Squirrels are swiping all my tomatoes before they have a chance to start getting ripe. There's nothing around here that eats squirrels, and we can't shoot 'em. Is there a way to keep them away from the tomatoes?
Alan
Hav-a-heart trap, bread, peanut butter. Drown'em or move'em.
Give them better stuff to eat. Peanuts, for example.
They also may need water and are eating the tomatoes which are about 80% water to quench their thirst.
We trap squirrels using a Hav-A-Hart trap, baited with a peanut butter cracker (or any cookie will work). We take the trapped squirrels 10 miles away to a wooded park. After taking 20 squirrels, it takes a year for the population to return. An electric fence should keep them out of your garden.
I don't know much about anything... but if you put an offensive smell around the tomatoes...
Not sure if this will work, but perhaps putting some cayenne pepper into a water solution might deter them if sprayed on the tomatoes. Might make your tomatoes a little spicier. :-)
Trap them with the Hav-a-Hart but do not let them go. Shot them in the trap using a pellet rifle and bury the damn things around your roses and irises. Squirrels are not looking for water or anything else; they are just nipping them. Putting out other food will just draw more of them. Trap, shoot and bury.
I've found that I have to be careful giving the squirrels peanuts. A few are OK, but if I give them too many they start saving them. They make little holes in my garden when burying the nut, and GREAT BIG holes when trying to find them again.
Twenty three years of fresh veggies, and this is the first years I have ever had a problem with squirrels taking my tomatoes. Green or starting to ripen, it doesn't matter.
I know it is not because they want water. Our four-year drought ended last year, and they never touched them during that time.
I saw squirrels nibbling at my dwarf orange tree last year. My peach tree and grape vines seemed to have puny crop.
This spring, I set out two bait stations with pellets of rodent bait. This attracts not only squirrels, but also field mice and rats. But birds and larger animals (including my tortoise) cannot enter the stations. The bait is toxic with a delayed reaction, killing the rodent after it eats its fill and leaves the station. I have been assured by professionals that the bait does not create a danger to the scavengers (coyotes, ravens, etc) that might feed on the dead rodents.
This year, my peach tree had a bumper crop. My grape vines are sagging with the weight of large bunches of grapes.
Yes, I still see some squirrels. But they seem to be leaving my fruits alone. Perhaps they find the bait more tasty.
Redclay--Your suggestion is a particularly un-sportsmanlike and gruesome one. And, by the way, who made you the great squirrel psychologist? Maybe they *do* want the moisture????
I think I saw them (and the bait) at Do-It. The ones in my backyard were installed by my exterminator service, which checks them monthly to refresh the bait. ($10 per month per bait station)
The first servicing after they were installed, one station had been completely emptied. The second station was near empty. More significant, the technician discovered a rat in that station, munching away. Fortunately, the varmints eat their fill and leave the station before dying.
I used a product called the Cat/Dog Stop that I bought from
In another thread I took you seriously when you claimed this worthless device did the job for you personally. I corrected this misinformation, but was myself naive enough to believe you had at least THOUGHT you'd experienced some positive effect, since coincidents do happen. But hooboy was I wrong in assuming you were a regular joe hornswoggled by crooks, as another individual noted that you are yourself merely a constant spammer
-- making YOU the hornswoggling crook.
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-paghat the ratgirl
OK, so back to original post. I also have noticed that now that I finally have red tomatoes, it looks like the squirrels are eating them.
Does anyone have any REAL advice about what to do??
Thanks!
_____________________________ '00 FXDWG "A couple of the sounds that I really like are the sounds of a switchblade and a motorbike".
An electric fence. That's what I have and it works well. Keeps out the groundhogs too. I have loads of tomatoes this year from 5 plants. I tried a yellow tomato plant for the first time and these are very tasty with a mild flavor. I had an abundance of squirrels earlier this summer, but then I spent a few weeks trapping them, perhaps 30 or so until the squirrel population decreased, at least for now.
I don't see the original post.
I live in a small apartment co-ownership apartment building in Toronto that backs on to one of the two major rivers and it's conservation area. We have a bunch of enthusiastic tomato growers, with plants in pots taking advantage of the few places on the property that get enough sunlight (we also have a lot of matuer trees) We have squirrel posses coming out our ears. They find the tomato crops on the balconies, too.
The solution that has worked is to wrapthe plants and pots in 1" mesh chicken wire. The squirrels can't chew throught that. 1" or 0.5" hardware cloth will work as well. It needs to be metal, not fibreglas mesh.
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- Garrison Keillor
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