Depend on how shady the cops are i guess. i have 2 friends who have been busted in the last 5 yrs or so.. one of them only had dried finished product weighed..they just destroyed all the living plants and threw them out in the woods behind his house, we were able to go there that night and save a few of them..guess they didn't know just cutting it in half and leaving it in a dirt ball wouldn't kill it...
. My other friend, on the other hand..they were weighing 6" tall plants in 5 gals of dirt and using the total weight of the combined pot/dirt/plant..so he was put up on some big charges ( most thrown out), for only i think he had 8-10 plants..but 40-45gals of dirt has some real weight..
look up your states laws..my states laws are less harsh than Fed so i only worry about Fed limits really, and I'm nowhere near those..