Game cam! That would work. I'll look into that. They are camo, just mount it to a post or in a tree nearby.

Another thought is to get one of those motion detecting sprinklers. I already have motion detection lights, but obviously that didn't slow the *&(&(*&(ers down.

I don't grow this stuff for me, I grow it for my kids. What is wrong with people!

I think I would also put a couple of signs that say "Premises under 24 hour video surveillance." That might deter them, if they know they'll be taped.

You actually can get dummy cameras with lights that rotate for around $10-$12, but working ones are pretty cheap now, too.

That is a bummer, Frank, sorry to hear that. Hope you figure out how to keep them away.

I fully support adding $100s of dollars to the home garden by locking it down with security. It's why I garden.

Nothing tastes as good as a $50 watermelon or a $10 tomato.

Nice relaxing hobby that pays off.

It is frustrating, but what else could you do that would help? Perhaps plant less desirable crops in the front, and the holy grail in the back? At our farmers market community garden the tomatoes just don't stand a chance. Everyone picked the moment they get near ripe (and often green!!). But the squash, eggplant, corn and okra we couldn't give away! Stuff you cook seems to be stuff some people just don't value as much as stuff to be eaten raw.
Alternatively, you could leave a few items out with a sign that says "this is what I have to share, the rest is for the gardener, please).
One year I lost all my niceties. My neighbor down the street was stealing me blind - both food and plants. I put signs up all over the yard "IT IS NOT NEIGHBORLY TO STEAL". A child came to tell me who was stealing. The ladies daughter came and apologized. The mother? She came to tell me I was mean and insulting to have the signs up and that she just wanted more plants and then food because she didn't tend her garden (she had another favorite past-time that make her pass out most of the day and night....) and the garden I gave her free plants for died.
I left those signs. She didn't speak to me for a year, then came and said I was horrible because I had embarrassed her in front of her child. That opened the way for a nice little discussion...now the lady just says hi when she goes by, and doesn't steal anymore!

Put up a sign that reads this plot is "Test Plot USDA", under it in big bold red letters It has been "treated with poisons and chemicals, eat at your own risk".

I used to have a problem with neighbors not cleaning up after their dog in my front yard. I posted a sign stating, I treated the entire area with rat poison, and if people didn't like it, I directed them to put their address in through my mail slot, so I could come re-leave myself on their front lawn.

Condolences to all of you for your losses. It makes me pine for the days when I was the sole gardener in miles. This phenomenon is increasing rapidly and it will happen to me at some point. I doubt it is just desperate people, many of these are people who just love perfect tomatoes like you or me. I suggest that only greens and rutabagas be grown in the front yard. That will not stop a determined thief, but it is a start.

Probably need to line the yard with raspberry bushes...the wild ones with the razor sharp canes. Nobody is walking through those without bloody stumps.

Gardening is not about saving money. At least not on this scale. I wouldn't want to know how much my tree fruit have soaked out of the family budget. $500? Maybe in 10 years they'll have paid for themselves.

To actually make it worthwhile, I think I'd need an acre, but even then, if I figure out the time spent, I'd probably be better off working at Subway.
I have a few more of the same melons. I'll post a pic and maybe I can make some "Missing Melons" posters to put around town on telephone poles and the post office.

Every year, our pear tree in the front yard is raided by unknown vandals. I'm not sure if they think the tree is abandoned, or just don't understand private property.

I've hung a few signs on the tree branches to see if this will let them know that they can take a few, but that the fruit belongs to someone. If not, then next year we roll out the pear-cam.

I had a kid or two steal my pumpkins on Sunday. Then she LIED to my face and then denied what she said!! Mind you I probably scared her because I was pretty mad, she maybe though I was going to bite her. We have a community plot and this isn't the first time gardens have been messed with. We have a rule: No kids allowed up at garden without a parent and that parent must hold a plot themselves. Still if the child can't read and the parent doesn't inform the child and enforce the rule...what can you do? I think I need more big fat yellow and black garden spiders to guard my front line.

Years ago, I took a plot at a community garden because I wanted more room to try to grow watermelons. This plot turned out to be half a block from the middle school.

Put out a mound of fresh dirt and a tombstone that reads "Here lies the last fool that stole from this garden" :)

The New York Times did a piece a couple of weeks ago on community-garden theft. One victim put up a sign that read: "Dear Plant Thief: If I catch you stealing my plants, I will boil you alive in a cauldron filled with poison ivy and stinging nettles until your flesh falls off your bones!"

But what do you do about the four legged critters that can't read and steal every tomato, or at least eat the bottom out of it, before it's ever close to ripe?

Come to think of it, given the literacy rate now, maybe the two kegged thieves can't read either.

Warning-These melons have been treated with a pesticide from China that may or may not contain arsenic. Do not consume.

Croton Oil and a hypodermic. You won't be bothered by the thief anymore. HE won't have any brains left either. I know from personal experience in a watermelon patch.

It used to be used as a horse liniment and a stock laxative. I can tell you that it works.

A lot of the brainless ones stealing watermelons don't even eat them. They take them to smash and splat.

I think the idea of posting a sign that states you're using experimental chemicals or something may work. The sprinkler thing would work as well as a trail camera. However, you're dealing with humans here, not animals, so if someone really wants something, they will get it. With the sprinkler, they may just follow the hose, and go turn it off. With a trail cam, unless you mount it in such a fashion that someone couldn't reach it, they will either steal that too, or destroy it. You could always go the route of an electric fence, sized to stop humans from going over it, including energizing the door to the garden. Maybe barb wire fence too.

It's a down right shame that you have to deal with low life people raiding your garden. The worst part is, it's probably some punk kids, with no intention on eating what they steal, but rather to smash it. Personally, I have no problem dealing with with these type of people in an aggressive manner. If I caught someone in my garden, or yard for that matter, screwing around, they would be looking into the barrel of my .44 mag.

Oh, and to the poster who said they have a problem with dogs crapping in their yard, I have a suggestion. Fry up some bacon, and dump the grease on the piles of crap. Yep, it sounds gross, and it is, but the dog will come scarf up it's own doo, and head home to it's owner. I had a problem with people who walked their dog and let them take a dump in my yard, then walk away. This was happening every day. After doing the grease trick, I magically haven't been finding any poop in my yard now.

Joe

P.S. nc-crn, you outta try posting something constructive, rather the sarcastic garbage you like to post when this type of topic comes up. People grow their own fruit & veggies for reasons other than money, like taste, and most of all, pride. If they choose to spend money to deter the dirt bags that steal, that's their choice, so don't chastise them for it.

"With a trail cam, unless you mount it in such a fashion that someone couldn't reach it, they will either steal that too, or destroy it"

mine is 20 feet in the air on a tree. and tonight had someone stealing pumpkin flowers and i will know who it was in the morning. game cams are the ?hit and if you get a better quality model you can turn it on video mode. a good cam will last 150 days on the batteries.

"P.S. nc-crn, you outta try posting something constructive, rather the sarcastic garbage you like to post when this type of topic comes up."

I did post something constructive. You just didn't want to hear my point of view. I did last time, too...went into even greater detail about it, even.

I don't deal with much stealing where I'm at. It's not much of an issue, though I've been a victim of it. For the most part it's a non-issue not worth throwing money or time at...much less anger. It happens...rarely.

Bacon grease on dog poo, check

As someone who mistaking peed on an electric fence once, I would say they pose a significant deterrent to vegetable thieves.

"Come to think of it, given the literacy rate now, maybe the two kegged thieves can't read either."

I know it was a typo but The "Two Kegged Thieves" Gave me a good chuckle! Alcohol can cause thievery!

nc, I don't deal with stealing at all where I live now, but I grew up in the inner city where it was a major problem. We had those cheap resin chairs on our porch, and we had to have chains to lock them to the railing, or they'd be stolen every night. Sure, the chairs were cheap as dirt, and the chains and locks costed more, but it became a real hassle to have to keep buying new chairs. And wouldn't you know it, we'd come out in the morning, and find the chairs streched out on their chains, a sign that someone tried to grab them.

My point is, it doesn't matter to the original poster or other people who have to deal with theft, whether you, me, or anyone else doesn't have to. They have a problem to deal with, and there comes a point when cost isn't the first thing that comes to mind, it's the constant hassle of having their property stolen. I did get your point of view, I just think it was more of a shot at those willing to spend money on catching and/or detering theives. That point of view isn't going to do anything but bring down the spirits of the original poster, who obviously is a bit upset about his thief problem. You can't deny for even a second that your post was 100% sarcasm. You could have easily gotten your point across in a civil manner.

Joe

This thread has made me LOL! Rutabagas! Bacon grease on dog doo! So funny.

How about getting some of those little yellow pesticide signs and surround the perimeter of your front yard, including the veggie garden of course?! ;)

I had someone come up from the sidewalk, go around some bushes, and take a couple small Hosta just purchased from Bluestone from one of my gardens in front. Now I tend to plant common cultivars near the sidewalk.

It would be great if you could point a conspicuous camera out from inside a window!

That way the kids' parents couldn't claim that they're innocent little darlings, who would NEVER do something like that.
-ExNJer

Honestly, if theft is an issue, it is probably better to plant the difficult to harvest (say, potatoes, sweet potatoes that need to be dug), the highly unusual (no one is going to steal cardoon or quinoa heads), or the painful (litchi tomatoes, blackberries) in the more accessible areas of the yard.

Sadly, short of a physical barrier (as in a wall) there is probably nothing you can do. Even if you know who it was on the tape they won't do anything about it.

There was a post in the tropical forum with a similar problem, if people can reach it they will take it.

The game cam is a nice enough idea that I would implement it in the garden near the street. It is only $65 for one. But will it be triggered by car traffic? And will it be sensitive enough to see rabbits? And is it easy to turn off, so I don't get 20,000 pictures of myself gardening?

Wizzard has a point here, what if you do catch someone on camera or picture, then what? Are the police going to bother to deal with garden theft? That leaves physical barrier, either electric or barbed wire fence.

Joe

A game cam is the way to go I think. You'll have photos to show the cops! WIN!

You need a good guard dog with a fence in the front yard.

glib, some game cams have a adjustment for sensitivity(spell check). they can take a picture of a mouse. their are alot of different styles, some with remote control to turn on and off. cars will set it off but you need to get it in the right spot. why wouldnt you want 20,000 pictures of youself?

for what would i do with the pictures, i printed it and left in there mailbox. problem solved. they know and i know and nothing said.

Someone might bacon grease the gaurd dog's poop. Then, the theif will be stealing the veggies, while the dog is eating his own lawn cigars.

Joe

I suggest a 20ft. wall and buzzing in any living thing you want into your living compound.

Installing netting over the fence with computer controlled selection to only let in beneficial insects can be done with a high speed image scanner hooked up to a database. Additional modifications to the system can let in the good insects and grind the bad into a high-N fertilizer.

If you catch someone coming into the "safe zone" perimeter you can pull out your AK and blow them away with the self satisfaction of knowing another Hitler wanna-be can no longer terrorize innocent melons and spinach.

Like Joe1980 also noted, the cops aren't exactly going to be tripping over themselves to find and prosecute whomever is taking your produce.

You can do things like sprinklers, flashes, cams, etc. but all that will do is piss someone off and make make them trash your garden as well.

There is another option that has been suggested, short of errecting a wall, plant only root vegetables and other less appealing produce in front.

omg... the bacon grease on dog poo is priceless!

as for what to do with a picture of the culprit? make a large sign and paste it up in the yard for the neighborhood to see. Pubic humiliation is great.

another deterrent could be a sign by the garden that states: "All vegetables fertilized with human feces!"

Another thing that might work is to borrow somebody's car and leave it in the driveway during the harvest period. If the crooks think somebody's home, they may stay away.

I put my garden in an old dog pen with a dog house inside. There's no dog, but I wouln't go in there not knowing...

Speaking of dogs, I had a good long chuckle about "lawn cigars" :)

What a fun thread. I haven't read it all, but now I'm thinking of adding a couple extra cameras to my system!!

To my original post, I just want to say that I picked another melon of the same variety that was stolen. Mostly garbage. Very little edible flesh and was mainly just a hollow cavity. Not worth stealing, I can tell you that.

Carry on comrades!

Sure, they took the good one and left the crappy one behind for you!

Yes, as we speak I have several butternuts (from Johnny) up a trellis. One produced a butternut shaped squash, with Hubbard green skin, and a weight of order 12 lbs (it is easy to support, because a rope will grab the waist without slipping). On another trellis, there is an acorn squash growing amongst the tromboncinos from gourmetseeds (I have no acorn seeds), which miraculously survived the SVB, so I suspect that this is a SVB-resistant acorn fruit with moschata stems. Without a doubt I will save seeds of both, if the meat is good.

Which brings me to the Galia. In the old days, when I was growing melons, Galia from Territorial was particularly adept at giving me soap-tasting things from different plants in different years. It became famous in my household as the soapy melon and played a role in our discontinuing the whole melon group. You and the thief may have gotten a lesson for free. I think if one eliminates melons, watermelons, tomatoes and peppers, people will steal a lot less.

Glib-Yeah. I doubt I'll grow that melon any more. Most of us in our house prefer the orange fleshed melons and the ones I grew (from Johnnys) turned out to be very good (and simple to pick, they just fell off when ripe).

I had a 12/13 yearr old kid picking plums off my tree this morning. Went out and asked him if he needed any help. I think I scared him. He got on his bike and pedaled away. I had a shovel handy and probably could have dug a hole pretty quick, but I was in a good mood.

If you put in a security cam, they will probably steal it Too!

If you love your garden area, why not go for a motion dectector or a security cam with monitoring services. There are many companies who offer free security systems when you ask for a monitoring services.

Here is a link that might be useful: AskHomeSecurity.com

Thieves don't like noise, my battle last year was with groundhogs so I bought a motion detector doorbell ($17 at our local "Harbor Freight" store). Both the detector and the doorbell are battery operated so both were easy to place in the garden. The doorbell (which is a loud BEEPing noise w/ 2 settings) would get anyone's attention and most likely scare off anyone before they could pick much. Just need to protect the doorbell part from the rain as the motion detector is weather proof. Both are small and easy to move around and hide. Now that I've installed a solar ele fence that keeps critters at bay the motion detector is across my driveway to let me know if anything passes thru, even picks up cats.

Web cams are actually quite inexpensive these days. You could try a really cheap one like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Webcam-Camera-Vision-Meeting-compatible/dp/B0015TJNEY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1327376047&sr=8-2

But with a really cheap model the picture may not be good enough to identify the thief. You'd probably have better results with a little higher resolution model like a 720p or 1080p:

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-960-000585-HD-Webcam-C310/dp/B003LVZO8S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327376047&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-HD-Pro-Webcam-C910/dp/B003M2YT96/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1327376047&sr=8-3

If you already have a digital camera you should be able to hook that up as well. You would have to connect the camera to your computer with a USB cable and have the computer running software that will take pictures every 5 seconds. Point the camera out a window at your front garden. My camera came with software that will do this. Sometimes people use this type of software to make time lapse movies of plants growing or flowers opening. Taking time lapse photos rather than movies or eat up less space on your hard drive.

Here is a link that might be useful: webcam

I'm still thinking about the Galia melon problem. How about making a lightweight open-bottomed cube out of chicken wire stapled to lattice, big enough to fit over the whole melon vine? You could moor it to the ground with a few tent pegs hammered in. I think the effort of dislodging the whole box-like structure might deter those thieves.

As for the suggestion of posting a sign that the garden is fertilized with human feces: might one notice many dinner invitations being declined?

Carol

For the non-sadistic:
Trail cams and a "Private Property: No Trespassing" sign (preferably that can be seen by the camera). When you catch pictures of them, call the cops and file a report on them for trespassing, theft, and vandalism.

For the sadistic:
Sacrifice a few of your best looking fruits. Ipicac and a syringe. Load 'em up.

For the truly sadistic:
Do both. Report them for everything, and tell the cops to be on the lookout for the guy that has been puking his guts up for the past 3 days.

between what was stolen from my garden, and the amount stolen from my freezer they have taken almost $600.00 in the last year. local pd said if we could prove who was doing it, the charge would be grand theft, a class c or d felony.
Carla

"No Trespassing. Trained attack dog on site" With motion activated barking. Especially helpful if you actually have a dog, or could borrow a particularly mean-looking one for a few days to aid the facade

Love the bacon-poo solution.