What state do you live in Thugood?. In my state of CA, we have some of the more relaxed laws regarding MJ. However, caution and stealth are never to be overlooked in any aspect of planning a grow. I can see where you are coming from the false flag scenario. Ideally, the COPs would come and check things out and then decide no problem here. That is the ideal situation for you. The thinking would continue that they would just ignore anymore calls to your apt in the future. Now consider if the COPs came around , looking into the complaint of mj growing , see nothing there and begin to wonder if you have a very eloborate sytem gone undetected. Their suspisicions are already aroused and safe to say some record of sorts will remain for the foreseeable future. Not a good idea. Last thing you want is to play games where the stakes can be very high indeed. Best of just go about your business when and if you start the grow and be EVER CAUTIOUS about moving growing supplies in there .........lights visible from outside the apt .......bud odor seeping out of the apt ..........stoner friends coming to visit and chatting about "how big those buds are" as they leave your apt. All of these factors determine if your grow will go the full distance to harvest.
I live and grow in an apt with a grow op going on in my 6x6x9 closet. My landlord lives next door to me. He is not one of the most avid fans of anything mj related . Everything from bud smell in flowering, and even well before that time, to light escaping and visible from outside are under my constant watch. Early on this grow , I made the mistake of leaving the closet door open a few hours per day. Air flow is such that the plant odor was being carried to around my apt front door. I paid little heed until the landlords wife rang my doorbell to inform me that there was a UPS delivery for me. Her little 5 year old girl was there with her at the time. Next thing I know , about a week later, I met the landlord in the lobby and he says "you need to take the dope smoking outside ok anymore, even my little girl smells it". I thought about for a second and realised he said mj smoke and not growing mj plants. I finally agreed to his request as I did not want a flare up where he might come down on my grow later on .
So safe to say odor control is a major issue in any indoor grow. I read one thread just today where a grower took down his entire grow at day 39 of 12/12 due to odor control issues. I had the same issues. How I controlled them was as follows. First, do a quick review of who lives around you and who can potentially pay you a visit ....i.e relatives friends etc.
Some will be more savvy to pot grows and some will just not care much at all. If you live in an area where drug use ,even recreational usage is not tolerated , then you will have to employ stronger odor control measures at all times of the grow. Next , avoid as much as possilbe any visits from landlord , property maintenance people and gas and electric employees etc. as best you can. Trust me once somebody is in your apt , the smell is hard to totally conceal.
A tip for you that might mean the difference between an aborted grow attempt and a full term harverst is to replace any commercial odor concealers , gels , sprays etc. I have tried them all and none offer the same odor control protection as simple but really effective ..........Fabric softener sheets ......Their success lies in the fact that they release alot of clean fresh smell and will fill up the apt quite nicely with a freshly washed clothes smell. For any curious noses around my apt, the faint smell of fabric conditioner in the air does not raise any red flags. I am in day 39 of flowering and I detect no hint of ripening bud odor even in my apt hallway , never mind outside the front door. Funny thing is that before I would spray a little ozium around my front door to try and conceal a little mj smoking on the weekends. Every time I did that the landlord would tell he could smell it. Was it the ozium he thought was mj or was he wise enough to think that I was trying to mask the light mj smoke from my bong?....I will never know but I threw all of my ozium sprayers in the trash can after that meeting.
Be super cautious , weigh up the risks , think of how your state feels about you growing, consider who may be visiting you , will be you able to conceal all your tracks such as empty nute bottles and little things like say a fan leaf blowing outside your door etc. , can you conceal light leaks and bud odors ?........if you feel satisfied you can monitor and control all of these aspects , then go ahead and have fun with it ...
Good luck to ya ok
