BEWARE - Plant Robberies

MOD

I'm so bummed someone stole my huge potted plant from the top the gated-off stoop. And no one even F@$# saw it! What sorta fucked up person steals a plant from behind a gated fence, not to mention how heavy it was.

So, keep an eye on your plants. There are plant robbers out there.

On personal note: Sorry, Voodoo. That plant was a gift from you and I really loved it and took care of it. I'm so sad it's gone

armchair_warrior

i had like plants stolen a few years back by some middle age male on a bike in the middle of the night in prospect heights. I was looking for him for over a few months but i gave up.

after that incident i no longer put out expensive plants only cheap ones .

voodoonyc

Subject: Re: BEWARE ~ Plant Robberies

Mamacita wrote: On personal note: Sorry, Voodoo. That plant was a gift from you and I really loved it and took care of it. I'm so sad it's gone

That sucks. What type of lowlife would steal a plant from someone? It wasn't a particularly beautiful plant, but man you could forget to water it for a year and it still thrived. On a brighter note, you still have the Japanese maple!

antigone

We used to have quite a lot of plant theft on State Street. I had people stealing coleus, of all things (not exactly an exotic plant) out of the tree bed in front of my house. There was some dude in a business suit that people caught stealing plants from tree beds, presumably on his way to work.

Azaleas are a favorite of plant thieves - the perfect Mother's Day gift, I guess. Our block association would chain them by the roots when planting them in whiskey barrel planters along the street. I was dismayed to find that a large and beautiful Dicentra (Bleeding Heart) was dug up by a thief in a front yard a couple of blocks down from me. One of my neighbors told me that he confronted a thief digging a mini-rose out of his window box. The perp's excuse was: "I needed it."

MOD

Isn't it just unbelievable?? I'm just a renter but me and my apt-mate put in time to make the stoop a nice place to chill and hang out. I'm buying two new plants and chaining those guys down next time. I've seem little shrubs chained down on the UWS and never got it. Now I know. Bastardos!! haha

reggi

Sorry you have had to share in this experience. They took my Japanese Cut leaf Maple right out of
the container --which was large and very heavy not to mention the tree was a bit pricey. I'm still
upset about it and it's years later. I haven't put anything else out in my front yard since.
I've noticed when walking my dog that some plants have gone missing from the area tree beds and
also in the tree planters by the Grand Prospect Hall. Some people will take anything at all, they have
no remorse. On the up side, the past three years my backyard garden has remained safe from
area kids with nothing but time on their hands and mischief on their minds. Still, it's such a crappy
feeling to lose something in that way.

guarachon

there was an article in the wall street journal just this week about the same thing happening in west harlem:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704895004575395640793822122.html?KEYWORDS=plant#articleTabs=article

veets

My front garden is in such bad shape because of the heat there is nothing alive to steal!

homeowner

I learned a long time ago to write "Property of [my address]" on the bottom of my planters inside and out so that when people carried them off and tried to resell them it would be more difficult. Plant stealing is an old crackhead industry and has a long and storied history.

winstonsmith

I am sick of watching people let their pets pee on the plants in the tree beds that my kids planted in front of my apt.

MOD

[quote="guarachon"

The link didn't allow the whole article to non-subscribers to I'm posting it here:

By CLIFFORD MARKS

All is not rosy in West Harlem, where a string of plant thefts has left stoops bare and victims irate.

A 5-foot evergreen tree that once flanked the entrance to Tim Harvey's apartment on West 149th Street was among the first to go missing. A few days later, he noticed some flowers near the front door had disappeared, too.

Bob Pollock has begun using a padlock and chain to secure his flowers.


"I was completely just taken aback," said Mr. Harvey, 27, a hair stylist at the Metropolitan Opera who has kept the approach to his basement pad adorned with flowers and shrubbery since he arrived two years ago. "I really felt violated."

With summer in full swing, this strange form of seasonal crime is also cropping up in some of the city's other residential neighborhoods, though figures on horticultural thefts are tough to come by.

Sgt. Carlos Nieves, a spokesman for the New York Police Department, said the agency doesn't keep such numbers, as reports of stolen plants are grouped into a much broader category of petty larcenies such as shoplifting.

Last week, Mr. Harvey learned two of his neighbors had also had plants stolen in recent weeks, and on Monday he called the police to report the crimes. He suspects the thief is trying to turn a profit by reselling the plants nearby.

Other residents on the block hadn't heard about the recent rash of thefts, and many could hardly stifle a chuckle at the unusual category of stolen goods. "I don't know what they do with them!" said Diane Brody with a laugh.

The area has seen such pilfering before. The block holds an outdoor festival during which the street comes alive with colorful plant life, said Ms. Brody, but two years ago someone lifted a whole tray of flowers from the event. "We just turned our backs for five minutes," she said.

A few blocks farther north, on 153rd Street, Bob Pollock, 66, said he's been dealing with plant bandits practically since he arrived in the neighborhood in 2004. He recently began padlocking his hanging plants to thwart would-be looters.

"It's not very pretty," he said with a sigh. "And you're trying to plant something to look pretty."

Even the padlock hasn't been sufficient. About a month ago, Mr. Pollock awoke to discover a hanging fern that had been under lock and key had disappeared. As had the padlock.

The thefts have not fazed other residents with green thumbs, though.

Mr. Pollock's neighbor, Doug Booth, still has an expansive array of large plants crowding the entrance to his home. None have been stolen, he said: "You'd need a forklift to take some of this stuff."

And Mr. Harvey isn't about to change his ways because of one bad seed. Earlier this week, he pointed proudly to two floral arrangements flanking the entrance to his apartment. "You can't live in fear," he said. "Otherwise you should just go live on top of a mountain somewhere."

reggi

WinstonSmith:I find that very upsetting myself. I tell my dog no tree beds and she understands
completely. You as the dog owner have to control this. It also annoys me that
people don't seem to curb their dogs all that much either- not to mention
there are way too many people that aren't picking up after their dogs
There should be a required class before allowing people to have animals.
I walk my dog and deter her from sniffing at the tree beds, she's not likely to do anything
as she will go to the street to do her business. I clean up after her and deposit her
doggie bag in a city corner basket, not trash cans we pass that belong to homes or
apartments. It's common sense one would think.

brooke lynn knight

When I moved into my house in the center Slope near 5th Ave, I started putting out plants to brighten up the place. My neighbors warned me that they would get stolen; I dealt with it by not investing a ton of money in the plants I put outside. Yet none of them were ever stolen. It helps that I favor perennials with interesting foliage. Morons are attracted to bright colors, so my yard isn't that interesting to them.

Then yesterday, something really weird happened. I have a front yard that's about 8 ft deep, with assorted potted plants in it. There's a leggy hydrangea right by my door. It's had a bad year and hasn't bloomed much at all. This morning I came out and someone had cleanly cut about half the stalks off -- they had foliage only, no blooms. They had to stand right in front of my door to do it.

W - T - F ?

It's not a distinguished plant in any way, and cutting off stems is not a particularly good way to propagate hydrangeas, so I don't really get why someone would come by with pruners and lop off half my hydrangea stems. Except, you know, to be a destructive jerk and make the world a worse place. Mission accomplished!

reggi

Sounds really strange that someone took loppers to your hydrangea. You said it didn't have a great season,
that could be for various reasons, not getting enough sun or perhaps an early frost or cold spell killed off
the buds before they could really get started. Now that the damage has been done you should perhaps
prune it all around. There are proper times to prune this shrub and it will depend on what type you have.
I don't know the size of your plant but if it is small enough perhaps transplant to a different pot, pick
up some rooting hormone and it should probably be okay, if you do find out what type it is and you
do prune it back be sure and leave some of the woody growth as this is where your new flowering
growth will come from. Would a neighbor be bold enough to do this without asking you???
I'm thinking sensor lights might benefit those that have lovely plants in their front yards. It's
discouraging people do things just to damage and destroy. I'm considering some potted plants
for my front next season and for sure I'm going to install some sort of motion sensor lighting--if it
doesn't alarm me, it should surely alarm the plant thief!

king without a crown

They've been stealing plants for years, it quieted down for awhile but with the recession, a lot of Crime we haven't seen for awhile has slowly been emerging. Car break ins,copper pipe,cable from cell phone towers,wheel theft from vehicles and yes even plants, and mama dont think a chain will sop them either. My mom had newly planted rodadendrens and izhalias stolen right from the ground in front of her house.

whatchuwant

King without a crown wrote: a lot of Crime we haven't seen for awhile has slowly been emerging. Car break ins,copper pipe,cable from cell phone towers,wheel theft from vehicles and yes even plants,

We had the side mirrors neatly removed off our car a few weeks ago. They removed them in such a way so as to not destroy what was left. It was like they were considerate! But I guess for the resale, they needed to be in decent shape. So weird....

bcodsnpkslope

unfortunately this is not kansas and you must lock down everything here . Ive seen them come on my block and take a potted tree from a neighbor on a handtruck. I got the neighbor and we chased them two blocks to retrieve this thing. The only thing i can tell you is lock em down or dont put em out.. this is the joys of living in the big rotten apple

PS ive had them actually dig stuff out of my front yard... i mean come on people do you really need 99 cent flowers that much???

gretch

That's awful everybody, so depressing somebody would do that when you only want to make your front yard and neighbors look nice!

I have been planting little plants around the tree we got from NYC last year in front of our front door... they had not been stolen (though some died) but last night I came home and found that somebody who is taking care of our building's garbage put tons of disposed furniture right OVER my plants. I was very upset.

drano

People will steal anything. Bike wheels are a perfect example - what can you get for a damned bike wheel that would make it worth the risk? What's the street value? And who buys a bike wheel from some sketchy dude that shows up with a bike wheel for sale? And yet it obviously happens all the time.

Semi-rant over. Sorry about your plant.

jeffrey

Drano wrote: People will steal anything. Bike wheels are a perfect example - what can you get for a damned bike wheel that would make it worth the risk? What's the street value? And who buys a bike wheel from some sketchy dude that shows up with a bike wheel for sale? And yet it obviously happens all the time.

I would be remiss in my daily hijacking duties if I did not post this classic:

http://www.brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35733

Trainsmoke DeLeon wrote: I had the day off yesterday, so I wrote a song to go with some footage I had of some asshole stealing the tires off my bike last November.

Bonus points if anyone can name the block(s)! It's in PH

FYI the local precinct told me to just hold on to this footage.

armchair_warrior

most of these guys don't sell them, they hoard them over time, former crack head use to live in my building. he had few apts full of bikes and bike parts.

also i had a garbage can stolen by a middle age dude too.

bcodsnpkslope

Drano wrote: People will steal anything. Bike wheels are a perfect example - what can you get for a damned bike wheel that would make it worth the risk? What's the street value? And who buys a bike wheel from some sketchy dude that shows up with a bike wheel for sale? And yet it obviously happens all the time.

Semi-rant over. Sorry about your plant.

clearly you havent seen the ads for bike parts all over craigslist

slopeduder

Someone stole my pumpkin off the top of my stoop. :evil:

bcodsnpkslope

SlopeDuder wrote: Someone stole my pumpkin off the top of my stoop. :evil:

welcome to mischief night

eggcream

SlopeDuder wrote: Someone stole my pumpkin off the top of my stoop. :evil:

Mine were destroyed in front. :evil:

ringrunner

I caught a squirrel stealing a pumpkin last week.

http://whatyourdonotknowbecauseyouarenotme.blogspot.com/2010/11/ya-ever-wonder-what-happens-to-those.html

veets

[b]I just planted about 200 bulbs that will bloom in the Spring.

I dare you to steal them!.

It didn't take that much effort to instal those little blow up thingies in the bulb bed.

Take a walk!

I dare you.

whynot_31

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/11/11/fishy-felony-exotic-koi-stolen-from-ny-familys-pond/

In Scarsdale, thieves are talking fish! This outta control

kvb208

Hi,

I'm the editor of a new online news website coming to Park Slope (parkslope.patch.com). I'm doing a story on plant robberies -- if anyone has had their plants stolen and would like to talk about it please contact me at [email protected].

Thanks!

bogframe

We had the same thing happen to us in Bensonhurst two years ago. We got up, look out onto the balcony and someone had stolen 6 of our planters. All the cops had to say was that there was a lot of it going on and someone down the street had the same thing happen. It's what we get for trying to make our corner of the world a bit nicer.

whynot_31

Video of a guy stealing solar lawn lights in CH: