AUBURN – A Skillings Corner woman living in a home built by Habitat for Humanity volunteers was charged last week with cultivating marijuana.

Investigators said 43-year-old Jeanne Knight was using elaborate hydroponic equipment she bought in Canada to grow pot.

She had named the setup “Edith” and kept careful, written notes about her growing operation, investigators said.

Police said an anonymous caller had reported Knight was growing marijuana out of the basement of her home. Drug agents went to the home last week and were given consent to search it.

Drug investigators seized 29 marijuana plants as well as $4,000 worth of growing equipment when they went into the basement, police said.

Agents found the hydroponic equipment in a room that had been built around it in the cellar, police said.

Knight, who lives in the house with 15- and 13-year-old daughters, is unemployed and told investigators she grew pot for her own consumption, police said.

Agents dismantled the growing equipment and confiscated it along with filters and specialty tanks. They also seized the pot plants in the house.

Investigators said the home was built by members of Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit group that uses volunteer labor and donated money to build houses for needy families.

The house, built three years ago, sits on roughly four acres of land.

Investigators said the hydroponic equipment allows a grower to clone healthy plants, resulting in a higher yield of the plant.

Plants cultivated hydroponically are grown in water instead of soil and can thrive without sunlight.

“With the hydroponics, you can get a crop every three months instead of every five or six months,” said Maine Drug Enforcement Agency supervisor Gerry Baril. “This one was the size of an upright hot tub. It’s a very impressive set up.”

Knight was ordered to appear in court Oct. 15 to face the cultivation charge.

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