Forum: lifehacks.stackexchange.com
Tags: <home><gardening>
Title: Bad kids stealing mangoes from my trees at home
Question: I have 3 mango trees in my garden and my house is surrounded by a 4.5 feet compound wall. Random kids from my street tend to climb upon my wall and start to steal mangoes. sometimes they throw stones to get them, which falls & spoils flower pots in my garden. How to protect my mangoes and prevent them from stealing?

Answers:
sents: text: We have a mango tree too and every now
text: and then we experience this.
text: Try putting a printed sign on your wall that says: "
text: The mangoes in this tree are private property.
text: Should you really want one, just ask nicely. :)"
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/5392/Carlo Borja
score: 10
sents: text: Maybe you can house your dogs closer to the MANGO tree.
text: A tall fence sounds like it should work but will cost quite a bit of money.
text: I would write a sincere notice, perhaps something like this: Please do not steal my MANGO fruit.
text: You are tresspassing and stealing fruit from my yard is a punishable offense.
text: I have notified the police of tresspassers and they will be looking out for any offenders.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/5417/Rakshit Shah
score: 6
sents: text: I have seen people try to solve this annoying problem.
text: Apart from putting the sign that @Carlo Borja suggested, try draping a net over the tree.
text: This will hopefully prevent any stealing as any smart but bad kid would just understand that throwing rocks will not work.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4223/SAS2507
score: 5
sents: text: Increase the height of the wall and/or add anti-climbing features like spikes or razor wire.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/5292/Tyler Durden
score: 4
sents: text: Inject laxitive the ones closest to the wall which are easiest to steal (the low hanging fruit haha).
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/5331/user2818782
score: 4
sents: text: Prune the tree
text: Immediately after harvest this year, prune the tree away from the wall.
text: Make sure that all the branches are well inside the wall, and lower to the ground.
text: By making the tree less visible, and requiring people to completely climb over the fence you'll discourage most random casual theft.
text: Further, the tree should fruit more productively over time if it is well-pruned, and should you lose additional fruit to theft, it won't impact you as significantly.
text: Plant
text: another tree
text: Another tactic is to plant another mango tree, thus producing twice as much fruit as you have now, allowing you to freely give the fruit away without worrying too much about whether permission was obtained.
text: Extend the fence up Adding another 2-3 feet of lattice, wire, or bamboo fencing on top of your existing wall may be permissible (check your local building codes).
text: Lightweight and inexpensive, it should be easy to install.
text: Because it's not heavy duty, climbing over it would be an act of destruction, and will discourage many people from attempting.
text: The extension will also limit visibility, and make rock-throwing less successful.
text: Pinch buds at beginning of season
text: With a few minutes work a day at the beginning of the season, you can remove the flowers or fruit buds from the side of the tree that overhangs past the fence, and locations that are easy to get to from the fence.
text: Just remove the buds or flowers by pinching and twisting.
text: The remaining fruiting locations will typically do even better than usual, as the tree will expend most of its energy on the surviving buds.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/1801/Adam Davis
score: 4
sents: text: Don't take this the wrong way , I kept a fake sign board saying "Please don't climb this compound wall, it is electrified" actually it wasn't electrified at all.
text: Now I removed that sign board because I was warned by a Cop.
text: So my friends please don't try this method.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4931/Harish S
score: 3
sents: text: Install a fake CCTV camera on the fence overlooking the tree.
text: Try to find the best compromise between cost and realism, including warning signs, wires leading to nowhere, blinking LEDs, etc.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4027/zovits
score: 2
sents: text: Can you create a convincing mannequin that would give the impression from a distance that someone was watching?
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/5304/Dave
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
There are a number of different techniques that you can use to discourage people from stealing your mangoes. You could house dogs a little closer to the tree, you could install a taller fence or you could even just leave a polite notice asking people not to take them. Try pruning the tree so that it is harder to steal the fruit or even drape a net over it. A more sneaky method would be to install a fake CCTV to give the impression that the tree is being watched.
The options are to keep dogs close to the tree, put up a higher fence or warning sign, drape a net over the tree, add spikes or razor wire to the wall, inject laxatives into the fruit, prune the tree to grow away from the wall, plant another tree or install a fake CCTV camera or a guard mannequin.