Police: Pot plants bloom large in Delco

Turns out it's not just a great growing season for tomatoes. The wonderful weather also has been good for illegal pot plants.

Newtown Township police in Delaware County said Friday they had hauled in about 20 10-foot marijuana plants found growing on public land.

After receiving an anonymous tip, police went into the woods in the Florida Park section of the township early Friday in search of the cache of illegal plants, Detective John Newell said.

"Did you see the size? We didn't need a drug dog to find this," Newell said of the large and leafy vegetation. He said that the plants would have yielded a crop worth about $10,000 on the street and would have been ready to pick in late September or October.

"Just like tomatoes, if you buy the right feed, you get good plants," he said.

This is not the first time police have found contraband pot growing in open space, he said.

"We usually find them every summer," Newell said. In the past, state police have spotted illegal mini-groves from helicopters, he said.

Newell said police often receive tips about illegal marijuana plants and arrive to find only stems.

The marijuana was taken to the township yard and destroyed.

"We just burned it," Newell said. "Threw gas on it and buried it."