PLEASE Don't Steal My Mangoes!

[ChristineRose]

Take pictures of these people. May be too late, but work with neighbors and family to do it next time.

Have the pictures made into a big waterproof sign. Say something like THIS IS THEFT. In smaller letters explain that you spend a lot of time caring for the tree and want the mangoes for yourself.

If you can figure out the names of the people, put them on the sign. Say "And his two year old daughter" as well, but blur the kid's face.

 

[aviastar]

http://www.amazon.com/Contech-CRO101-Scarecrow-Activated-Sprinkler/dp/B000071NUS No monitoring needed, unless it's for entertainment value. Sadly, they'd probably welcome a cool down, sigh.

Please please please put one of these up and then film it with a wildlife cam!

 

[iLander]

Junebug, ForteKitty, Mozo: I love these sign ideas!

TooPatient: Unbelievable about your grandfather's fruit! What IS wrong with people?!!

MC; I hope you set those kids straight, since apparently their parents weren't doing it.

Enerchi; I like the seizures part, that's pretty classic.

Junebug; Yup, Enerchi makes me laugh, too.

Deb; I have a picture of my mango tree here in my tropical garden thread. [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/this-week-in-a-tropical-garden.176204/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/this-week-in-a-tropical-garden.176204/[/URL] The overall shape of the tree is rounded like an apple tree, but the leaves are much bigger. The mangoes in the photo are about 7-8 inches long, to give you an idea of scale.

Arkeib; Good job growing passionfruit, the caterpillars just decimate mine, and I've given up on the things. It is awful to wait, just to see it gone, you have my sympathy.

Distracts; Yes, if I will call the police next time! I live in the kind of place that has police that will show up for every little thing. Thank God. I've had to use them for a lot of stuff! (Someday, I will tell the story of one of my neighbors who cut down my mahogany)

Monarch; Thank you, that does make me feel better, to know there are still considerate people out there. You're a good egg.

MC; Here's a pic of mine : [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/this-week-in-a-tropical-garden.176204/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/this-week-in-a-tropical-garden.176204/[/URL] There's a short description in my reply to Deb.

Tammy77; We did use one of those for a wandering dog, it did work very well.

VRBeauty; I would have given a few if they had asked, and I'd love to give many to your family who would have appreciated them! That stinks that someone is stealing your rocks! What do people think?!

hippi; If it's on the other side of the fence, I think it's fair game. I don't see any problem there at all.

Rosetta; Thank you, I appreciate that!

Missy; Thanks for understanding. I really do wonder what that "Dad" was thinking.

Venti25; It's a big tree, with fruit all over, but it is a good thought.

Chrono; I'll try the sign again, I guess.

Pinto, LoveLike, Missy, amc80, Christine; I love these ideas! Especially the electricity! And the walls of shame!

SB; Yes, isn't that remarkable? They just all jump on their bikes and drive off in unison, like they've done this before!

aviastar; I like the "mango monitor" webcam idea!

 

[iLander]

I went to the hardware store, and got another No Trespassing sign. I wrote "Do Not Steal The Mangoes" on it. Hopefully, people will get the message!

I told the cashier my tale of woe, and she told me her mother had a mango tree behind a fence. People came over with pickers (baskets on a stick, like this; http://www.amazon.com/Fruit-Picker-Basket-Extension-Handle/dp/B001G2AABA) and stripped her tree! Isn't that amazing?!

I think some people are just less evolved, they think they are still hunter-gatherer cavemen, or something.

But thank you everyone! I feel a lot better after "talking" to you guys!

 

[yennyfire]

So sorry iLander! I hope that the new sign works and that you can find a few mangoes to put into a fruit salad for your family this weekend. It's unbelievable what this world has come to!!

 

[Laila619]

Sorry iLander! Some people have a lot of nerve! Who raised them?!

 

[Person24]

I know I am probably the odd one out but it
is pretty normal in my area for people to pick a few mangos
from a neighbors tree. They are so overly abundant
they start rotting on the ground and attract racoons etc.
I suppose mango etiquette varies city by city.

 

[AGBF]

I have a picture of my mango tree here in my tropical garden thread. [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/this-week-in-a-tropical-garden.176204/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/this-week-in-a-tropical-garden.176204/[/URL] The overall shape of the tree is rounded like an apple tree, but the leaves are much bigger. The mangoes in the photo are about 7-8 inches long, to give you an idea of scale.

iLander-

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me personally, especially since all I did was to comment on not knowing what a mango tree looked like and not even expressing any sympathy for you!!! (I do feel sympathy for you, by the way. I can just, sometimes, be an impolite clod. I apologize for making my posting all about myself. I am very sorry that people are rummaging in your beautiful garden.)

I appreciate your posting the link to the thread about your garden, too. I had not seen that thread and it is truly gorgeous. I wanted to eat Barbados cherries...even if it had to be off the ground...as soon as I read it! Thank you so much for sharing!

Big hugs,
Deb

 

[sonnyjane]

1) total jerks and I'd be hiding in the bushes like a crazy person to ambush them.

2) I have never seen this word spelled "mangoes". I had to look it up and the dictionary says both work, but I've only ever seen (and used) "mangos". Something new every day...

 

[amc80]

2) I have never seen this word spelled "mangoes". I had to look it up and the dictionary says both work, but I've only ever seen (and used) "mangos". Something new every day...

Whew. I'm a terrible speller and I'm sure I would have used mangos...glad to know I'm not complete wrong!

 

[Sparklelu]

We have two mango trees and two Avocado ( that DH has literally grown from avocado pits)
We also have guava bushes and orange, grapefruit,tangerine, and lime trees. My lawn folks ask every once in a while if they can have some of the fruits. They never just take them.
The boss lady also asked if she could take a branch of our frangipani because it was pink and she didn't have that color.
We had a neighbor walk across the yard and take grapefruit that were in the ground once.
Once a long time ago a truck of migrant workers stopped at our house and one of them shimmied up the palm tree and tossed down about 6 coconuts! I was inside with my DS who was about 2 at the time and stayed inside stunned!!!
But for the most part our stuff stays put
I think it is amazingly rude that it was like a family outing!!! What are they teaching the kids???

 

[LibbyLA]

iLander,

If I lived near you, I'd be happy to lend you one of our many, many game/trail cameras. They don't come in a mango camo pattern, though .

liz

 

[arkieb1]

Put up a giant sign that says "HAZARD!! Mango tree contaminated with toxic biohazard waste. Do not consume."

If the city says anything, tell them you pee on it, hence the biohazard waste warning.

This is perfect

On the flip side our neighbours as i grew up had a passionfruit tree/vine that grew over our fence and passionfruit grew on our side as well as theirs. We felt these were fair game. But we never touched the ones an inch further away on their side of the fence I still think that if the neighbours plants invade my property i have the right to cut off the overflow or keep the fruit if i dont cut it back

I am totally cool with our neighbours having the fruit that grows over their side of the fence. The kids that come and take the passionfruits at night live 3 houses away and walk over 3 properties to do so.... They have also sprayed graffiti on the back of my fence, it's between a small easeway thing so you don't see it unless you walk out there, but I was still pretty annoyed to have the back side of the brand new fence that we paid for covered in tags and ugly spray painting....

 

[dragonfly411]

ilander - How are your mangoes today?

 

[tuffyluvr]

I like distracts idea of motion-activated sprinkler and Pinto Beans of public shaming.

Recently, a deli in a nearby town was forced into posting flyers shaming customers who weren't paying their tab, and it worked very, very well!!!

I agree that it's just infuriating when people take things that aren't theirs. Plumerias are my favorite flowers, but I've never had luck growing them so I will stop and admire them and smell them when I come across them on the sidewalk but I would NEVER trespass or pick them unless it was invited. All that care and tending just to have someone waltz onto your lawn for some "free" fruit?!?! Ugh!!!

We struggled with the opposite problem at my old house--we had an old growth avocado tree, guava tree and Meyer sweet lemon tree. Not to mention tons of "volunteer" cherry tomatoes--we didn't plant them, but every year tomato vines would produce tons of the most delicious cherry tomatoes. We couldn't possibly eat all of it, so I would give away bags and bags to friends, co workers, neighbors... But I cannot believe that people would just help themselves!!! So rude!!

 

[bluebirrrd]

We live in an agricultural area where it's common to see hundreds of acres of lemons, grapes, peaches, oranges etc. It's also common to see motorists stopped by the roadside helping themselves. I had a boyfriend whose family raised table grapes and he explained that every small bag of stolen fruit added up to boxes over the season, which added up to lost dollars for hard working farmers with slim to non existent profit margins. Whether from a commercial field or your treasured tree, it's stealing! Love the sprinkler and public shaming ideas!

 

[iLander]

Yenny; Thank you, I wonder that about a lot of things. Every day. Sad, isn't it?

Laila; That's EXACTLY what I was wondering!

Person24; If they were rotting on the ground, and the tree looked abandoned, then I would be tempted to pick a couple of ripe ones off the ground myself. But I wouldn't have the urge to walk into someone's yard and just pick them off.

Deb: Always happy to start talking about my garden, Deb. You just gave me a good excuse! And I've never thought of you as a clod.

Sonny: I have always spelled it with the "e", but it's good to know both ways work.

Amc; Maybe the tropical countries aren't as worried about spelling? A little laid back? Maybe that's why there's 2 ways?

Elisateach; How are those guava bushes? I haven't found any types that I like the taste of, do you like yours?

Libby; Mango camo! Ha, ha!

arkieb1: Ugh, if someone sprayed graffiti on my fence, I'd call the cops so fast their heads would swim.

dragonfly; I only have about 5 unripe ones left on the whole tree.

tuffy: wow! Volunteer tomatoes? With all the F1 hybrids out there (which won't fruit from seed), I'm surprised, they must have been some kind of heirloom variety. And how awesome is that?!

Bluebirrd; I have never had the urge to stop on the highway and steal fruit from a farmer. I admire farmers, it's incredibly hard work for a shamefully small amount of money. Your ex-boyfriend should move way south and raise starfruit, passionfruit, and mangoes, at least those are good money.

 

[movie zombie]

only 5 unripe left on the tree?!
i'd be out there in my lounge chair with baseball bat nearby.

so, here's another idea: do you have anywhere else that you can plant another mango tree? do you have a fenced backyard? or how about closer to the house?

eta: I have no idea how long it takes a mango tree to grow and produce fruit.......

 

[minousbijoux]

How about hanging cowbells in the tree? Then at least they will know when they pick them that everyone is aware that they are doing it because of the ringing bells? It might scare them away?

 

[Dee*Jay]

The bell idea is brilliant! I don't know how sensitive they are or how hard you have to pull on a mango to get it off the tree but it seems worth a try!

 

[Enerchi]

or just a string of random sleighbells --- like you find at christmas time --- then even as they just brush the branches, they would create a noise to draw attention.

Clever idea minous!!

 

[dragonfly411]

Wish you could booby trap it with water balloons.

 

[VRBeauty]

dragonfly; I only have about 5 unripe ones left on the whole tree.

iLander - That's awful - I'm sure it takes all the joy out of having grown the tree and nurtured it to this point. I hope you don't have the same problem next year!

Just a quick update on the rocks that were disappearing from my dry streambed.

The rocks that were disappearing - at the rate of about 1 per day - were fist-size and larger, so the theft left noticeable blank spaces in the stream bed. Because of this thread I decided to do something about it - I wrote "Please stop STEALING the rocks" on a 3X5 card, taped that to a popsicle stick, and stuck my little hand-written sign in the rock garden surrounding the dry stream bed. I wasn't expecting any results but hey - I had nothing to lose, right?

The thefts stopped right away. I figured that was the end of that, and that I'd head out to the river one of these days to find some rocks to fill the blank spots.

This morning as I walked through the dry stream checking for weeds (curse you, spotted spurge!) I noticed that there were more loose stones than usual. Then I realized that whoever took the rocks IS RETURNING THEM! There are still one or two open spots... maybe they're returning them the same way they stole them, one per day? Or maybe they were just messing with my head to begin with? If so, they needn't have gone to that much trouble!

Anyhow, I just wanted to report on the end of the stolen rock saga.

 

[Enerchi]

VR - that's a funny ending.. but a weird one! THe power of a popsicle stick sign!!!

iLander - I hope you were able to enjoy all of your 5 remaining mangoes...??

 

[movie zombie]

wow, VR, that is a great result.......love the "messing with my head" comment....!!!

maybe leave a thank you note?

 

[honey22]

Get a giant yellow sign and write BIOHAZARD - INFECTED TREE on it in huge capital letters.

They might just be worried that they are going to get really sick from the fruit

 

[JaneSmith]

Mangos, coconuts, rocks, oh my! Incredible what people will steal.

When I was a little girl, there were lemon trees growing on the public part of the sidewalk, so city property. I would be sent occasionally to pick a couple to go with dinner. I loathed this task because the old lady next door would always yell at me to leave the lemons and she freaked me out. I became quite stealthy at the ripe old age of five.
But, even as a five year old lemon ninja I knew to not take things from people's property!

 

[LibbyLA]

VRBeauty,

Too funny! Thanks for the update. You gave me a chuckle this morning.

liz

 

[junebug17]

VRBeauty - Very cute, made me smile! I guess your signs made them see the error of their ways!

 

[iLander]

This morning as I walked through the dry stream checking for weeds (curse you, spotted spurge!) I noticed that there were more loose stones than usual. Then I realized that whoever took the rocks IS RETURNING THEM! There are still one or two open spots... maybe they're returning them the same way they stole them, one per day? Or maybe they were just messing with my head to begin with? If so, they needn't have gone to that much trouble!

Anyhow, I just wanted to report on the end of the stolen rock saga.

I LOVE this story!

I think that's so awesome, apparently people just don't realize it's stealing? Really?

I used to use a very nice looking white plastic bin for my recyclables, and one day, after the recycle truck had gone by I went to the curb to retrieve it. I was surprised to find a man there with my bin in his hands. I said "Can I help you?" and he looked at me and said "Is this yours?" I said, "Yes, that's my recycle bin." And he said "It was just sitting here by the side of the road and I was going to take it." I said "Please don't!" and took it away from him. Amazing! I can't even use a decent recycle bin!

I think people are just getting stupider/ruder/more assinine every day. I blame reality shows.