Читать книгу Marijuana Horticulture Fundamentals - K of Trichome Technologies - Страница 19
ОглавлениеSome states in the USA have drug-free zone laws dictating severe penalties for persons possessing or growing marijuana, medical or otherwise, in a given proximity to schools. Investigate the laws in your location.
Consider consulting a medical marijuana lawyer (consult the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML; norml.org) or Americans for Safe Access (ASA; safeaccessnow.org) to find one. It will give you peace of mind and inform you of the law and your plant limits.
Never possess firearms. For “possession of a firearm while committing a felony” you could be sentenced to five years in prison for one gun. Be positive that you have no warrants or unpaid parking or moving violation tickets. Do not have parties, guests, or unacceptable noise at your grow location that might disturb neighbors, causing them to call law enforcement. Sometimes, you are guilty by association. Do not have criminal friends.
Whether you choose to grow in your basement, spare bedroom, outbuilding, or outside in your backyard, prying eyes are a serious concern. Being able to bring growing supplies and materials in and out of the location without your neighbors or anyone else wondering what you are doing—or worse, knowing exactly what you’re doing—is paramount. Preferably, the area should be quiet and private, with a buffer zone between your grow area and public access.
A legal California medical marijuana garden. The posted signs denote that it has been recommended by a physician.
Photo: K
Electrical availability is the most important factor in choosing a location. Do not overload circuits and make sure there is more available power than you need. Also, it is imperative that your location have a building code-compliant electrical system. No substandard wiring can be tolerated. All outlets, fixtures, timers, etc. must be heavy duty, grounded, and installed by a professional. If you are not capable, then consult a licensed qualified electrician or educate yourself at your local hardware store and library—look for basic electrical books.
Remember: inspected fire extinguishers properly rated for electrical and structural fires may someday save your life. Buy many of them and place them in the critical areas of the building.
The location of your power meter is also a big issue. You want the meter to be in a secure location away from public view and law enforcement. At the same time, you must grant easy access to the meter reader without having them walking past your growing area, which risks arousing suspicions of your activity and may cause you big legal problems.
Light leaks can tell everybody what you are doing; you can’t have the windows of your house, basement, or outbuilding illuminate every time you access the growing area. Stop all light leaks! Keep lights on in the daytime and off at night. If possible, avoid detectable (thermal-imaging) hot spots. If you must keep your lights on at night for temperature reasons (i.e., winter nights get very cold), utilize a good heater to maintain constant temperature and use a thermal shield along with your insulation in your wall construction.
While it seems funny, this note, which was left on the door of a largescale grow in California, caused a complete tear down of the operation which ultimately cost over $250,000 and led to significant delays in production. Keep your work discreet.
Getting a note like this in your mailbox will cause big problems. A friend received this little note when he showed up at his grow facility one morning! It caused complete pandemonium and a complete shutdown of all growing activities at a cost of $250,000 to the operation. The cause? Smell! Filtration was neglected and trace odors escaped the building during harvest.
You must have excellent ventilation possibilities, ideally access to the roof or areas where you are able to draw in and exhaust vent air—preferably a place not visible to passersby. Do not vent growroom air to an insecure area with public access. All incriminating odors must be eliminated, period! Your growing area must have slightly more air going out than in, creating a negative pressure so errant smells will not escape. All air must be filtered with carbon / charcoal filters (covered in the chapter on ventilation). Ozone generators kill unwanted smells and in return create their own smell; they are sometimes useful outside of growrooms.
Note, however, that you do not want to place ozone generators in the growing area because they will greatly diminish the final smell / flavor of your buds. Also, it is wise to place urinal cakes in the final exhaust duct to eliminate trace odors. Again, you must eliminate all odors—many a search warrant has been granted on the grounds of smell alone.
Cannabis is just another crop; it is a great companion to all of the other plants in your garden.
Photos: K
Lofty expectations.
Excessively moist or heavily insect-infested areas are unacceptable places in which to grow. Dehumidifying a large area can be difficult and expensive for the beginner, and even if you have taken great precautionary measures, if the surrounding areas are infected with insects and molds it is almost inevitable they will migrate into your garden someday!
Eliminate the possibility of any and all water leaks and spills. Water leaks and spills have been the downfall of many growers. Downstairs neighbors can call landlords. Water can cause electrical shorts, fires, high humidity, and mold.
Many unlikely devices, such as an early-warning water leakage system or a perimeter sensor alarm system, can be utilized for your purposes. There are many out there, and they work for indoor and outdoor settings. Some good ones include the Swann Security monitoring system, the Campers Alert portable detection system, a good quality water detection system, and an all-weather motion-detection camera in either 35mm or digital. These are just three simple things that could help you avoid problems. The first will alert you (but not your neighbors) to a water problem. The others will alert you to intruders, human or animal.
Ventilation intake and controls.
Photo: Freebie
Eliminate or minimize all noises. Place rubber mounts on all fans and moving equipment. Place condensed foam under all ballasts to reduce buzzing noise. For small gardens, inline fans are much quieter than others. Place all ballasts in a separate, designated room, vented to avoid heat buildup.
Never steal power or water! This will make you a thief and a criminal. Never show or tell anybody about your plants—trust no one! Do not put marijuana grow-related waste or evidence of it into your garbage; once you place your garbage out for pickup it becomes public property and anybody can search through it to gather evidence against you. This means plastic baggies, stems, rolling utensils, and so on: all of it must be separated and disposed of properly at your local landfill or secure disposal site.
Chambered grow operation with ventilation, air filtration, and security systems visible.
Photo: Freebie
Growing equipment and literature must not be sent to a marijuana growing location and should not be paid for or addressed in your name. Stay away from other growers. Do not telephone growing supply stores. Do not telephone or e-mail other growers or online grow sites. Instead, seek out the information you need online without contacting the sites, and then buy (with cash) what you need from a growing supply or hardware store. Alternately, mail order to different addresses: be creative, safe, and smart.
Above all, use common sense. If your basement floods every winter, don’t grow there. If your neighbor is an angry police officer who hates you, don’t grow at home! When considering a location, ask yourself if you can withstand close scrutiny there. Do you belong? Will people who drive past or see you come and go ask themselves what you’re doing there? And will they wonder if what you are doing might be illegal? These are some of the many factors you must consider when building your growroom / garden. Every situation and location is different. Each will have unpredictable nuances, good and bad. Ultimately, you must choose! Hopefully, this information will help you make the right decisions.
Place ballasts in a separate, designated room, vented to avoid heat buildup.
Photos: Freebie
The electrical system controls are located outside of the grow space.
Think safe, be safe.
