Outdoor helicopter evasion

[phrike]

you should be fine, i would think the spotters are looking for trees, your training has totally changed the classic look of the plants. once the bags are camoed you should be fine. it is hardly worth their time to come at you for 3 plants. i'm sure they would get laughed at if they used a chopper to bust some one with 3 plants.

best of luck to you hope you can share some pics when they are done.

I have to think there are at least some savvy pot spotters who understand training.

Yes, on the one hand, this is Canada and many much larger plots are found, and I suspect nothing would be done if just 3 were spotted (although they'll be reasonably big).

On the other hand, I've heard they might submit all finds, even small ones, into a database, and let the local cops decide if anything should be done or not. I think there is always the possibility that some cops could be bored and have nothing better to do than a knock and talk at least.

Further, if a neighbor saw them, they might complain to police and the cops might feel they should check it out.

So, better safe than sorry, and a little paranoia/anxiety/camouflage seems appropriate.

Here are individual shots of the 3 plants:







Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[Phedrosbenny]

"Outdoor helicopter evasion" videogame coming soon........

 

[Space Toker]

I've seen a couple of videos posted (sadly I don't remember where) that highlighted what the 'copter spotters are looking for.

Basically, anything that doesn't belong in the woods. Examples they highlighted were:

Patterns. As mentioned above, rows or regular repeated patterns.

Great post. I am wondering about the patterns thing though. Say you plant in groups of 3. You can only have rows (albeit short ones) or triangles, ie. regular patterns. If you alternate 3 and 4 plants per spot, still there are a limited number of combinations before you have, you guessed it, regular patterns. So can you please give examples on how to avoid patterns?

Also, I do not live in areas that have these big steep ledges or canyons or whatever, and nowhere around me is a day's walk from something. What would the creative or clever outdoor planter do in that situation?

 

[RetroGrow]

No way they will spot 3 plants!
However, I still recommend anti-aircraft guns.

 

[mobudda]

The easy solution is to use autoflower plants so you don't have to be flowering during the normal window which is probably the only time they come out.

Plus WHAT ARE YOU THINKING growing on your own property ? Your nation is 10 times less densely populated and comparable in size to the US.... grow off your property or grow inside. Bury a shed underground and run power to it ANYTHING but growing on your own property.

If you must then hide the plants in bushes, but I wouldn't mess with FLIR. Certainly wouldn't have black plastic bags around my plants like that. If you seriously had helicopters hovering over your plot don't you think maybe growing on your own propertly isn't the smartest idea anymore ? Really.. buy a tent or a SHED and grow there instead. How hard is it to grow in a shed and just pay a little in electric ? I can understand if you have kids and can't grow in your house, but there are still options. Autoflower should make you pretty hard to spot but you know you have to plant more of them and they are less potent. I'd grow inside a shed before I went autoflower, but that's just me. Definitely would never grow outside on my own land regardless of how large the area was.

 

[phrike]

Say you plant in groups of 3. You can only have rows (albeit short ones) or triangles, ie. regular patterns. If you alternate 3 and 4 plants per spot, still there are a limited number of combinations before you have, you guessed it, regular patterns. So can you please give examples on how to avoid patterns?

Also, I do not live in areas that have these big steep ledges or canyons or whatever, and nowhere around me is a day's walk from something. What would the creative or clever outdoor planter do in that situation?

Yeah, with 3 there's no way to avoid a row or a triangle, shapewise, LOL. I think a row would be OK, just so long as the plants aren't too close to each other, especially if you have some camo.

I currently have a triangle where two sides are about 10 feet and the other about 16 feet. I think that's OK with camo, but 100 feet or more might be better I guess.


I think the clever outdoor planter in that situation might consider places like a highway median where almost nobody goes. Also within large patches of pricker bushes. Basically where nobody goes or looks, even though it seems to be in the middle of the city or whatever.

 

[phrike]

The easy solution is to use autoflower plants so you don't have to be flowering during the normal window which is probably the only time they come out.

Plus WHAT ARE YOU THINKING growing on your own property ? Your nation is 10 times less densely populated and comparable in size to the US.... grow off your property or grow inside. Bury a shed underground and run power to it ANYTHING but growing on your own property.

Yeah, autoflower is an option if you can finish your crop before late August when the pot patrols here tend to start or ramp up. I think here in Canada they have enough work (and funding) to do now that they fly all summer. Even in the spring sometimes, so they can catch planters planting.


I appreciate your view on own property growing and I understand it's common advice; my large scale grower friend also thinks that way. I'll be sure to post the news if I ever get busted. I don't think I'd do this in most areas of the US, but I do feel more at ease about this in Canada, despite the current political pressure to make 6 plants a mandatory 6 months.

I think I'd need at least 10 plants guerrilla grown to equal my 3 tied plants on property. Perhaps that would require 20 plants to deal with lossage due to theft or animals. I was originally assuming I'd guerrilla grow this year, but came to the conclusion it was a LOT more work than 3 under my regular care, and I just don't have the time for that. If I was growing for commercial use I would definitely go large scale guerrilla.

Yes, just one helicopter, at one time seemed to hover. I still suspect my plants were seen but nothing ever came of it; no police visit. I suspect their lists prioritize all the MANY much larger grows, and if my small plot ever made it to the list, it was too low priority and/or they really didn't care about a few.

Anyway, I've thought about it a lot and made my choice. I'll let this thread know how my experience goes this summer one way or another.


I DO have an excellent shed; had a 400 watt HID in there my outdoor year to start off the clones. I AM planning to use the shed again, but for a small cabinet or PC grow running perpetual. If that works out I may give up on outdoor.

At least my shed can be locked so the authorities couldn't make the claim that I was endangering my family/kids with fire, chemical and "drug" risks.

 

[gaiusmarius]

maybe put a milk glass roof on your shed, or any other material that lets sun in but doesn't let you see through. then you could have your 3 plants growing in the shed under natural light, but not visible to any helicopters. you will have to make an exhaust and an intake to have a good rh and temp in there, but no electricity needed. or just make a green house out of that milky glass.

stacking the wood up to hide the bags sure has helped to hide them. should make it that bit harder to spot them. burying the bags is also an option for another season.

 

[Big Tree]

Your plants look great. Make sure you don't have -leave any garbage near the plants. An old used Styrofoam coffee cup is easier to spot in the woods from the air than your plants. Any bright color's that don't belong in the woods. Good luck to you.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

One of the local newspapers described our sheriff's recent office-copter seizure. The deputy riding shotgun in the bird easily spots "the electric shade of green" as compared to indigenous plants that often suffer from lack of rain. The deputies on the ground miss "sporadic" planting sites, often in the middle of wild blackberries where disguise is better at ground level. "Shotgun" describes "often" radioing deputies on the ground to extend their arm in enough direction to spot any weed and rip it from the ground, mere feet from where they were standing.

The on-line link was trashed when a local reader/contributor edited the original article to make it look like the deputies pitched a tent over the bonfire and having a blast inside.

 

[del...]

maybe this has already been said>>>if so, 'scuse me.

next time plant under a tree. we use mesquite out here and they blend in very well but i've also grown into spruce trees using buckets (the area around pine trees tends to be very acidic...which is why it's usually barren under them...so buckets are best for pine trees)...mesquite is also fairly and allow a lot of light through the branches. usually a little trimming is needed with the spruces. once the plants begin getting tall train them to follow the branches by tying them where needed. we grow near the southern border and black choppers are a constant sight around here yet never a prob (yes, knocking on wood).

good luck

 

[phrike]

RetroGrow: LOL; I'd save the Ack-Ack or rifle fire for "Outdoor helicopter evasion the videogame". A crashed helicopter in the backyard wouldn't be cool. Military style raid instead of some "pansy" SWAT style raid.

It might be viable for small predator drone type aircraft though. Imagine thousands of tiny choppers checking all backyards, descending into tiny forest holes and hovering silently outside your bedroom window. That and millions of butterfly size spies are in our future if prohibition holds and the police state progresses.

---
Gaiusmarius: Yes. I like the translucent skylight type idea. I'm not sure I'd do it though since it would seem expensive to do properly.

---
Big Tree: Yes, I've tried to make sure no garbage, or gardening supplies etc. are in the area. Now that I think of it though, there are a few plastic bags within 100-300 feet of the site I will remove. Currently I only have 1 brownish watering can about 150 feet away, wedged in a tree and seems like it would be invisible from the air. It IS my backyard, but the fewer signs of human activity the better.

I've taken a few cigarette butts, and yellowed leaves and pushed them under the grow bags. Now that I think though, I should remove the butts as they are my brand and thus provide evidence the grow is mine.

I DO think if I ever went to court, it will be arguable that somebody else planted and I have no knowledge (although anything pot related found in the house would work against that argument.)

But all in all, I've come to the conclusion that what I consider the slim chance of being caught would have such little repercussion in my life, that I'm willing "to do the time" for the "crime"; IE parole/probation at absolute worst. (Just so long as bill S-10 doesn't get passed creating mandatory 6 month sentences for 6 plants.)

 

[phrike]

maybe this has already been said>>>if so, 'scuse me.

next time plant under a tree. we use mesquite out here and they blend in very well but i've also grown into spruce trees using buckets (the area around pine trees tends to be very acidic...which is why it's usually barren under them...so buckets are best for pine trees)...

All three are now right next to trees since I've moved them. That's a plus of using containers (grow bags).

I can't grow in soil here as it's acidic, and there seems to be only a few inches at best until bedrock.

 

[RetroGrow]

You can actually grow IN the trees. There's a thread around here somewhere about it. Guys put there pots high off the ground in trees! People don't think to look up.

 

[phrike]

You can actually grow IN the trees. There's a thread around here somewhere about it. Guys put there pots high off the ground in trees! People don't think to look up.

Most people (including pot thieves) don't look up, true.

But pot chopper lookers DO look down, and tree plants are closer, and funny plants in trees stick out I'd think.

I had considered tree growing but concluded it would increase my risk of chopper spotting, which I feel is my major risk.

Besides my trees are pretty spotty for climbing and I certainly wouldn't want to do that regularly for maintenance.

 

[RetroGrow]

When the pots are in the trees, they are pretty well disguised by the foliage. If you can find the thread that's here somewhere, it's pretty interesting.
Found it!

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=152750

 

[phrike]

When the pots are in the trees, they are pretty well disguised by the foliage. If you can find the thread that's here somewhere, it's pretty interesting.
Found it!

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=152750

Cool, interesting. Thanks, I'll check it out.


To guard against the deer that show up in fall, I surrounded the area with two wraps of cheap 6 lb fishing line today, one at 4 ft and another at 2 ft. I noted it was "Clear blue" but it didn't seem too visible. I suppose if cops ever tripped over it, I'd be charged for a "Booby-trap", LOL.

No deer, but had a "Bear scare" today. Wife was by the pond, I was near the plants with my 5 year old and the wife started shouting REAL loud. After much yelling I finally realized she was yelling "BEAR" ! I then saw a black bear mom and cub go by. My yelling "Shut UP" at least let the bears know to stay away from me and my 5 yo. LOL.

I've now informed my wife never to yell at me in the forest again unless it's something urgent like "Bear".... Progress at least.

 

[phrike]

Read the tree planting thread and decided it was not for me. It seems to provide very good stealth from ground spotters and if done well can reduce chances of helicopter spotting. But it seems to be more labor intensive and has safety issues, particularly for middle-agers such as myself. Cool idea but very few people do it. Nice option for small backyards in suburbia.

---
Sun was bright today and I saw my fishing line deer fence was glistening. It MIGHT be mistakable for spider webbing but I decided it created too much chopper visibility risk for my taste. Better the deer get them than LEO. My growing area is reasonably inconvenient for deer already due to my placement of broken trees and branches. I can toss a few more around to close the few holes.

---
When I hear aircraft noises uncomfortably close (often several times per 10-30 minute visit) I tend to hop out of my grow area under better cover. Tripped over my own deer fence today doing that, LOL. I've noted that from a distance helicopters sound almost identical to prop planes, and only when they get rather close do I note the familiar chop-chop noise.

I had this happen today and it seemed as if some aircraft was in the area too long. Got out of the forest and saw a white chopper perhaps at least 500-800 feet up on a somewhat overcast day and he was heading away. Overall don't feel too anxious about that but in general aircraft noises bug the heck out of me.

 

[gaiusmarius]

that would screw with my nerves too, specially multiple times in 30 minutes, lol. is there a landing area near you or are all of them looking for cannabis plants? would seem strange to have more then 1 or max 2 choppers in any given area for spotting plants.

i had a plane fly over my second spot back when i was digging a hole for the new soil in my guerrilla spot 2. i felt totally exposed as this spot is in a small valley so the plane was not visible till he was right on top of me, with no chance to hide without being seen scrambling under some bushes lol. mind you, we don't have choppers looking for plants here, and the plane was high enough that i couldn't read any markings. but still that kind of thing gets the old adrenaline pumping.

you better get some bear mace just in case you need more then a shout to discourage the next bear mum.

i read some where that if you make the fishing lines go down a bit on one end the morning dew doesn't stick out as much.

 

[phrike]

that would screw with my nerves too, specially multiple times in 30 minutes, lol. is there a landing area near you or are all of them looking for cannabis plants? would seem strange to have more then 1 or max 2 choppers in any given area for spotting plants.

Very few are pot spotters and AFAIK only choppers are used here. I'm unfortunately in some sort of flight path (likely rural airport in Ottawa) that's mostly used by small planes. I don't worry about the planes but as I say, from a distance choppers and small planes seem to sound the same.

IF pot choppers visit here in any summer I believe it's a once a summer thing. So I'm guarding against a rare occurrence. My clinical anxiety issues (which I guess I smoke so much for) compound this. To some extent, I might be considered too anxious to be a grower. (But I love it so!)

so the plane was not visible till he was right on top of me, with no chance to hide without being seen scrambling under some bushes lol.

Only similar close call story I can relate came from my guerrilla grow friend. I think he grows some 100 miles from around here in Ottawa in a very remote and unpopulated area.

Chopper seemed to appear out of nowhere and he dived down into some bushes, got small and stayed still. Chopper flew directly overhead and he felt considerable wash from the rotors, so it was lowish. No indication he was ever spotted.

i read some where that if you make the fishing lines go down a bit on one end the morning dew doesn't stick out as much.

Problem was not dew related. Sunlight just reflected off the dang line. Since fishing line is round there are a wide range of angles reflections can be seen from.