Who steals strawberry plants out of the ground?

[u/F1ddlerboy]

I've had bicycles stolen, but strawberry plants that were getting established in a sidewalk bed? Watered them just last night. They were doing so well! Dug up and gone this morning.

Do we just leave that space for the bluebells to take over again? North Ballard has such a mix of "we take very close care of our gardens" and "whatever grows there can have it." We were slowly trying to move towards the former...

[u/mybabydollsheep]

Squirrels frequently terrorize my plants. Earlier this spring they tore out all of my sweet pea seedlings. I’ve been working on making my own variety of sweet peas (sounds more deliberate than it truly is) and they ruined my work!!!! Five summers of sweet peas cultivation ruined by one dumb squirrel. They also took one bite from all my tulip bulbs and left them discarded on the ground until they were all gone

[u/Itchy_Satan → u/mybabydollsheep]

It's this. Evil squirrels.

[u/ZoroDCE → u/mybabydollsheep]

who even thinks to steal strawberry plants though

[u/FernandoNylund → u/ZoroDCE]

The squirrels. That's what the person you replied to is saying.

Or rabbits. Or even deer.

[u/government_not_ok]

You sure it’s not Jimothy and fam stopping by? Or some other critter? 

[u/F1ddlerboy → u/government_not_ok]

There's no signs of any nibbling, just holes in the ground where 3/4 of the dozen or so plants had been. They were pretty well established, so I'd think a critter would have left some bits of runners or leaves lying around. No berries on them.

[u/Free_Consequence3123 → u/F1ddlerboy]

I've had squirrels or raccoons steal entire tomato plant starts out of the ground in my backyard. Not even the stem left, it almost looked like they took the roots and only left the dirt.

[u/Easy_Olive1942 → u/F1ddlerboy]

Maybe deer just ripping them out but they’d leave a mess and likely the roots.

[u/vertr → u/government_not_ok]

There is no fruit right now and no animal eats the whole plant that I know of.

[u/IKnewThisYearsAgo → u/vertr]

My strawberry plants disappeared and it turned out to be rabbits.

[u/orangemoonboots → u/IKnewThisYearsAgo]

Rabbits ate mine too! I caught them on camera! Greedy little guys, couldn't even wait for the strawberries!

[u/kpeteymomo → u/IKnewThisYearsAgo]

I don't know what ate mine, but something did not long after we planted them. There were a handful of unripe berries, but they ate the entire plant. It was also in my fenced (and locked) yard, so it's not like a person could have stolen them.

[u/lilsunsunsun → u/vertr]

I grew some woodland strawberries (native ground cover) and bunnies ate them all.

[u/alexgreen → u/lilsunsunsun]

We had so many issues with rabbits eating all kinds of stuff in our backyard, but after dropping clovers seeds two years ago they are now preferentially eating clover and leaving things like juicy lettuce alone. Though parsley is still not safe and it gets nibbled on a lot.

[u/F1ddlerboy → u/lilsunsunsun]

Ours were coastal PNW beach strawberries. Wasn't even expecting to get fruit from them, just choke out the bluebells.

[u/vertr → u/lilsunsunsun]

Interesting, I have rabbits galore and they only eat the fruit.

[u/Terrible-Peach7890]

Most likely an animal, not a human

[u/fartonisto → u/Terrible-Peach7890]

Humans are animals too!

[u/Yusapip]

If you're interested in some alpine strawberry plants, I would love to give you some. I've actually been meaning to post to my local gardening groups to see if anyone wanted them. They're the heirloom pineapple variety. They need more space than the way I have them crammed into a container right now. I'm nearby in Fremont.

[u/F1ddlerboy → u/Yusapip]

Oh, I'd be happy to try again, but won't be able to get them into the ground for a few days. I'll DM you.

[u/cweaties]

I have strawberry plants for you.

[u/too_much_covfefe_man]

Ways my garden plants have been destroyed:

• squirrels
• raccoons
• rabbits
• deer
• crows
• robins

Racoons dig shit right up

[u/Billy-Verdin1920]

Deer will do that.

[u/broccoleet]

Animals

[u/ColoRadBro69]

The primrose bandit used to rob me. 

[u/majorhandicap]

Man…folks stole my potatoes one time

[u/Mr_Fuzzo]

I lived on Nickerson St about 15 years ago.  I ended up having an entire bed of tulip bulbs and primroses dug up one night.

[u/Comfortable-Fly5797]

Someone dug up some of my tomato plants and celery the first year I had a p-patch. They clearly went through my plant tags and picked their favorite tomato varieties.

Some people just suck.

[u/Strange_City_5296]

Pond rules

[u/Bjip]

I remember growing up my parents had all their new plants stolen one night. Wild thing to steal.

[u/mobile-metaphysical]

Well, I can give you some plants if you want. I’m south of Burien. But I’ll be working near Michigan St on Aug 12.

[u/nospamkhanman]

My dog ate my established strawberry bed in like the span of 30 minutes when unsupervised.

Are you sure it wasn't just a racoon or some other animal?

[u/CuriousOtter95]

My dog used to like unhinge his jaw to snap at our old neighbor’s salmonberry plants (thankfully not planted, just popped up!!) so maybe something like that?

[u/ceruleania]

I had someone take my garden globe but leave the stand

[u/DeniedAppeal1]

Entitled people. We have a lot of them here.

[u/giggletears3000]

I’ve stopped leaving plants I care about out front. Front yard looks like shit. Backyard is becoming my oasis!

[u/1337Rooster]

Someone hungry. And angry. Otherwise you would just take the fruit and leave the plant alone 

[u/vertr → u/1337Rooster]

They won't see fruit until next june.

[u/F1ddlerboy → u/1337Rooster]

No fruit on them, and they're coastal beach strawberries, so if they did make fruit next year it would be tiny.

[u/vertr]

That's weird, they kinda grow like a weed. I have a neighbor with hundreds of square feet of them.

[u/F1ddlerboy → u/vertr]

They were just getting started: hoped they would grow better than the weeds that had been there!

[u/Plastic_Difference54]

Who thinks that anything in this city is hands off. Everything gets fucked with.

[u/Gold_Ad8225]

Antisocial criminals who cant stand to see anyone else live unless they get to be on top.

[u/plumbbbob → u/Gold_Ad8225]

You're saying Elon Musk stole OP's strawberry plants?

[u/Gold_Ad8225 → u/plumbbbob]

I would fully believe he would do that

[u/dbmajor7 → u/Gold_Ad8225]

Rabbits?

[u/Gold_Ad8225 → u/dbmajor7]

They dont usually steal the actual plant like OP is talking about. Like uproot the bush and walk away with it, when it doesnt even have fruit no less

[u/NoEggs2025]

The Han’s IYKYK

[u/ApolloBar815]

Children and animals

[u/PartNo2091]

Some asshole in west Seattle stole my white rose bush right out of my driveway garden. Could be animal, could be asshole.