Allotment Stealing.....unbelievable!!!

[northepaul]

I know it goes on at our allotment, and its a case of put and shup up as no-one is ever caught red handed and even if they were, I dont think anything would be done.

So far this year, I have had a large propotation of my roses snipped, onions and beetroot, some kohl rabi, about 50% of my strawberries and red currants...thats bad enough.

But today we went to pick our apples and they've all bl**dy gone!!
It really does take the biscuit!




Anyone else have this trouble??

[veggiechicken]

Bar Stewards - I hope they choke on them.
So sorry, after all the work you put into your allotment to hear this. Totally unacceptable.

[Bren In Pots]

Thea that terrible you must be gutted

After reading your post I'm glad I grow in my back garden I know I don't have much space to grow what I want but I only have slugs, caterpillars and birds taking my crops.

[bearded bloke]

Before I ventured off fishing a couple of weeks back I noted there were 18 fruits on herself's Lord Lambourne tree,on my return there were none I blamed blackbirds/flying rats as there was one on the ground with clear beak marks,however I think that was the wrong assumption,as while servicing herself's brakes this morning I watched a tree rat go by with a rosy red eating apple (from nieghbours tree) in it's moth.(note to self.. keep air rifle to hand at all times)
Could it be something similar has happened to yours I wonder.

[mothhawk]

^^^^ squirrels sure do take apples! While I can see it's probably more likely you've got human rats, if there are any hollow trees or holes in trees around nearby, you might just be lucky enough to find your (slightly nibbled) crop safely stashed for winter!

[northepaul]

Thanks for that, I didnt think rats would take apples, but I am still inclined towards the human ratkind as the thing is, there were none at all....I would have thought that there would be some fallen etc, and its only a period of 4 days since we checked the crop! Its a 15 ft, 20-30 year old tree, and althought the crop was smaller than usual this year, due to the weather, it should have yealded at least a bin bagful of apples today....

[hamamelis]

We have a bad problem with human rats around my allotment- the community orchard has had over half the fruit nicked- every single apple off the trees closest to the path, rather than the ones backing onto the fence with the park behind, so it doesn't look like squirrels.

It wasn't a very big crop anyway, so it looks like no-one's getting much from it this year. Except the rats.

[VirginVegGrower]

I've never seen a squirrel yet with a pair of secateurs though! Maybe the roses were for Mrs Squirrel...or it was indeed a bar steward.

[alldigging]

Put a note up

"these apples had been sprayed with a pesticide. Please contact the plotowner to discover what medical treatment you need if you have eaten them."

Or is that mean?

[veggiechicken]

I'd be tempted to hang a sign on the tree saying that the apples had been sprayed with Cyanovermicide (madeup name) which can prove fatal even if touched.

[veggiechicken]

Snap Alldigging - I was checking whether Cyanovermicide was a real word while you posted

[bearded bloke]

Reckon it probably was two legged then ,"at least a bin bagful of apples"would need an army of tree rats to clear in 4 days

[vikkib]

We seem to have spates of things going walkies; some people report it and insist on informing the local police and some do not.

I haven't had anything half inched yet on my plot... well, not that I've noticed anyway!

I have had a rather acquisitive neighbour 'inquiring' as to whether I will be harvesting my raspberries though!

I very much like the warning sign idea too!

[rustylady]

My blackcurrants all disappeared just as they were ready for picking! I know who I suspect, but how to prove it?

[Kaiya]

What about a sign saying "Please note - these bushes have been liberally fertilised using human waste". Nowt wrong with a bit of humanure...