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?
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6They're not 'bad' kids, they're just 'scrumping' in the time honoured tradition of children! In the UK, its apples and plums... I did it, when possible, and I'm pretty sure my parents did it, been going on for generations, doesn't mean they're bad, although I'm sure its irritating if its your tree.– BambooCommented May 1, 2015 at 15:55
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9 Answers
Prune the tree
Immediately after harvest this year, prune the tree away from the wall. Make sure that all the branches are well inside the wall, and lower to the ground. By making the tree less visible, and requiring people to completely climb over the fence you'll discourage most random casual theft.
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.
Plant another tree
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.
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). Lightweight and inexpensive, it should be easy to install. Because it's not heavy duty, climbing over it would be an act of destruction, and will discourage many people from attempting.
The extension will also limit visibility, and make rock-throwing less successful.
Pinch buds at beginning of season
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. Just remove the buds or flowers by pinching and twisting.
The remaining fruiting locations will typically do even better than usual, as the tree will expend most of its energy on the surviving buds.
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2"The remaining fruiting locations will typically do even better than usual, as the tree will expend most of its energy on the surviving buds. " that's quite interesting, never heard of it. Do you have any source for that? Commented May 6, 2015 at 19:20
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2Here are a few sources: " Thinning to a specific fruit number per tree based on variety and orchard age is one of best formulas for maximizing fruit quality and yield and still maintaining fruit size. " from njaes.rutgers.edu/peach/orchard/… and "Bloom thinning peaches can result in a 10 to 30 percent increase in fruit size and yield when compared to hand thinning 40 to 50 days after bloom." from ent.uga.edu/peach/peachhbk/cultural/thinning.pdf and then this: pubs.ext.vt.edu/422/422-025/422-025_pdf.pdf Commented May 6, 2015 at 19:51
We have a mango tree too and every now and then we experience this.
Try putting a printed sign on your wall that says:
"The mangoes in this tree are private property. Should you really want one, just ask nicely. :)"
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4Yes it happened once @Carlo Borja, a few good kids asked politely but there are more bad kids who wants them in a bad way.– Harish SCommented May 1, 2015 at 9:29
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3If the kid believed in "ask nicely and get it" then they would be asking their parent in first place instead of stealing. I don't want to sound like the kids are bad or their parents do not support them. But believe me, this will keep happening. I put up signs, gave away money and fruits to such kids and it keeps happening to my fruit trees times and times again, year round. Solution? just ignore them, you can't fix what's wrong with those kids. BTW what country you live in? and are the kids deserving/from financially troubled families?– EjazCommented May 2, 2015 at 19:50
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I agree with the sign idea. Just add the fact that if they steal one without asking, you'll talk to the kids' parents. If that doesn't work, threaten to bring in the officials. If even that doesn't work, then I have one simple solution: Move away. -3- Or yeah. Add spikes. Commented May 3, 2015 at 19:32
Maybe you can house your dogs closer to the MANGO tree. A tall fence sounds like it should work but will cost quite a bit of money. I would write a sincere notice, perhaps something like this:
Please do not steal my MANGO fruit. You are tresspassing and stealing fruit from my yard is a punishable offense. I have notified the police of tresspassers and they will be looking out for any offenders.
I have seen people try to solve this annoying problem.
Apart from putting the sign that @Carlo Borja suggested, try draping a net over the tree. This will hopefully prevent any stealing as any smart but bad kid would just understand that throwing rocks will not work.
Increase the height of the wall and/or add anti-climbing features like spikes or razor wire.
Inject laxitive the ones closest to the wall which are easiest to steal (the low hanging fruit haha).
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. Now I removed that sign board because I was warned by a Cop. So my friends please don't try this method.
Install a fake CCTV camera on the fence overlooking the tree. Try to find the best compromise between cost and realism, including warning signs, wires leading to nowhere, blinking LEDs, etc.
Can you create a convincing mannequin that would give the impression from a distance that someone was watching?
