[MalcW]

I was on holiday last week (I know, you should never go on holiday in the summer, but I've got an excuse...)

I got back to the plot yesterday, and all of my strawberries have gone. Not just partially eaten, but gone, like they were never there. And the same with my gooseberry bush. It was doing well, but now there isn't a single berry to be seen. Neither the strawberries or gooseberries were netted, but they've been fine up to now.
They will be netted next year though (thinks: is there any way to hook up an electric fence box to netting?).

And I was really looking forward to a home-grown gooseberry crumble...   

[mumofstig]

Sounds more like a 2 legged thief to me 

[jaydig]

Definitely sounds like a two legged thief to me, too. It happened to me one year. My gooseberries were nearly ripe, and I decided not to pick them on that particular day. When I got to the plot the day after, not one gooseberry was left, not even the ones deep inside the bush, and it was an Invicta, so had really nasty thorns. A tenant well known for his wanderings onto other people's plots, and his thriving business of selling stuff in the pub, tried to convince me that "the badger must have taken all of them". My response was to say I didn't believe that for a second, and that if I caught anyone stealing from my plot they'd have nothing left on their own the next time they came.  I didn't accuse him, but he must have thought I was a soft touch. I never had any more problems with thieving from my plot. He's no longer a tenant, and everyone heaved a sigh of relief when he left.

[RaptorUK]

Sounds more like a 2 legged thief to me 

Yep,  birds . . .  all my Gooseberries were taken in a couple of days when they were far from ripe,  will be netting then next year.

[Beetroot Queen]

I dont think its an animal. Plot theft is huge, I had an 11lb red cabbage taken one year. I photographed it on the saturday thinking thats sunday dinner, by sunday breakfast it had gone.

Plot theft is the pits after all the effort to bring a plant on.  I never net fruit

[JohnB47]

If I forget to net my gooseberries early, some of the fruit will be taken, by pidgeons I think, and the bush will have many branches broken. The fruit on the inside isn't taken. I think it's a human that's done the dirty in your case. A real dirty trick.

[Madame Cholet]

We get mainly tools nicked. mean b'''''''s

[surbie100]

That sucks. We don't get much nicked, but it's horrible when it happens.

[AnneB]

We get everything nicked on our site.  We have had cabbages, whole crops of drying onions, sacks of potatoes in store, lawnmowers, a hedgetrimmer, wheelbarrows, hosepipe, hanging baskets, shears, an old cast iron greenhouse boiler, seeds including saved peas, sweetcorn, even a staple gun all stolen from our site in the last year.  We do our best to discourage theft and now nobody keeps anything they value on site, but our crops are always vulnerable.   Personally I harvest everything as soon as it is ready and store at home.

[GrannieAnnie]

There are advantages to not having an allotment!   That's terrible.  I know some people don't have a conscience, but I could never do anything like that!

[Ma Lowe]

Well i am hoping that after being accused of reporting someone for trying to nick some of our wood(which I hasten to add that we most definitely did not do) they will think twice about taking anything off our plot. I suppose the one advantage of having the reputation that we report people is that they will hopefully think twice before crossing our path 

[jaydig]

Well i am hoping that after being accused of reporting someone for trying to nick some of our wood(which I hasten to add that we most definitely did not do) they will think twice about taking anything off our plot. I suppose the one advantage of having the reputation that we report people is that they will hopefully think twice before crossing our path 

I agree, which is why I reacted in a rather aggresive manner the first time it happened to me (I'm not normally like that). Word obviously got round that I wouldn't take things like that lying down, and I had no more trouble.

[beesrus]

How sad. I too lost all my gooseberries bar one single fruit last year, the day before I was to pick them. They are particularly vulnerable to complete strippings on a single day when ripe, from birds/animals. Not so much with netted strawberries though. Am picking my gooseberries today, hope I don't get a deja vu.

I find no future in harbouring bad thoughts in such matters if I can help it, especially with fellow plot holders. It's all too easy in life to point the finger in the wrong direction for the wrong reasons. I would be horrified and offended if someone pointed a finger at me. In the end our plots are vulnerable to all sorts and I expect to lose 25% of my produce to disease/pests/weather/human pests, and I certainly take my onions home to dry, that's for sure. I find tomato blight the cruelest.
I would love to keep strimmers etc up at the site but it's unrealistic as we get broken into quite often. Vandalism is particularly irritating, but the rebuilding/renewing afterward always feels good.

[JohnB47]

.... It's all too easy in life to point the finger in the wrong direction for the wrong reasons. .....

Occasionally fellow plot holders will offer me some of their produce and say 'if I'm not around, just help yourself'. It's very kind of them, of course, but I'm wary of doing that and being accused by someone else of stealing, so I never help myself and just wait until they offer me the things in person. Funny old world.

[8doubles]

A pigeon can cram in 40-50 acorns or small goosegogs at a sitting so if they were well underipe they are probably the culprit.
The strawbs could be anything , humans,birds,foxes or even a dog !