Hands off my fruit!!

May 11, 2009 8:28 AM

I'm looking for creative, inexpensive ideas to keep vegetables safe from thieves and pranksters.

I have a ground floor apartment/patio that anyone could walk onto. The past few years I've had a patio tomato plant, along with lots of other flowers and stuff. However, last year, I had some problems with tomatos disappearing. I ended up moving the plant to a corner directly in front of my patio window, so at least the thief would have to be really bold. But obviously, I'm not home or watching the window 24/7 and am curious if anyone has some ideas on how to protect the plant.

I'm looking for creative innovation because it can't be some elaborate, expensive enclosure: space and funds are limited. And of course, it needs to be open to the elements in some respect to let in light and water easily. (Oh- and putting it inside the apartment by the window is not an option. There just isn't room and I can guarantee the plant would die!)

Any ideas?

posted by Eicats to home & garden (22 comments total)

A fake security camera?
posted by No New Diamonds Please at 8:40 AM on May 11 [1 favorite has favorites]

Maybe a note would help. You could say 'please don't steal me', or something sneaky like 'Science Fair project, please don't touch'

The science fair rouse might scare thieves into thinking the tomato was toxic or unnatural.
posted by gavtaylor at 8:41 AM on May 11 [1 favorite has favorites]

A prominent sign saying "I use human manure for composting. These tomatoes have my poo on them. Just a warning."
posted by harperpitt at 8:41 AM on May 11 [5 favorites has favorites]

Are you sure the thief is human?
posted by sanko at 8:42 AM on May 11 [1 favorite has favorites]

Are you sure the thief is human?

Squrrels f'ing LOVE tomatoes.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 8:51 AM on May 11

You know those little signs you keep in the soil to identify what it is? Make one of those, only a bit bigger, and with some sort of Warning: Toxic logo on it.
posted by nitsuj at 8:52 AM on May 11

I believed my tomatoes were stolen by raccoons for years. Then someone told me to put out some plastic children's toys from the thrift store to distract them. So I bought some toys and put them in the yard halfway from the fence/trees and my tomatoes. It seemed to work as the toys ended up in in different places and most of the tomatoes seemed untouched, at least long enough for them to ripen. After a couple of weeks, the toys were where I left them, and the tomatoes got eaten again. My friend said I needed to change up the toys the next season. But, I decided to buy tomatoes instead of more plastic toys for the raccoons.
posted by typewriter at 8:55 AM on May 11 [5 favorites has favorites]

Screen it in so that it is only accessible from your window. This should help even if the thief is not human. If that isn't practical even a screen that fits over the plant which is weighed down with some bricks say should limit or prevent both human and non-human tomato thieves.
posted by caddis at 8:58 AM on May 11

If the thieves are animals, you should be able to find netting at a garden supply store that you can wrap around the plant. For that matter, it might dissuade human thieves as well since they'd have to work harder to get to the tomatoes.
posted by Meg_Murry at 9:01 AM on May 11

Put bells on it. Seriously, if you wrap some kind of string of tibetan bells round the plant, or hang a wind chime directly into it, or even just something rustly like crunchy plastic or foil milk bottle tops so you can't reach into the plant without making a bit of a noise a ´human sneak thief might be put off and an animal thief scared off...
posted by runincircles at 9:19 AM on May 11 [3 favorites has favorites]

Just a thought, if the thieves are pranksters, they might not be eating the tomatoes, just taking them for the "fun' of it. No sign will discourage them. Though I hope thats not the case. I'm not saying don't try the sign ideas, just be aware if pranksters are the the cause.
My idea might be a little pricey, but what about those motion sensors they sell that shoot water from the garden hose? They sell them at Lee Valley and they advertise them mainly for geese ( on lawns) and cats ( using gardens for litter boxes) I think. For that matter, maybe try a motion detector light fixture. It might scare away any animals ( if it is) at night. Maybe a motion detector could be hooked up to a bell, buzzer or something like a doorbell if it is humans.
To expand on the idea(s) of having the thief, thinking it might have something toxic on the plants, leave a spray bottle with a toxic "label" on the patio.

Good luck.
posted by Taurid at 9:24 AM on May 11

Get five old window screens and make a box out of them?
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:33 AM on May 11

A Havahart Motion Activated Water Spray will discourage deer, racoons, or people.
posted by Ery at 9:44 AM on May 11

Chicken wire.
posted by rhizome at 9:55 AM on May 11 [1 favorite has favorites]

Here's the thing: pretty sure it's human, since the tomatos disappeared cleanly from the vine. Also- I did do netting (although, squirrels are damn clever, and I wouldn't put it past them to get past it). AND, once I discovered a few missing, I put a pretty explicit sign on them along with this little kid motion buzzer on the plant. Both the sign and buzzer went missing. Again, squirrels could be responsible for that, but I intertwined them both in the netting and if it was animals, I think I'd see remnants on the ground somewhere.
I'd definitely vote for pranksters. Little shits, more like.

A screen weighted by bricks in the corner is an interesting idea... at least the time involved would make it unattractive. But, I admit, I love Typewriters little anecdote which makes me wonder at what point I don't just say screw it and buy the stupid tomatos. But...it's the principle of the thing! And I want my own freshly grown!

Thanks for the input so far. I will ponder the screen idea, but keep the thread open for now. :)
posted by Eicats at 10:13 AM on May 11

In our community garden, thieving is an ongoing problem. Some people have erected fences around their plots, but that's not a deterrent if no one's around to see the vegetable thieves enter the fenced plot.

What has been more successful is making the produce less attractive. The human manure compost sign is a good idea. Last year, during one bad spate of watermelon thefts, I put a laminated sign next to my melons with the image of a skull and crossbones. Not cartoonish -- like something you'd find on a bottle of caustic household cleaner.

Did the trick.
posted by mudpuppie at 10:13 AM on May 11

The ideas here made me think of a study I read about awhile back (I can't seem to come up with the right google words to find it again) that the presence of a face was enough to encourage people to be more honest. There was a computer study and simply having a smiley face on the computer screen changed the honesty scores significantly. So, maybe a big smiley face sign + human compost info will do the trick for human thieves. It gives a sort of "I see you!" message.
posted by amanda at 10:37 AM on May 11 [1 favorite has favorites]

I don't have a lot of faith in the smiley face working when other basic deterants haven't, but the idea that it would work is fascinating. I think I'll combine a smiley sticker with -whatever other solution- screens, camera, (still deciding), it couldn't hurt!

I like the box made out of screens idea; I could probably rig a lock onto that... It's just a matter of finding the screens.
posted by Eicats at 11:33 AM on May 11

I read something similar to the study amanda mentions, except this was about using one of those surveillance camera signs that has the watching eye on it (like this). Its a bit menacing and 1984-ish, more so than the smiley face. Pair that with your screen box, and perhaps a fake security camera or even a broken webcam looking out of your apartment window (they cant tell its broken right?).
posted by Joh at 12:22 PM on May 11

There are a lot of heirloom tomatoes that are green or greenish yellow when fully ripe. That might fool hungry human thieves, but not squirrels or pranksters.
posted by hydrophonic at 1:58 PM on May 11

There are a lot of heirloom tomatoes that are green or greenish yellow when fully ripe.

I've gotten in the habit of picking my tomatoes when they are just starting to get ripe (some varieties have a sort of a whitish sheen). Then let them ripen up inside.

They taste just as good and it keeps the various critters (insect, rodent, and human) from getting them as they all seem to be most attracted when they are nice & red.
posted by flug at 6:10 PM on May 11

Also good idea about picking them green--and the types that are still green when ripe, I didn't know about those. Right now I have constructed a surrounding housing that's a combination of a triangular wire trellis wrapped with the heavy green garden wire sheeting. And I've placed it in the far corner directly in front of the window. So far so good (but so far no bright red ripe ones), but I think I'll try the early picking suggestion, too.

And if I still have trouble, I'll try the fake-out surveillance options.

Thanks everyone! I'll mark as resolved.
posted by Eicats at 9:46 AM on June 17