Apartment Grow - Vacation concerns

Hello everyone,

I am new to the forums and new to growing. I started my grow about a month and a half ago before I knew I was going on vacation. I live in a one bedroom apartment. I am concerned about security while I am away. No one really knows about my setup, however I am concerned that something could happen and maintance would have to come and well you know the rest.

I have 5 plants in a closet under a 400w MH with a 20" box fan blowing into it. Two are 13" tall and 3 are 6-8" tall, all in veg stage. In another corner of the apartment I have 6 younger plants in solo cups under a number of CFL's with a small fan on them (also veg). I have watering spikes so the plants get their water while I am gone, but that isn't my primary concern.

I have a small Ionizer with a built in fan w/ air filter that I could leave in my grow closet while I am gone in case smell becomes an issue (even though it is mild right now). I also thought that I might leave a set of apartment keys in the glove box in my one car that has automatic coded entry in case I need a close friend to go into the apartment for some reason if the apartment office called me and stated they needed in. In that case I could give the combination to my car to a buddy that would be able to get in and take care of securing the plants.

I am reaching out to Rollitup to see if any of you can think of any other measures I could take prior to leaving?

Thanks everyone!

ur going for how long ??

i would recomend not leaving any thing in there while your gonne i use to live in an appartment and i hookt cams up to see if they were coming in and out(maintenance) you would be suprised how many times in a week they would come in and just chill in my appt...dont leave your life in there hands dude....

I am going to be gone only 10 days. I have been fine with the plants for the past 2 months almost and feel like 10 days is too long. However I want to take precautions now to protect myself. I have neighbors that are friends of mine a few apartments down on the same floor and I could always call him if I needed anything. The maintance people are shared among several apartment complexes and only come to our complex if the office calls them for something specific. The office has never needed in our apartment in our 10 months of living in our apartment and we have never called them to fix anything either. I do not plan on telling them that we are leaving. We are going to leave both cars here. Also from the sliding glass door (covered with vertical blinds) you can tell that there is a small amount of light inside at night (so it looks like someone is home). Also the management office knows that one of us is a student and considering it is summer time, they would assume that someone was probably always home and would likely call if they needed in for some reason.

Those are the details. What do you guys think? As I said, my plants are still very small and in veg with next to no odor. I have not had any problems in the past 2 months but want to take all the precautions possible to protect myself. Please let me know if you can think of anything.

Thanks!

well it sounds like you have all the base's coverd just go for it and good luck..

what about taking the plants outside and leaving them somewhere no-one will go, in the middle of nowhere. then pick them up when you get back. the last thing you wanna do is worry about them when your on holiday. Nature will provide light, sun and fresh air.

i heavily agree with xpanda. I would just take them out somewhere remote and leave them. Dig a small hole to set the pot in, but leave the plant in it's soil, just cover it up a little. Water the whole shebang really well, and mama nature will take care of your stuff for you. Remember, she's a fickle bitch. She would just assume have a deer eat it as take care of it for you. Better than the cops havin' a welcome wagon for you when you get home.

oh yeah, make sure you space them all out really good. I'm talkin not even within sight of one another.

I think I am going to keep them where they are. I am just wondering what steps I can take to protect myself before I go with leaving them here. I cannot really think of any possible situation that would involve anyone in my apartment without a phone call first. Again, they haven't needed in for 10 months, I doubt they are going to need in in the next 10 days. I also have about $500 wrapped up in these plants so leaving them in the middle of no where for a deer to eat doesn't sound so great either.

So again, if any of you can think of any steps that I can take to prepare myself prior to leaving that involves me keeping them in my apartment I would appreciate it. As I said before I am going to leave a set of keys in my car that has coded entry in case I need to have a close friend take care of something for me. I am also going to leave both cars here and ask my neighbor a couple apartments down watch out for my apartment.

Thanks

get a lock and lock it up

i don't know it sounds like you've taken care of everything. You have a back up plan should the pants need to be moved while your gone....at this point your two options are go on your vacation and have fun...or chop your plants..to protect yourself. GO HAVE FUN your plants will be fine.

Ditto, install a dead-bolt on your closet door. If you apartment is like mine you cant legally change the front door lock but you can change any lock on the interior that doesn't block access to any thing that would need to be accessed (IE: breaker panel, pluming, ect...) so if your closet is free of a breaker box i would say you can legally put a dead-bolt (or another less suspicious looking but just as strong lock) on your closet. Now if you had a dead-bolt on your closet and someone did enter and saw a light leak and a freshly installed dead-bolt you might be just as bad off.... so choice is yours but just thought i would throw that out there..

Purchase a door knob that has a key lock.

Setup up some decoys to distract anyone from entering your room. Maybe stack some boxes of junk near the door or leave a bunch of dirty laundry around. If someone was going to sneak into your room they might think twice before moving a bunch of stuff around to get in.

Scatter laundry around the whole apartment and hide bear traps under them ^_^

Good idea with the regular key lock focus, as for the bear traps.... that might cause you some legal problems if someone gets there foot taken off by a bear trap.... but mouse traps... now that would be funny, but you would need a hidden camera too so you could watch them.....