From Seed to Weed

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Story Published: Jul 24, 2009 at 5:34 PM PST

By Chelsea Kopta

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BURBANK -- A marijuana bust that roped more than 100,000 plants, worth more than $200 million. It's an operation that doesn't happen overnight.

It happens in five months.

And its down to a science.

"This is from an organization, like the Mexican Cartel," Walla Walla Sheriff, Mike Humphrey's said.

Mexican mafia start in late February, nurturing seeds indoors to kick-start the growth.

In March, the dope's transplanted to fiber farms outside. A few people set to work planting hundreds of thousands of seedlings, which they fertilize, set near a water source and plant in stages.

"There's also camps set up in some of these plots," Humphreys said.

Guerilla growers often set up camps. Pictures from the Walla Walla Sheriff's Office show makeshift tents with tarps and trash. It's there where they stand guard, water and wait.

Harvest is in August. The plants have budded. Growers cut the stalks, hang them upside down in trees and let dry a few days. Pull them too late, they'll be brittle. Pull too early, they'll mold, like thousands of stalks found last year in Yakima.

Once the buds are just right, growers clip the leaves, the stem, and bud, package the marijuana in bundles and eventually put it in baggies.

So how did these criminals grow the marijuana for so long undetected? The weed was hidden deep in the fiber forest and far beneath the tree branches. Deputies said they scouted an approximate location after they found about 35,000 plants last month.

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