23 October 2008

The scourge of stolen trees?

| dorrie
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I have heard quite a few stories about plants being stolen from gardens around the suburbs. One story was artificial grass taken from a front yard ($1500 worth)!

Plants cost a lot of money and for some of us our garden is our pride and joy.

A few years back we had 8 conifers stolen from our driveway.

It must have happened during the night. Next morning they were gone. No mess.

My opinion is that professionals (ie landscapers) are doing the deed…

I hope they catch the scumbags! Anyone know of them being caught!

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A young couple in a house on a main street in Lyons renovated house and garden, and plants were all stolen from the front. They obviously eventually got desperate, because they ended up with chains and locks on the plants. I wonder if plants would be covered by insurance?

Insurance + a fence and gate = problem solved

what about a couple of parallel low placed “humming wires” connected to a power source (adequate signage of course)?

big deterrent!

tylersmayhem1:41 pm 24 Oct 08

Is it possible to mark your tree with something unique to deter thieves?

Yeah, good idea – like tie a ribbon around it, or even better, carve a massive part out of the bark so you could identify it while driving up and down every street in Canberra looking for it. Brilliant!

We had a $10,000 palm tree stolen a few years ago – AFTER it was planted!

Why does it not surprise me seeing you on here Potts, bragging about buying a $10k tree and then having it knocked off. You keep entertaining me – thank you!

So did you buy another 10k replacement. I mean, it does sound like money well spent!

Depends.
Whats the durable life expectancy of an RFID when embedded in living wood?

Could you get a tree microchipped or even GPS fitted? Might be worth it for a $10,000 palm.

amarooresident9:13 am 24 Oct 08

I noticed that some of the recent tree plantings around Yerrabi Pond got knocked off as well, pretty much straight after they were planted. They were replaced fairly promptly though.

My parents had a 30 year old cycad stolen from their garden. Palms and cycads are ripe for stealing because you don’t need to take much of the root system, they grow slowly so old ones are valuable, and they are sufficiently trendy there is a market for them.

Piratemonkey1:26 am 24 Oct 08

Just when i was wondering if a security camera over the front yard is a good idea 😛

canberra towie7:47 pm 23 Oct 08

They have to have full time security at the new arboretum as the trees were being knocked off

Not sure if it was the workers there or general people wandering in at night time but quiet a few have gone missing

well, you could pee on it 😉

Is it possible to mark your tree with something unique to deter thieves?

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