Posts: 6,214
Threads: 354
Joined: Feb 2006
As sorta newbie fruit tree owners.... we have a question of local etiquette
We have a large orange tree with branches to the property line & sidewalk... we know that fruit near the sidewalk is fair game to all (& actually do not pick those, hoping the neighborhood kids can have some)
Over the last week we have had guys in pickups drive up over the sidewalk & against the fence to pick from the bed of the truck..... this struck us as a little out of bounds (esp. the driving over the sidewalk....)
Today a truck drove up with 2 guys with pickers & one guy in the bed climbed out of the truck & into the tree.....
I hosed them (was watering at the time & do not think they realized I was there....) aanyhooo, I got this big attitude from them that this was OK..... am I missing something?? is it local custom that I missed???
We can see big liability problems, with strangers in our trees, wether this is OK or not .... & we will most likely drastically trim the tree back to limit this liability.... - It is a delicious attractive nuisance, but not worth a lawsuit.....
So what is it, local custom or caught in the act????
Posts: 1,779
Threads: 73
Joined: Aug 2006
Those guys were dead wrong.
You were too kind.
Might I strongly encourage that getting the license number and calling your nearest Police Station would be the appropriate measure.
On a related note, what is really twisted is that there are lots of citrus trees around with fruit falling to the ground and rotting.
Not a waste -- it decomposes and goes back to the soil. However, it is a serious contributor to making fruit flies worse! Also, as evidenced by your experience, there are some people who want the fruit. The trespassers could look for those trees with fruit falling to the ground and ask the residents if sharing is possible.
James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park
Posts: 6,214
Threads: 354
Joined: Feb 2006
Many of our neighbors do not pick all of the fruit on their trees ... and many of them are retired & elderly & just not able to pick. We have worked with some of them to pick their fruit, allow them first pick of all... any they do no want goes to the food basket or one of the senior centers that we drop produce at... every homeowner that has a tree that is not picked has been very receptive to this..... & it helps keep down all of the pests, fruit flies, citrus rats (my least favorite...) & various buggies...
The oddest thing is that we did have a basket of excess oranges from this tree in our driveway, for anyone to partake.... but that was a hundred feet down from the tree....
Posts: 121
Threads: 48
Joined: Jan 2007
Wow....driving over the sidewalk? Picking from the truck? Climbing in your tree? Yeah, I would consider that excessive! And I agree with the posts that point out that there are so many trees with fruit falling on the ground and rotting..... I've found some guava trees along the highway and other roads, and I've picked them and made jam..... so I'm even more aware of the waste when I see fruit on the ground. With so many folks "hungry" it seems that more folks would offer (and at least ASK!) to pick fruit from folks' trees that are not being harvested.
I'm no kama'aina, but I sure think those guys were out of line.
Katie
Wherever you go, there you are.
Wherever you go, there you are.
Posts: 1,139
Threads: 42
Joined: Feb 2008
way out of line!
we had a mango thief this year--our neighbor. never mind that i would pick mangoes and deliver them to the neighbors. for these people, i'd put them on our wall and told them if they see them there, that they are theirs. then one day, i see the woman with her very long picker reaching over and helping herself. the branches/fruit did not overhang onto/into her property. you betcha she got a talking to.
another neighbor, whom i really don't know, sold the mangoes i had left for her family. well, technically, they no longer belonged to me so she could do whatever she felt.
in another case, in a different neighborhood, mango thieves were arrested and prosecuted. there's also a big problem with lychee and avocados.
"chaos reigns within.
reflect, repent and reboot.
order shall return."
microsoft error message with haiku poetry
"a great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."
w. james
Posts: 990
Threads: 22
Joined: Dec 2007
Kathy, would that not hold him responsible for any drop and squishes in your driveway, and if you wanted, could you not trim the overhanging branches? Not suggesting to do it, but that's a pretty lame law.
Gordon J Tilley
It is considered poor golf etiquette to pick up lost golf balls before they quit rolling.
Mark Twain
Posts: 1,734
Threads: 29
Joined: Feb 2006
Usually well behaved and mannerly folks will ask before taking fruit from a tree or even fruit fallen under a tree unless you post a sign saying it is okay to pick. Since you had left the fruit on that side of the tree those ill mannered folk were encouraged into bad behavior. It doesn't make what they did any better but had the fruit been picked off the tree, they would have not been as likely to misbehave. I sort of suspect with times getting hard they may be taking the fruit to the farmer's market to sell or selling it somewhere else.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
] I love it... I'm gonna use that in defense of eating my sons Halloween candy
]