local/massive-illegal-cannabis-operation-busted-across-two-oregon-counties-over-6000-plants-seized) Resistance is futile. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-grow-site/990499/13 "2023-09-25T14:07:42Z")
State authorities in legal states do care about illegal grow sites, as they are attempting to bypass state taxes…i.e. bootleg pot. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-grow-site/990499/14 "2023-09-25T17:45:53Z")
Is there any concern about the forest which has been cleared for this operation? The map doesn’t say much, but there is a label for a state forest preserve a little ways to the east. I am definitely naïve, but it seems pretty isolated to be for ordinary crops. I guess that is the point that @Dallas_Jones was making above. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-grow-site/990499/15 "2023-09-25T20:38:42Z")
The state and federal government are finding illegal grows all of the time. But there isn’t a lot of resources put into this effort like there used to be. In the past these grows would have been obvious from the air and dealt with by raids and publicised on TV. But running helicopters is expensive. So they are mostly ignored. Thousands of plants are found and destroyed each year. The pot grown is exported to states that are not yet legal. It is much easier when there are no borders to cross, but the same people are running these grows. Mostly the drug cartels. There is quite a glut of oversupply now. The remaining illegal pot states do not have a chance when every U-Haul truck on the road may be hauling a fortune in pot. The effort to control the growing of pot is not really worth the trouble. I live in rural Oregon and can drive around the back roads and see many gardens growing their allowed four plants or more. It is everywhere. Regulation does not exist. No one is coming around to count your pot plants or weigh the amount that you have on hand. The last time a sheriff drove up my driveway to ask about a neighbor all he said was, “nice plants.” There are better things for law enforcement to be working on. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-grow-site/990499/16 "2023-09-25T21:47:34Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > There is quite a glut of oversupply now. The remaining illegal pot states do not have a chance when every U-Haul truck on the road may be hauling a fortune in pot. We have a problem now here in RI. There are 3 or 4 licensed retailers (hard to tell how many are actually operating) and more than twice as many licensed growers. One grower is in trouble now for not registering all their plants and they failed to disclose an owner. Prices have dropped but I think they’ve bottomed out since none of the outlets seems to be raking in big bucks. For those willing to travel all the way across the eastern border and into MA, about 1/2 mile drive for me, there are a lot of outlets running sales.