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Are you sure that its a person, my friend has a fig tree and a similar thing happened. They were sure it was one of the neighbors, but it ended up being a squirrel. Since squirrels can't read, you might consider some sort of baffle on the trunk. Alternately, if you are sure its a person, only the worst kind of person would take every quince so I say string up some electrical cord and copper wire and put a sign danger, high voltage anti-squirrel deterrent system, please keep small children and pets away. Now turning it on would be illegal, but no one needs to know that ;)

Seriously, its probably just the squirrels.

I sincerely hope that Sally's squirrel theory is correct, because it would take a very sinister, mean-spirited person to steal someone's entire fruit tree bounty.

I have a feeling that someone who is inclined to steal all of the edible fruit from a tree on private property would not be dissuaded by a sign.

I only take fruit from a tree if there is tons of fruit on the ground around the tree. That way I figure they are already letting fruit go to waste and someone might as well enjoy it.

How rude! (of the thief, not the sign)

How about a motion detector light and camera? A friend of mine bought one to take photos of the deer that eat every tender leaf of her hostas. Hmmm... It would solve the squirrel vs. human debate.

She has my sympathies! People used to jump my parents' low fence to snag loquats. The tree put out an abundance of fruit, more than we could ever eat, and it may not have been such a big deal if they didn't trample the flowers just inside the fence to get to them. =(

Is the quince a big tree? Maybe you could net it.

If every guince is completely gone, all at once it would not be a animal. We have pear trees and for years the squirrels stripped every pear off of one tree and left some on one. They do not wait patiently for the peak of ripeness. The bite little ones and droop them around, Even for a bigger animal like a racoon it would be unlikely to harvest the whole crop cleanly in one night. Someone more cunning and greedy is at work.

At the same time, reading this has kinda made me ashamed of all my slow, daily, beady-eyed drive-bys of a neighborhood fig tree. It's growing along the side of a house, but outside its property fence, right on the sidewalk. I fantasize about stopping in one night and picking some fruits. I definitely don't want to become a fruit offender, though!

I wouldn't net it. We used to net a fig tree we had and poor little birds would be stuck in it. Things like this make me hate people... but oddly enough, we are going to plant fruit trees in that little patch of sidewalk grass in front of our home. That fruit will be for everyone to enjoy :)

There are skanky people who will help themselves if they see an opportunity. A neighbor of mine has a large asparagus patch that was being raided. He kept an eye out and found that a person he had given permission to take enough asparagus for a meal took that to mean he could help himself whenever he wanted.

On the other hand, my mother had placed some small American flags in the planters that stand on either side of the stairs of the front porch. She was furious because the flags were torn off, but the sticks left behind. She replaced the flags and it happened again.

After a windstorm, the flags were found in the remains of a squirrel's nest that had blown down. I'm pretty sure it was a very patriotic squirrel.

That's just amazing that someone would be that bold and jerky. (I have stronger words just not using them.) How about a tall fence with a locked gate? Other than that I think a motion detecting light and camera would be great. Or an alarm system. Or borrow a neighbor's dog and don't pick up after it for a week (preferably a large breed with digestive issues).

I second the motion sensor light and a wireless webcam. You can find some fairly inexpensive ones that come on only when they detect motion and will email the video clips to you. If it is a person, and they've been stealing fruit for years in the middle of the night, I doubt a sign asking them to be polite is going to change their mind. A sign stating that they're being filmed as they tresspass and a bright light to make them visible everytime they sneak fruit from the neighboor's tree might be more of a deterent.

the worst part about all this? the lack of quince jam/jelly.

when i was a kid smucker's used to make quince jelly, but no longer. now i have to find it at farmers markets/amish stores back in ohio.

I also second the motion sensor light, or really, just a circle of outdoor patio lights (they're about $10 a piece) around the tree. Give the tree and the thief visibility. I doubt the friendly sign (or the shame factor) will work.

Another vote for motion sensor light.

My parents have a lot of fruit trees (and a lot of squirrels) and the squirrels never take a whole fruit. Not even small fruit. That's one of the reasons they're so aggravating - they simply take bites out of the fruit and leave the rest to sit there or drop. They spoil a much greater percentage of our fruit with that method.

I think it's pretty clear that it's a neighbor. A few well-placed trip lines attached to some tin cans would make enough of an unexpected racket that it would probably dissuade a casual neighbor thief.

I had a friend who had a similar problem - his parents' front yard has a bunch of orange trees to which his neighbors would (shamelessly, in plain sight) pick from. The family would literally watch outside as a small flock of older ladies picked their fruit!

I suggested that they pick some oranges and gift them to the offenders - since then, they've not found a single person picking fruit from their front yard, and often even receive gifts in return for the oranges!

if someone shaddy enough to steal fruit from this tree a sign isn't going to stop them. I would set up a video camera inside the house every night to record what's going on out there when the fruit nears ripeness. let's hope it's just animals. I like the motion sensor light option as well.

People are unbelievable. I used to have two large rosemary bushes in my front yard. I lived across from The Herb Bar where you could buy dried herbs. I often had people knock on my front door and would happily get them a pair of scissors to cut some. One day I was driving away from my house to find a women bracing her foot against my stairs and yanking on my bush. I stopped, honked, then had to get out of my car and inform her that she was on private property and destroying my plant. Unreal.

I think the motion sensor sprinkler might be a little better than the light. You can get them at hardware stores to keep raccoons from rolling up your new sod.

Squirrel. They've been stealing my ripe pomegranates. The neighbor caught the furry little monster making off with the one he'd been eyeing for a week. I guess it's not enough that we fatten his cheeks with our ample pecan trees. Little troublemaker will be a mitten soon.

Animals can easily strip a tree in an entire night.

We actually had that problem with deer and our peach tree. One summer I had the only fruiting peach tree in the area, since a cold snap killed the blossoms on all the others but I actually rigged a tarp of my second floor porch and kept the tree heated with a large light underneath it.

The summer passed, and I was pleased as punch with myself for the bumper crop of beautiful peaches I had thanks to that crazy idea. I daydreamed of all I would do with it - fresh peaches for dessert, cans and cans of dried peaches to munch on in winter...

Well, it turns out the deer were watching my peaches ripen too. I woke up one morning to find that they'd stripped every single fruit off the tree, even going so far as to break a few branches for the tallest ones. And it was obvious it was deer too, since the ground was soft enough to see their prints.

Stupid, stupid deer. I am still bitter about it!

I just had slivers of quince (membrillo) covered in lime juice and chile on a trip to Mexico--yummy!