Nectarine Tree In Front Yard

[The Ranger]

I have more of an etiquette question than a growing question.

My nectarine tree I planted four years ago is producing fruit like a lemon tree! It's bowing the limbs there are so many.

Today, as I walked out through my garage to the strip where I'd planted the tree, I saw a "neighbor" helping himself to my nectarines. I'm not upset about that -- even slightly. As I said, it's producing nectarines like a fiend on speed. I'm willing to share. What caught me off balance was his wanton destruction on light limbs and branch tips. If a piece of fruit resisted, he'd snap the branch.

We exchanged a couple phrases about his pruning tactics and I strongly requested the eight nectarines he'd packed away in his jogging suit pockets.

Is this normal for fruit trees in people's front yards, even those located clearly on said owner's property?

I just don't get it...

The Ranger

[sherwindu]

This is the kind of behavior one would expect from a child, not an adult. At least he wasn't trying to be sneaky, like doing it at 2 am. I would have let him eat the fruit, and then tell him that you spray with poison chemicals, and he better go to the nearest emergency hospital. If he repeats his activities after you warn him off, I would not hesitate to call the police. I wonder if they make a Have-A-Heart big enough for him to crawl into?

Sherw> I have more of an etiquette question than a growing question.

[DrLith]

Is this "neighbor" known to you? That doesn't sound like normal behavior, in the sense of "what normal people do." But if your neighborhood is normal, you're likely to have one or two residents who are not quite normal.

Perhaps you need to work on your reputation as "the surly *sshole with the nectarine tree," and folks will give you and your tree a wider berth. ;-)

[The Ranger]

Only because he walks past my castle everyday. He lives a couple streets over. We're less-than nodding acquaintances.

I was grousing to my FIL about this and he observed from his daily walks that apple, pear, and cherry trees are heavily poached. He does his part to let the offenders know that not everyone appreciates such brazen actions but it's an uphill battle, particularly during autumn harvest times.

I'm already known as the neighborhood kook... I'll set MARCOM to working on the "surly" immediately.

The Ranger

[Steve]

A couple of streets over!! Wow, that's even weirder than I thought. I pictured it being the guy next door who just had to walk across his property line several feet. I also figured he knew you well enough to think you wouldn't mind. Man, I think I would be putting up an electric fence or something!

Steve

[The Ranger]

No, no such luck. I caught another this morning, an older lady that I've never seen walk through the neighborhood. She was also _a lot_ more brazen, refusing to back down when I asked if she was going to leave any of the greener fruit to ripen. She sneered a tsk at me and turned her back... 'Til I turned the hose on her. I don't think she'll be using my portion of the sidewalk anytime soon.

A neighbor down the street from me put a "hair net" around his lemon tree (also our front). Originally, he said, it was to prevent the local jays from destroying his Meyers but it's had a bonus of reducing pilfering. (I guess none of these jerks carries a knife or pair of scissors with them.) He, of course, sympathized with my plight (after he stopped laughing) and offered me an extra from his stash. Now all I have to do is figure out how to attach the thing without killing the tree.

The Ranger

[patches~]

How rude! She is on your property, taking your fruit, and thinks that's ok? Good on you for using the hose.

I've found a motion activated sprayer quite effective for all types of garden critter pests including inconsider neighbours. I move it to different spots so the critters don't figure out a way to get into the garden a different way without being sprayed.

Good luck with the netting. I hope it helps. It's a shame you have to do this

[Penelope Periwinkle]

No, no such luck. I caught another this morning, an older lady that I've

Way to go! I used the hose on a couple of extra persistent Jehovah's Witnesses once, but I've never had to hose down the neighbors.

I do sympathize, it's amazing how manners and civilized behavior are chucked right out when people think they're getting something for free. I used to plant some ornamental peppers near the street, but, as you saw, people would snatch off half of a branch just to get at the pepper. If they'd asked, I would have shared those and more of the ones from the main garden, I always have plenty.

When I went on vacation last year, I told my friends to please help themselves to whatever peppers and tomatoes came ripe while I was gone. I got home to find the peppers stripped of everything but the smallest, unripe peppers. The tomato plants *were* stripped, nary a green tomato left, much less anything that might be getting ready to turn. I asked around and figured out which person had done that, and gently explained that perhaps she'd been a bit greedy. She thought it was funny, and said that she had to get while the getting was good, because once I was home I'd be eating the peppers and tomatoes. Well, yeah, it's my garden. She asked me when I was going on vacation this year, and got rather huffy when I told her she wasn't welcome to pick this year.

Penelope

[Laura]

I've been on the other side of that - almost.

When my sister went on vacation earlier this summer, she told me to pick any ripe tomatoes I found. (I was handling the mail, banking, payroll, and emergencies for her three businesses for two weeks, so it wasn't as though I was freeloading.) So my kids and I diligently picked the ripe tomatoes every day when we went to get her mail. We shared them with my mom and in-laws so that the tomatoes wouldn't go to waste.

What she didn't tell me was that she had *also* told one of her employees that he could pick any ripe tomatoes he found. I didn't learn that until yesterday when I met him face-to-face for the first time and he said,

"So, YOU'RE the tomato thief! I was out there every day looking for ripe tomatoes, and I never found a single one!"

I explained that my sister had never told me she'd told anyone else to pick the tomatoes, or I'd have left some.

I don't think he's too annoyed about it. I hope not, since he's building me a new privacy fence and replacing some damaged siding (thanks Hurricane Dennis!), and I want him to do a good job. So, I'm being really nice to him, too. "Can I get you anything to drink? Look, my grapes are ripe - if you'd like some, take all you want." :-)

Laura

[Steve]

Oh, excellent idea! That would work just fine on people, wouldn't it?

Steve

[Stuart Naylor]

In Melbourne, Australia he would be regarded as being a thief, but I doubt our Police would charge him or that a Court would convict him because he seemed to have open access to your nectarines.

Did he have to open a gate to enter, etc?

I'm nit picking now but perhaps you could have developed a more friendly dialogue with him. Because now after you have demanded the return of the eight nectarines he will probably return but be more secretive in future.

I grow Tomatoes, Apricots and other fruits in my front yard simply because if I grow them in the backyard my dogs will eat them. Before I allow my dogs supervised access to my front yard I first have to check that there is nobody there stealing tomatoes etc. otherwise I'm liable for injury should my dogs bite the critters.

[The Ranger]

Poaching can be a criminal activity, if a LEO observes the act but in this case I would have needed to make a citizen's arrest, pressed charges of tresspassing, and followed through with the court costs.

The tree is 10' away from the public sidewalk, clearly on my property, but out front, so neither person needed to enter through a gate or hop a fence.

Well, yes and no. I _was_ willing to part with the fruit in a more friendly manner but I'd've really preferred to have an undamaged tree. That was just unwanton destruction on his part, and that's what ticked me off...

In any case, the second jerk I squirted seems to have sent word about the neighborhood that I'm a crank and, as such, not to be messed with. Poaching is down to zilch and I'm now watching the remaining fruits mature. The few I've enjoyed thus far have been magnificent!

The Ranger

[Stuart Naylor]

That could become a major action with court costs perhaps being high.

I can understand you being ticked off because your tree was nicely fruiting and it was being damaged unnecessarily by a trespasser.

I laughed like mad when I first read about the second jerk, but I'm pleased for you now that there seems to have been a happy ending to your story after all.

[Steve]

If you end up with more fruit than you can possibly use, you might want to put out a table near the sidewalk. Keep it stocked with fruit and place a sign saying "please take a few". In your neighborhood, maybe you had better chain down the table. ;-)

Steve

[The Ranger]

--> "Free Fruit" table In your neighborhood, maybe you had better chain

Those few would think I was giving the table away, too, since it was unsecured and the sign was not specifically forbidding reallocation of that particular resource.

The Ranger

[John Savage]

But surely the "Warning: Guard Dog on Premises" sign on your front gate absolves you from responsibility for dogbite injury to trespassers?

[Stuart Naylor]

I don't have any warning signs on the front gate. I suppose if the gate was locked to prevent unauthorised access then such a sign would probably prevent liability for someone's injury if they trespassed and were bitten.

[~patches~]

Here (Canada) such a sign admits liability. Both insurance companies and police tell you not to use these types of signs. No tresspassing or private property signs are encouraged.

[Dave Allyn]

Same here (Illinois) Haveing such a sign means you know you have a dangerous dog(s). Same as Beware of Dog signs. Not having a sign gives you plausable deniablity. "Gee, I didn't know he was dangerous. He has never done this before! What was the guy doing in my bathroom anyway?"

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