I want revenge on plant thief

[TuppyBarmyFotheringale]

I finally got around to filling up the two large planters in front of my house… and within two weeks, only two out of the twelve original shrubs remain! Someone has been taking them, one at a time, a few days apart!

Please let me know how I can exact revenge. Replacing the stolen goods with something prickly doesn't seem enough.

Do you have a cat or know anyone with a cat?
A fresh cat poop smeared on the back of the plant, that they can’t immediately see, but gets all over their hands when they steal it.
If feels good to think about them getting stinky cat shit all over their hands even if you don’t actually do it.
some people are just low life.

Plant nettles in there. Not too tall, so they look like new plants.

Is cat poo smelly enough? I'd go for dog. If you can find a way of applying it that isn't too awful.

Sprinkle chilli powder in the soil. Ditto tons of glitter, u might be able to follow the trail of the thief.

My friend has two cats and I know a wild place where I can dig up some nettles.

Nothing smells worse than cat shit!

A little sign saying please don't steal my plants, a fake cctv camera. It's despicable behaviour.

The even roundedness of the holes left behind makes me think the thief has brought a digging tool with them though.

You can make some very smelly feed, bonemeal or manure smells horrible.

We have a real CCTV camera! But the police won't look unless we can tell them the exact time and day the thefts occurred, as they don't have time to trawl through hours of CCTV blah blah blah.
It's a block of flats so I'm not allowed to look at the CCTV apparently.

Do you live in a flat or a house?
I'm just wondering if it's a flat, maybe gf flat, could the thief think they're stealing from a communal area maintained by the block.

Not that that makes it ok! But some people justify theft to themselves and stealing from, for example, a communal garden isn't really stealing from a person is what they tell themselves so they don't feel like a thief.

Sorry, I know you said you live in a house but then you said you have CCTV but aren't allowed to look because it's a block of flats. I'm easily confused. 😁

I've got cctv and the way I look would be to skim back to seeing your shrub. Skim forward to see it no longer there and skim back and forth until you see the thief. It shouldn't take long. No need to sit for hours looking at it, there's nothing more boring than sitting there watching nothing going on.

@IncompleteSenten Sorry for the confusion. It's a small block of flats. When I referred to my "house" I meant the place where I live, not an actual house.
And yes, the plants are paid for by the communal budget that all the residents pay into.
@TroysMammy We have been told only the police are allowed to look at the CCTV.

Is there a management company for the flats, what a shame some people are such sad shits, I would plant nettles, the wildlife love them and put turmeric down on the earth, are the flats set back from the road.

@BlanketsBanned There is a management company. All they do is say to buy more plants.

I looked into nettles yesterday, but apparently they are invasive so I think we wouldn't be able to have anything but nettles in our planters!?!

The frontage is right on a main road but the planters are set into inverse bays so I was wondering if we could temporarily hem them in with wire until the plants are established. I'm not sure how long that would take though?

Chili, nettles and a bit of manure should help deter a thief.

Also the guilt fact - so a notice on a wall stating something like "Plants were stolen from here in June. Don't take these as they won't be replaced. These plants are for everyone in the community's enjoyment.'

If they are then taken don't plant anything up again.

OP can you plant nettles in a pot in the planters?

The problem with wire is detangling the plant roots from the wire.

Fox shit does.

I have learnt through bitter experience not to have anything at the front of the house unless it is screwed or securely attached. Mine is completely and utterly bare because of fucking nasty, stupid thieves. When I was a kid, my parents put a Christmas wreath on the front door. Stolen. My mum planted some plants. Stolen. I left my (not flashy) trainers on the doormat when I got home. Stolen. 3 different places and times, miles apart. Thieves and vandals are everywhere.

Sadly then it's probably someone who thinks it's 'public' so they can have them.

Maybe post on the local FB group about bloody thieving gits nicking your plants.

Could you but a cheap motion activated camera and hide it somewhere nearby? I know it's annoying to have to she'll out more money, but this would annoy me enough to make it worth it!

Excuse typos - 'buy' and 'shell'

I just read about this. I wonder if it would work? Couldn't they just dig around it and take the chicken wire and all?

Chicken wire
Dig a hole for the root ball and then dig a larger, slightly shallower hole around the outside, so it looks like an upturned cowboy hat.
Lay a sheet of ‘chicken wire’ inside the larger hole.
Make two cuts across the centre of the chicken wire and fold up the wire to allow the root ball to pass through into the smaller hole that you have dug for the plant.
Back fill the hole for the plant. Push the chicken wire back down on top of the root ball and use gardening wire to tie up the cut chicken wire, so only the stem of the plant is now coming through the hole in the wire.
Now push the chicken wire firmly into the bottom of the larger diameter hole and over fill with the soil.
Water thoroughly.

How would chili deter thieves? Curious!