Sadly we have to worry about security to grow a simple plant that has been on this earth since long before man set foot on it. About 70 years ago Prohibition started in the United States of America, Land of the Free. Today this crazy, paranoid prohibition has progressed and it is necessary to grow gardens in secure locations.
Security has several facets and levels. First you must restrict access to your garden. Do this by securing the perimeter around the grow house or wherever the garden is located. You will need to control everything and everybody that enters and exits the area in proximity to the garden. You can have visitors in your home, but always keep the garden under lock and key to restrict access. Make sure there are no telltale signs ofgrowing, the most obvious ofwhich are fragrance, light leaks, noise, and growing supplies or debris.
External forces could be tipped off to the garden's existence by your telling others about the garden; telephone conversations; tracking you home from hydroponics stores, other grow houses, or dealers' houses; lifestyle; computer data tracking; and thermal imaging devices. Choose your friends and romantic partners carefully. Most often security breaches are the result of a jealous or vindictive friend, lover, or partner. Many times these friends and partners are pressured by police to turn you in.
Security Hit List
• Never tell anybody about any garden
• Never show your garden to anyone!
• Do not throw out any garbage that could prove
that you grow
• Never have seeds or grow products sent directly
to your home
• Do not visit other grow houses, wild parties,
real criminals, etc.
• Take a friend's car or have a friend take you to
the grow store, and go seldom
Thermal Image Technology Thermal image technology is illegal in the USA as a means to secure a search warrant, but in Canada, Holland, and other countries authorities fly grids over urban areas to look for possible growers. Nonetheless, thermal image technology is seldom a problem for small growers who use less than 2000 watts of light.
Larger growers outwit thermal imaging devices by keeping lights on during daylight hours to confuse the technology. They further safeguard their grow operation by cooling exhaust air and expelling it under a well-insulated grow house so it does not leave a heat trail. Learn more about thermal imaging at http://en. wikipedia.org/wikiiThermography.
More Security Details
Call grow and seed stores from a secure or remote telephone Pay all bills and make all purchases with cash Pay for mail-order merchandise with a money order
Use a digital camera to take photos of your garden. Do not use a film camera!
Have a guard dog
Buy a fire extinguisher rated to put out wood, paper, grease, oil, and electrical fires
Unload grow supplies a little bit at a time or from within a locked garage
Put the telephone, electricity, garbage, etc., in a friend's name
Grow in a rented home
Eliminate light leaks Make Internet postings that may incriminate you from a "safe" computer via a proxy server