Critters gettin my maters...
- Thread starter Baja28
- Start date
Katelin
one day the dark will end
Buy a large bottle of "Pine Sol" original scent....take strips of cloth or teashirt or towel, soak strips in undiluted Pine Sol and hang over tomato plants....
This scent is so offensive, it will keep critters away...and it sounds like bunnies or groundhogs. Squirrels find tomatoes too sour and will stay away.
After a rain, refresh the strips to keep them away. Pine Sol is an organic product and will not harm your plants or garden.
You can always stick wire clothes hangers in the ground and hang the strips from those.
Good Luck!!!!
This scent is so offensive, it will keep critters away...and it sounds like bunnies or groundhogs. Squirrels find tomatoes too sour and will stay away.
After a rain, refresh the strips to keep them away. Pine Sol is an organic product and will not harm your plants or garden.
You can always stick wire clothes hangers in the ground and hang the strips from those.
Good Luck!!!!
kwillia
n/a
Oh! Good idea! So far we've managed to keep all critters out except for wild turkeys and I've yet to figure out what they are after...Buy a large bottle of "Pine Sol" original scent....take strips of cloth or teashirt or towel, soak strips in undiluted Pine Sol and hang over tomato plants....
This scent is so offensive, it will keep critters away...and it sounds like bunnies or groundhogs. Squirrels find tomatoes too sour and will stay away.
After a rain, refresh the strips to keep them away. Pine Sol is an organic product and will not harm your plants or garden.
You can always stick wire clothes hangers in the ground and hang the strips from those.
Good Luck!!!!
BadGirl
I am so very blessed
May not be "critters", especially if they are leaving the tomatoes half eaten and they're still on the vine.. Probably cut worms, more than likely tomato Horn worms..
They are HARD to see on a tomato plant, but if you look you'll see a LOT of them, and you may have to get real close to see them, but they'll be there.
http://www.theranchersdaughter.com/images/IMG_2589.jpg
There's supposed to be one in this picture.
They are HARD to see on a tomato plant, but if you look you'll see a LOT of them, and you may have to get real close to see them, but they'll be there.
http://www.theranchersdaughter.com/images/IMG_2589.jpg
There's supposed to be one in this picture.
Baja28
Obama destroyed America
No they pull em off the vine and leave a half eaten tomato in my garden.
BadGirl
I am so very blessed
No they pull em off the vine and leave a half eaten tomato in my garden.
Then set a few leg traps, and see what you catch...
R
rhenderson
Guest
Most likely the problem is squirrels. Try sprinkling you vines liberally with powdered lime. Just wash the tomatoes before you eat them. May not be 100 percent effective but should reduce the raids.
Squirrels will eat tomatos in a heartbeat. I have lost entire seasons to them. At first I was blaming my then young son and his friends. As soon as a tomato started to turn from white to pink they'd disappear. Most were located within 5-10 yards partially eaten. I have seen squirrels check out every cherry tomato on a half dozen plants then go back and systematically eat them from ripest to least ripest until everything with pink on it was gone.
Rabbits will not eat large vegetables or even large leaves. They prefer grass, narrow leaves or leaves with stems that they can pull into their mouths as they chew.
Cut worms "cut" young plants off just above the ground. They do not eat the tomato. Tomato Horn Worms are only hard to see when they're very young. If left to grow they can easily be 1/2 inch in diameter and 3-4 inches long. In So. Md. older people know them as "tobacco worms". They only eat the foliage not the tomato. Usually you will notice that leaves are stripped down to the stems/major veins before you see the worms.
Squirrels will eat tomatos in a heartbeat. I have lost entire seasons to them. At first I was blaming my then young son and his friends. As soon as a tomato started to turn from white to pink they'd disappear. Most were located within 5-10 yards partially eaten. I have seen squirrels check out every cherry tomato on a half dozen plants then go back and systematically eat them from ripest to least ripest until everything with pink on it was gone.
Rabbits will not eat large vegetables or even large leaves. They prefer grass, narrow leaves or leaves with stems that they can pull into their mouths as they chew.
Cut worms "cut" young plants off just above the ground. They do not eat the tomato. Tomato Horn Worms are only hard to see when they're very young. If left to grow they can easily be 1/2 inch in diameter and 3-4 inches long. In So. Md. older people know them as "tobacco worms". They only eat the foliage not the tomato. Usually you will notice that leaves are stripped down to the stems/major veins before you see the worms.
cregardener
New Member
Turtles will eat them too.
BadGirl
I am so very blessed
THAT makes sense too..
Had one living under our shed, and he was eating the bottom ones, and the worms were eating the rest..
When we moved out, the turtle was still there. He MAY have followed us, but it will be a couple more weeks before he gets here.
BadGirl
I am so very blessed
I only researched it because I've caught them eating actual tomatoes, and they would eat a LOT of the tomato and leave the rest to rot.
I have been lucky, they don't attack my maters in pots on the porch. Icky creatures.
GWguy
*
I used to have box turtles eat the plums that fell off the plum trees. The fruit was fermented by the time the turtles ate them. Really interesting watching drunk turtles.......
Super slow turtle porn?
No they pull em off the vine and leave a half eaten tomato in my garden.
How roood!
How about hanging some aluminum pie pans around so they dangle & hit one another in the breeze. For when there is a breeze, that is.
Wenchy
Hot Flash
Buy a large bottle of "Pine Sol" original scent....take strips of cloth or teashirt or towel, soak strips in undiluted Pine Sol and hang over tomato plants....
This scent is so offensive, it will keep critters away...and it sounds like bunnies or groundhogs. Squirrels find tomatoes too sour and will stay away.
After a rain, refresh the strips to keep them away. Pine Sol is an organic product and will not harm your plants or garden.
You can always stick wire clothes hangers in the ground and hang the strips from those.
Good Luck!!!!
Thank you! I'm going to try this.
Our tomatoes disappear or are destroyed at night.
I think they are raccoons since the squirrels are daytime critters.
Dakota
~~~~~~~
Buy a large bottle of "Pine Sol" original scent....take strips of cloth or teashirt or towel, soak strips in undiluted Pine Sol and hang over tomato plants....
This scent is so offensive, it will keep critters away...and it sounds like bunnies or groundhogs. Squirrels find tomatoes too sour and will stay away.
After a rain, refresh the strips to keep them away. Pine Sol is an organic product and will not harm your plants or garden.
You can always stick wire clothes hangers in the ground and hang the strips from those.
Good Luck!!!!
What about deer? I have a pumpkin patch that hasn't produced any pumpkins yet, but once it does, I know the deer will be in them.
I have a Topsy Turvy - Tomato Planter and I love it. It's doing fabulous.
SquirrelBait
Look at her SMILE
Moles will eat them up also. You will never see it happen, just go to pick mater and it will be cored out and small hole under it