Please don't have a go at me, I'm only asking...

[Moopmoop]

Last September I was wandering around my local garden centre when I spotted their chilli plants for sale, they were mature plants with plenty of huge red chillies on them but I didn't want to buy one because they were still full price at about £7.99. I very briefly considered *taking* myself a chilli from one of the plants so I could get the seeds from it and grow it at home, then my senses caught up with me and I knew better. I understand that this is probably wrong but what would have happened if they'd seen me, could I have been arrested for shoplifting? I would never steal anything, I certainly wouldn't have stolen the plant or a packet of seeds but for a few brief seconds I thought it would be no big deal to get a few free seeds. What do you think?

[veggiechicken]

Couldn't do it myself, although if I found a pepper that had fallen off on the floor I might. I think its the act of damaging something that is for sale that would stop me.

[Hazel at the Hill]

I think you know the answer to this, Moopmoop.

Of course you could have been done for shoplifting, as you would have been taking something from the shop without paying for it.

You could have asked if you could take a fruit for the seed, of course, and they may have said 'yes' (or 'no, you scrounging wotnot', should it happen to have been me! I know, I'm harsh.) and that would have been fine - but otherwise, is it stealing? Emphatically so!

[spanish_gardener]

If you had done the wrong thing, you would be feeling awful with yourself, because you are not a bad person. I don't know you, but the thing is, even if you didn't do it, you kind of feel a bit guilty because you considered it.

[zazen999]

If I find stuff broken off on the floor, and I'm buying something else, I might tuck a cutting down the side of a pot but I usually forget about it by the time I get home anyway.

If you are in need of pepper seeds, use the VSP and trade some in.

[Feral007]

If you are in need of pepper seeds, use the VSP and trade some in. 

Or buy a nice red pepper at an organic store, eat it and save the seed.

I wouldn't ever be happy with a plant that I felt I had gotten without paying for. Unless it was offered. I was tempted to offer half or less for some tatty looking plant at Aldi the other day, then thought, you know I'll feel annoyed if they say no, since it's a) half dead anyway and b) just the fact that they won't mark it down, would rather it died in shop.

[Two_Sheds]

how would you feel if you paid £8 for a plant, then found out someone had stolen half the fruit off it?

(you would only take 1 fruit, you say. Well, so did the person before you and the one after you)

[SarzWix]

I suspect that a lot of people have probably had a sneaky cutting or seed pod from gardens open to the public. The difference here is that the GC is charging a small fortune for a plant with fruit on it. The GC won't lose out, it's the customer who pays the £8 who potentially loses out. So, no, I wouldn't do it.

[Moopmoop]

how would you feel if you paid £8 for a plant, then found out someone had stolen half the fruit off it?

(you would only take 1 fruit, you say. Well, so did the person before you and the one after you)

How would I feel? I can honestly say it wouldn't bother me in the slightest. I'm a very generous person and if a stranger approached me after I'd bought it and asked if they could have a chilli from my plant I would say yes. It's funny how we're all different eh?

[Feral007]

Just can't help noticing how you phrased that moopmoop. If a stranger came up and asked me....yes, I think I'm quite generous too. If someone asked me for a cutting (or as I did today, ask for one) then I'd be more than happy to help them out. But if I see someone taking something, just a little something, then it is the not asking that would annoy me. You weren't thnking of asking a shop assistant if you could take a pepper off the plant. *and yes, I do get annoyed at the prices some places charge. But you were thinking of taking without asking.
Today I asked for some cuttings, willing to pay for them. I was offered some for free. I accepted. In the end we were discussing some weed control and I was able to offer some information that might make something work for them. We shared.
Shops aren't going to share I guess. I don't expect them too. But I don't expect to take from them without paying.

[Moopmoop]

Well I didn't take it either but I don't know if it would bother me if I saw someone taking a chilli off a plant in a shop (unless the seeds inside the pods were for sale). If I'd bought that plant and I could see there had been a few chillies removed I probably would have just assumed that they'd fallen off. A few people have said that if there was fruit on the floor then they would consider taking it, I don't really see the difference.

[Veggielot]

If you would get done for shoplifting or not would depend on their policy. However taking anything that belongs to someone else without permission is theft, even if it one dropped on the floor, so they well within their rights to prosecute. There is also a tendency to make a claim against shoplifters towards the cost of security. Cheaper just to buy a packet of seeds.

[marchogaeth]

(you would only take 1 fruit, you say. Well, so did the person before you and the one after you)

I think this is the point Moopmoop. It's like picking rare wild flowers. You can argue you'd only take one but if everyone did they'd all be gone.

You didn't take a pepper - so you didn't steal. I'd stick with that.

[Two_Sheds]

I don't know if it would bother me if I saw someone taking a chilli off a plant in a shop

Do you listen to the Moral Maze on R4? it's always an interesting discussion, like this one.

We all have different moral compasses. Yours is that you've decided that taking fruit from garden centres is OK. Other people might think taking fruit from your garden is OK. They aren't taking the whole bush, so what's your problem?

The high price of garden centre produce isn't the point. Their price is an invitation to buy: if you don't like the price, go somewhere else. If you don't want to pay anything at all, join a Seed Swap. You'll find a lot of my surplus seeds in there

[veggiechicken]

Re seed swapping, MoopMoop is a regular "customer" of the VSP. In fact, I think she knows it off by heart by now
When I go to a GC where they are selling lemon trees, there's almost always a lemon, lying on the pot, that's been knocked off. I've even wondered whether they're real or just put there for effect No, I've never had an urge to stuff it in my pocket. In fact, the only things I've picked up off the floor were mistletoe berries at my corner shop - where I know the owners. They gave me all the other loose berries too