Nursery owner says repeated acts of vandalism left her with up to $40K in damage and losses
The owner of Wallkill Greenhouse says four 100-foot gashes were sliced through two greenhouses in March before her pool was slashed last week.
A Walden nursery owner says she feels targeted after two acts of vandalism at her business and home in recent months, leaving her with tens of thousands of dollars in losses and worried about what could happen next.
Tiana Costa owns Wallkill Greenhouse at 2878 State Route 208, where she also lives behind the business.
Costa says the first incident happened in March, when someone sliced roughly 100-foot-long gashes along both sides of two greenhouses.
“When I came outside that morning, I was crying my eyes out because all my work — I’ve been in here since the beginning of February — and it all just got taken away from me overnight,” Costa said.
Costa says she had just replaced the greenhouse plastic in October at a cost of more than $1,500, plus labor, for each greenhouse. She says the plastic typically lasts about 10 years.
But the damage to the structures was only part of her loss.
Costa says it was 27 degrees outside that night, leaving seedlings, cuttings and other young plants she had been growing since February exposed to the cold. She estimates she lost between $35,000 and $40,000 worth of plants and inventory.
She says she scrambled to find replacement plants and seedlings and has patched the greenhouse plastic with tape, old dirt bags and other materials rather than replace it again.
Then, last week, Costa says it happened again — this time at her home behind the nursery.
Someone slashed her pool, which Costa says her husband has since taken down and replaced.
“This is an attack on me, honestly. It’s really truly sad,” Costa said.
Costa believes both incidents happened overnight, sometime between 2 and 4 a.m. She says she does not know who was responsible or whether the incidents are connected.
The vandalism comes during an already difficult year for Costa. Her grandfather, who owned Wallkill Greenhouse for 30 years before her, died in February. Costa says she had worked alongside him at the nursery since she was 15.
“I live here, and I’m scared,” Costa said. “When I go to bed at night, I’m gripping onto my husband like, ‘Oh my God, what’s gonna happen tonight?’”
Costa says she reported the incidents to New York State Police and Montgomery police, but no arrests have been made.
She says one bright spot has been the support she has received from the community. Costa says donations are helping her purchase additional surveillance cameras for the property.
