A place that is known around the world for it's wine vineyards is on the map today for growing another kind of plant.
A California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection survey team came across a marijuana grow on the property of Korbel Winery property last week. They contacted the winery who then contacted police. Officials destroyed all 103 plants this morning on the Guerneville property.
The grow site was a quarter-mile up a mountain fire road, sheriff's Sgt. Michael Raasch told Bay City News.
Raasch says the growers cut down more than a dozen 60-foot redwood trees so that their 100 plus plants could get some sun. The grow spread across a 2,000-square-foot area.
It sounded like a pretty low-tech operation. The plants were being grown in 50-gallon plastic bags of potting soil. Raach said the growers made their own dam with tarps and rocks to get water to the plants. They also put up a spider web-like, eight-foot-high fence of plastic fishing line to prevent entry into the garden, Raasch said. Deputies cut down the fence so animals would not become entangled.
Nobody suspected growers or garden tenders were found.
"It's such a lucrative business," Raasch said. "They know they'll lose some gardens but not all of them."
Now that the pot is gone, it's up to Korbel to clean up the trash. They are working this week to put things back as nature intended.
