When is it OK to take someone else’s fruit?

When is it OK to take someone else’s fruit?

Anyone who walks in L.A. sees it all the time — oranges, lemons or other fruit trees laden with ripe, unpicked fruit. What is the etiquette for helping yourself to someone else’s fruit?
When is it OK to pick fruit from someone else’s tree?

NeverWhen it’s hanging in a public alleyway and easily accessibleWhen branches full of fruit are hanging in my yardWhen branches full of fruit are hanging in or are accessible from a public street or sidewalk
When is it OK to pick fruit from someone else’s tree?

NeverWhen it’s hanging in a public alleyway and easily accessibleWhen branches full of fruit are hanging in my yardWhen branches full of fruit are hanging in or are accessible from a public street or sidewalk
Explain your response here:
When is it OK to pick up fallen fruit from someone else's tree?

NeverWhen it’s lying in a public street or gutterWhen it’s lying on the ground under the tree, but easily accessible from the street or sidewalkWhen it falls from a neighbor’s tree into my yard
When is it OK to pick up fallen fruit from someone else's tree?

NeverWhen it’s lying in a public street or gutterWhen it’s lying on the ground under the tree, but easily accessible from the street or sidewalkWhen it falls from a neighbor’s tree into my yard
Explain your response here
A tree on private property is laden with fruit no one is harvesting that’s easy to reach from a public spot. What can you do?

Nothing — the fruit belongs to the property owner and if they wanted to share they would put up a sign saying "Help yourself”Knock on the door and ask if you can take some fruitTake one or two pieces of fruit you can easily reachTake whatever you can reach since it’s a shame to let the fruit rot
A tree on private property is laden with fruit no one is harvesting that’s easy to reach from a public spot. What can you do?

Nothing — the fruit belongs to the property owner and if they wanted to share they would put up a sign saying "Help yourself”Knock on the door and ask if you can take some fruitTake one or two pieces of fruit you can easily reachTake whatever you can reach since it’s a shame to let the fruit rot
Explain your response here
What should people do when their trees produce more fruit than they can manage?

Pick the fruit and leave it for passersby to takePick the fruit and donate to a shelter or food bankPut up a sign telling passersby to take what they wantLet the fruit drop to be composted later because it doesn't taste that goodLeave the fruit for the birds, insects and other wildlifeContact a gleaning organization to harvest their fruit
What should people do when their trees produce more fruit than they can manage?

Pick the fruit and leave it for passersby to takePick the fruit and donate to a shelter or food bankPut up a sign telling passersby to take what they wantLet the fruit drop to be composted later because it doesn't taste that goodLeave the fruit for the birds, insects and other wildlifeContact a gleaning organization to harvest their fruit
Explain your response here. (If you know of any gleaning organizations in Southern California, please tell us about them here, so we can contact them for a future article.)
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