One Chatham resident took the law into his own hands this weekend to protect his precious homegrown pot patch from a pesky thief.

The grower, a homeowner on Park Street, realized that a man was trying to steal his legally-cultivated cannabis plants just after 9 p.m. on Friday, September 25, Chatham Daily News reports.

The homeowner immediately called the police — but rather than waiting for the cops to arrive and risk the disappearance of his hard-grown stash, the gutsy gardener ran outside and took down the bud burglar, detaining him until police arrived on the scene shortly thereafter.

The unnamed thief, age 49, was charged with theft and possession under $5,000. He has since been released and is slated to appear in court on November 3.

Canadians who have reached the age of majority are legally permitted to grow up to four cannabis plants per household for personal adult-use consumption since weed became federally legal in October 2018, with the exception of Manitoba, where home cultivation continues to be banned.

Backyard bandits in Ontario and other provinces are taking the fun out of “Croptober,” as harvest season is often referred to in the cannabis community, according to Owen Sound Police Chief Christopher Knoll.

“If you’re advertising that you have plants, you may be the target of a theft,” Knoll told the Owen Sound Sun Times earlier this year.

Although it may be legal to grow your own cannabis (within the confines of provincial regulations), home growers are reminded to keep the existence of their plants on the down-low – i.e. no growing in the front yard, bragging about one’s soon-to-be sweet yield to neighbours, or spamming social media with pics of dank DIY home gardens.