In a panic right now and don't know what to do. I'm currently 4 weeks into flower on my first grow......journal is in my signiture. I have been insanely careful, own my home, told no one. I have a personal grow, 6 plants in a 4x4 in a secret room that I built in my basement, using a 600W HPS. I am in Canada and live a few miles south of a military base, so air traffic is nothing new. Tonight at 4am, as I was about to go to bed, I heard a helicopter which was much loader than usual. I looked out my window and it was flying quite low, and directly at my house......he flew directly overhead and continued on, no big deal. Until he circled back again......and again.......and again.....I counted 12 laps, each time with him flying directly overhead. He was so low, and making so much noise, that a few people on my block stepped outside to see what was going on. I live in a very quiet, upper middle class neighbourhood. On the 3rd or 4th final lap, the pilot stopped and hovered even lower over a house directly across the street. He wasnt shining a spotlight, but there was a red and green light (one on each side of the chopper). He hovered there for at least a couple of minutes, it looked like the helicopter was facing away from my house, but I cant be certain. After this, he gained altitude, did 2-3 more identical laps, and then took off, back towards the city, AWAY from the miltary base....definitely not a military chooper, is was the cops for certain. I am not a paranoid person and this is not paranoia.....before this event, I have been coo and calm, and didn't even consider my small grow to be a very big risk due to all of my precautions. My biggest risk is likey posting here on GC....I'm starting to wonder if that is a good idea. What do I do? Do I abort? Immediately? After the second or third lap, I killed the light and fan. I use a carbon scrubber and vent out my dryer vent. Please let me know what I should do.....I am totally freaking out!
You are fine, you have taken the necessary precautions to avoid detection, and your grow is to small to create a big enough heat signature. Plus it is in your basement, thermal cameras are not that powerful.
I'm still not feeling too great about things....no idea why a helicopter would have hovered around my house for so long.....no search light so they weren't looking for anything......I'm going to keep a close eye out, anything else suspicious and I'm pulling the plug.
There is no reason for them to use a helicopter to scout your house. Possibly for a raid but your front door would have been busted wide open with a swat team storming in. Small little personal grows only get caught when you start to talk or you don't control the stink. But you have both of those covered.
Thanks for the comments, makes me feel a little better. It's a he'll of a coincidence, that's for sure. There's a major highway next to my subdivision, so I'm hoping he was just doing laps I've the highway looking for something and just happened to pass over my routes on his loops. Having a chopper low over my house for almost an hour was terrifying. I killed my lights and fan just to be safe....I figured my grow was small enough not to worry, but last night was insane!
He could have been doing laps looking for drunk drivers, or stolen cars. And i understand your worry, one night i was out on my porch enjoying a joint in complete darkness, it was really late like 1ish. I am already pretty high and i think i hear a lady talking, but i just dismissed it as my imagination because it was so faint. Well it started getting closer and closer and i am petrified with fear, i mean who goes for walks at 1:30 in the morning? She finally came into view and its this middle aged lady talking on a cell phone. I could have sworn i head her say to the person on the phone that she could see me. Freaked me out but i am alright if anything i just keep a closer eye out. And this was when i just started my first small grow
I hope your right. I was baked to the gills when it happened which definitely escalated my panic level!
The red and green lights are night time anti collison lights. Usualy when thier flying in a circular pattern in one area their looking for someone.
Thanks tplat. I thought so too at first, but they weren't using a spotlight or anything .....the fact that they passed directly over my house on each pass while flying low was what made me suspicious, and them hovering low over a neighboring house for about 2 minutes.
They were facing away from my house at that point, but still very strange and unnerving....especially at 4 am. No cop car traffic anywhere, I live in a sleep suburb.
I can't even imagine how much that made you panic, I would have been the same way. Most likely you just happened to be nearby when they were looking for something. Did you slowly ease into your grow so it wouldn't show up as a red flag on your electric bill?
didnt know they look for drunk drivers in a helicopter... that would sketch me out to but as long as its not real hot in your grow room you should be good... lol as i hear helicopter! the heat usually dissipates when being transfered to the vent leading outdoor so even the hot heat pulled out of your room should be cool when i reaches outdoor. why dont you call the police department and say what the fuck is going on? maybe they'll tell you.. if not, you may start to worry!
If they didnt have a spotlight going they were probably using FLIR looking for someone. I live in a medical marijuana state and near a hospital and we have helicopters fly over all the time day and nite. Your only running 600 watts, the amount of heat generated is less then your toaster oven.
ya man, you're fine. If they were lookin to bust you, they would have grabbed you right then and there. Don't kill em!
Thanks for the comments guys......the stoned and paranoid comment is unwarranted I feel though. Freaking out about a random helicopter overhead would be paranoid.....concern over a helicopter doing 12 laps directly over my house at low altitude at 4am and then hovering over my house is justified in my mind, regardless of the size of my grow. I am going to proceed with caution while keeping a close eye out for anything suspicious. Thanks again guys!
I'm wondering if I should vent inside my house rather than through my dryer vent from now on to be safe.....I'm 5 weeks into flower though, so humidity and mold might. Scone issues if I go this route.