Questions on Ordering Seeds & Supplies Online

[nutansahyat]

I am in the early stages of a small PC grow—my first—and building a well thought-out PC unit has been a lot of fun so far. It has brought up a general security question for me though, which is: is it safe to order seeds to the same location where I will have the PC grow? And also, is there any risk in ordering plant, lighting, or other "obvious" PC-grow materials to my grow location (hygrometer, nutes, lights, reflective material, etc.)? It seems most people just order seeds right to their residence. I won't be ordering seeds for a little while, but I'm debating how to do it. My residence? A P.O. Box? My work (this is an option, I work in a small office with three others and everyone minds their own business)? I'm in the US. Anybody have any tips on online ordering etiquette? Would love to hear. Thanks! This forum has been a big help to me. I will post the grow once it's up-and-running. Excited!

 

[vostok]

It can be a lil FREAKY first time getting the stuff and seeds in, but see it like Boston Legal,
they! may have their suspicions... but will need proof in most cases and countries,

Who s to say that you didn't order these seeds? and you may well order garden gear to grow tomatoes
or other stuff, but I have used seed banks and are really great ...at least mine is ...
HERBIES: http://www.herbiesheadshop.com/


WoW...Thats my 1200th post ....don't time fly? I gotta celebrate (toke! toke!)

 

[JointOperation]

I personally never had seeds sent to my grow spot only because it can end up fucking you.. but honestly.. I paid a friend to let me have them sent there.. told him I just wanted to get packs of seeds before there were no more just incase it went legal soon .

 

[DoubleTripleOG]

Everything grow related should be shipped to a different address than the grow if possible. Family members work good for that. If not family, a friend who is extremely nieve and will believe a story about why it cant be shipped to your house(won't be around when it's delivered, something with value).

Then there's always the option of a cool friend who knows what's up. That would be a last resort, because then someone would know what you are doing. A p.o. box in another town is also an option.

 

[nutansahyat]

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone. From this point forward, I am going to aim to ship anything I order online to an address different from my grow location (which, for hypothetical reasons only of course, let's pretend is also my residence). Up until now, I have ordered a few items through eBay that I have had shipped to my grow location, but nothing that would be considered contraband. Any other tips would be greatly appreciated! Congrats on 1200 vostock!

 

[wegobigupnorth]

No reas0n to be so paranoid man...Espically if just ordering eqiupment. Seeds I can understand a LITTLE paranoia if your in a very unfriendly place but I really, really, REALLY do not think any countries custom/postal inspectors would care enough to investigate a package or two of seeds...No way would that be enough for a warrant but if you have another address to use of course use it. Just dont freak out if ya cant find another address to use. P.O. box still has to be in your legal name unless you get fake ID and documents....

 

[igrowone]

i do micro grows myself, not PC, but small
and there isn't much you can order for micro grows that is going to interest anybody
seeds, of course, are a little sketchier, really unlikely anything would happen even with interception
unless you're in a very bad state, Indiana seems to have the worst reputation for seed follow up

 

[Ph-patrol]

I order lots of grow gear from amazon and all are sent discretely.

 

[Herbal Wisdom]

Reggie seeds lol mine have turned out decent

 

[moose eater]

Anything you use a credit card for these days has a trail that Big Bros. can access at the push of a finger. I'm even suspicious of postal money orders, in terms of tracking, purchases, cameras installed at post offices, etc.

That said, much of the equipment ordered for a small personal set-up such as you're talking, these days, shouldn't attract any attention at all, depending on area of the world.

While having seeds sent to your home creates and additional (and obviously bigger) security issue, unless your hard drive (or the hard drive used to order the seeds) is accessed, then the folks who enforce such things don't have any where near the personnel to go after every packet of seeds a recipient might get in what ever country.

They -will- obviously go after senders, because there's a lot less plausible deniability in being the sender, versus being the receiver.

Any time you receive a package that another might have reason to take interest in, having it sent to you under the name of a second party ('Joe Smith' C/O (your name here), and don't open the thing for a week or two. And hold yourself to that date, unlike the chocolate you bring home and tell yourself you'll save, but eat the first night anyway.

If there's a knock on the door, and you haven't opened it, you'd have to be Houdini to truly KNOW what's in it, right?? The weird name on it caused you concern., blah, blah, blah..

If you want to vanquish any of the other tracking questions, then use cash if possible, through a second trusted party's purchased postal money orders, and have everything sent to a third party's address who's agreed also to be involved, and use a secure computer away from your place to order, if using a computer at all.

But then you have two others involved in what's at best a small stash grow, and they need to be folks you implicitly trust, depending on the laws in your area.

You can get as loose, as paranoid, or as safe as you want. Some of it involves over-kill, and is unnecessary. But each person has a different tolerance for loose ends, and there's almost zero options in life with NO loose ends many times. There'll always be some. Use your best judgment as to which ones you can live with.

None of life's risks are completely avoidable, so weigh the ones you decide to engage in.

But you're talking about a small stash grow, too. And there's WAY bigger fish to fry, unless you're in some place that delivers outrageous harsh penalties for such stuff, or you have existing felonies on your record, and you're in a three-strikes location.

My immediate recommendation? Smoke a joint. I got tired thinking about all that, so you must be exhausted...

 

[JointOperation]

Everything grow related should be shipped to a different address than the grow if possible. Family members work good for that. If not family, a friend who is extremely nieve and will believe a story about why it cant be shipped to your house(won't be around when it's delivered, something with value).

Then there's always the option of a cool friend who knows what's up. That would be a last resort, because then someone would know what you are doing. A p.o. box in another town is also an option.

use the .. I am surprising so and so .. and cant have it shipped to my house ..

 

[InGhostgrower]

i do micro grows myself, not PC, but small
and there isn't much you can order for micro grows that is going to interest anybody
seeds, of course, are a little sketchier, really unlikely anything would happen even with interception
unless you're in a very bad state, Indiana seems to have the worst reputation for seed follow up

WTF... wish i would of seen this reply 4 days ago. What do you mean follow up?

 

[igrowone]

WTF... wish i would of seen this reply 4 days ago. What do you mean follow up?

i wouldn't get too worked on this, probably very unlikely even in the midwest
but it has happened years ago, i see less online stuff about seed hunts in general
but this is the reason that the standard recommend is do not send to your grow address
follow up is usually what they call a knock and talk, officer friendly stops by the address and shoots the shit with ya
or tries to, know your rights and don't have a sketchy looking grow place
the real danger is the grow, that risk well outweighs the seed stuff by a lot
smell, nosey neighbor, fire, acts of god, and so forth

 

[InGhostgrower]

Thanks for the reply. I have a couple friends that order and one guy had his seized and they sent him a letter telling him were he could dispute it and pick up his package. He never picked it up of course but the seed bank did send him another package.

 

[al70]

I don't trust nobody, I get everything sent to my grow address, tent lights ballasts seeds everything, that way I only have myself to blame if I get caught, my only worry is the seeds, they rattle like a pack o pills, lol, paranoia is a good thing but has to be controlled, X ray machines are only looking for organic material, when my tent arrived it had been opened and taped back up again,,shit meself,, don't worry, you'll be fine, I just wish my seeds don't sound like a pack o tic tacs when they arrive, order everything at once so you don't have multiple deliveries, relax goodluck.✌

 

[Jellyfish]

Nothing's 100% safe. If you order seeds online and sent to your home grow, that risk is obvious. If you have it sent to a friend or relative's house, then now you have someone who's in your life that knows what you do.

If you can get it done at your work, that's what I'd do. And use a M.O., not a credit card.

Far as equipment, I try to buy local and pay cash, but I have ordered GH nutrients and even an HPS set up online, so you just have to use your own judgment and keep it cool as you can.

 

[thesloppy]

IMO risk is low, and I order plenty of equipment off of Amazon, eBay, etc., with a massive paper trail, knowing millions of other folks are doing the same every day, but your concerns over location/residence/state may vary.

Contrary to popular advice, sending contraband to a different address than your own could be considered address fraud, and may actually increase legal risk, rather than reducing it. Likewise, sending anything to a false name could be considered mail fraud, and may actually increase legal risk, rather than reducing it. Getting caught up in paranoia can make these actions sound logical, when they may be the worst things you can do to draw suspicion to yourself. Mail carriers know their routes & customers, and are likely to notice strange names on overseas packages with customs labels.

You can't ever be completely risk free, but if you want to be cautious try some/all of the following when ordering seeds/contraband internationally:

• Order some other small international goods beforehand, so your mail carrier gets familiar seeing the international & customs labels.
• Have everything shipped to your first initial, and last name (e.g. "J. Public"), which gives you the same tiny bit of plausible deniability as a fake name, without the risk of fraud.
• Never opt for signed receipt shipping, which can serve as evidence, and admission of guilt.
• Leave the contraband items unopened for at least a day or two (or up to a month), and in the case of a sting you can claim ignorance to the contents.

 

[Ph-patrol]

The safest action you can take is tell absolutely no one that you are growing.No one no one no one at all.
If you want to yap about it come on here and chat away. If your spouse is a Crazy/vindictive person,don't grow shit.
A far second is smell.

 

[nutansahyat]

Thanks for weighing in, everybody. I am working through it, trying to buy stuff locally with cash and ordering a few innocent things online. Seeds-wise, I'm thinking I may snail mail order a MO. No credit cards, that's where I draw the line on seeds Makes me feel a little better about it, anyway. And no, nobody knows about this. I keep it to myself and plan to keep it that way