Combatting tree theft.

KazDub

I've just had one of our lovely bay trees stolen from outside our front door. It was in a big, heavy terracotta pot, full of soil and with lovely tulips and daffodils about to bloom. It was really heavy and I can see drag marks on the driveway where they obviously pulled it away. They must have loaded it into a car or something because the drag marks only extend for about three feet away from the house. Apart from the rage and upset I'm experiencing (damn them to hell!), I really want to know is there any way of ensuring that this doesn't happen again. They may come back for the matching pot and tree yet. I'd love to replace the stolen tree but would like to find out if there's any sure-fire way of locking these things down. My parents had exactly the same thing happen to them a few years ago. One lone potted bay tree outside their front door was stolen too. Also, can mature bay trees be bought at a reasonable price anywhere? The original pot cost about thirty euro, the tree was about 100 and then there's the price of the soil that went into it and the various bulbs. It didn't cost the earth, but a few quid went into the matching pair outside the house. The one I had must have been about four or five years of age. I'm living in Dublin 15.

bmaxi

KazDub wrote: »

I've just had one of our lovely bay trees stolen from outside our front door. It was in a big, heavy terracotta pot, full of soil and with lovely tulips and daffodils about to bloom. It was really heavy and I can see drag marks on the driveway where they obviously pulled it away. They must have loaded it into a car or something because the drag marks only extend for about three feet away from the house. Apart from the rage and upset I'm experiencing (damn them to hell!), I really want to know is there any way of ensuring that this doesn't happen again. They may come back for the matching pot and tree yet. I'd love to replace the stolen tree but would like to find out if there's any sure-fire way of locking these things down. My parents had exactly the same thing happen to them a few years ago. One lone potted bay tree outside their front door was stolen too. Also, can mature bay trees be bought at a reasonable price anywhere? The original pot cost about thirty euro, the tree was about 100 and then there's the price of the soil that went into it and the various bulbs. It didn't cost the earth, but a few quid went into the matching pair outside the house. The one I had must have been about four or five years of age. I'm living in Dublin 15.

I sympathise with you, same thing happened to me a few years back. I'd say there will be a bay tree in a pot, identical to yours, going very cheaply at a car boot sale nearby, shortly. I got mine back at a boot sale, recognised it immediately. I told the guy selling it that my name was written on the inside of the pot and I was calling the Gardaí, ( a lie, but he wasn't to know that:), he loaded up his van and buggered off leaving me with the pot.
Really, short of permanently fixing it with rawlbolts or concreting it down there's not much you can do. I suppose you could chain the two together but unless you could hide the chain in some way it would be a bit of an eyesore. You could try B&Q for a replacement, they had some in Liffey Valley a few weeks ago and AFAIR they were under €100, if your parents are over 60 there's a 10% discount on Wednesdays, just sign up for the card and use it straight away.

sorella

Get a dog?

What dreadful people.

starbelgrade

A good deterrent are movement sensor lights around the house. It won't stop them in the daytime, but unless your house is really remote, the neighbours will probably spot them.

magicbastarder

not really an option if the pot is sitting on concrete, but one thing you can do if it's sitting on soil is to chain it through the drain hole - attach a bar to one end of the chain and bury it in the soil, and a smaller bar at the other end, inside the pot. would probably end up with a broken pot, mind, given the mindset of someone out to steal your plants...

KazDub

Unfortunately the only spot for the pots is on concrete. I'm half thinking of just planting the remaining one in the garden and being done with the whole notion of actually having something nice outside of our house. You just can't have anything nice anymore, can you? I give up!

Sonnenblumen

Of course and a popular choice indeed is not to use planters at Front Door. Great shame an ddisappointment to House owners because it is a very popular aspect of feature planting, but people are not going to be fooled again!

A solution we came up with when developing Front Garden/Driveway areas, and where there may have been previous incidents of theft, was to plant the specimens in specially prepared pits below the paving. It's a sureset way to secure the plants, provides access for watering/feeding but 'impossible' to remove, unless of course you plan on breaking granite paving. Essentially the paving has a cut-out/aperture < size of rootball, the smaller cut out effectively prevents anyone from removing the plant. The solution is not only very discreet but very secure.

A simpler but not discreet way is to chainlock the stem to a secure anchor point on nearby wall. A compromise I would also recommend ahead of not planting anything.

Minder

You could try bolting the pot down. If the pot is on a paving flag, lift the flag and excavate some of the underlying material - replace with concrete and reseat the flag. Once the concrete is set, position the new pot minus the tree, mark a couple of holes through the drainage holes on the paving flag. Drill a large enough hole to take a retaining bolt - something like a hilti bolt can be used. Use large washers or a timber slip in the bottom of the pot to secure the bolts. Don't over tighten the bolts of the base of the pot will crack.

If the retaining bolts don't grip, they can be chemically anchored in place.

bauderline

Is a gate feasible ?

Handy for plant thiefs, door to door sales, politicians and tarmacadam / spouting contractors....