29-08-2003, 02:14 AM
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Squirrels Eating My Tomatoes!
In article ,
(Patskywriter) wrote:
That is exactly the way it was for me last summer, during the drought.
A lot of tomatoes would have an obvious bite mark, but they were always
ripe and left on the vine. We actually ate a few of them after cutting
out all around the bitten area.
But earlier this summer, even right after a good rain, I would come home
and find half-eaten green tomatoes on the back deck. Then one day I saw
a squirrel sitting there, holding a small green tomato in its paws,
munching away!
I may try a decoy food source, but I don't really want to attract more
of the rodents than I have now. This evening, I mixed up a batch of
chili powder and ground red pepper and sprinkled it on the plants (I was
having a sneezing fit by the time I was done). If that does not work, I
shall escalate!
Now I am getting some kind of little white critters boring into the
fruits and clustering under the leaves. They are about half the size of
a grain of white rice. I guess they are some type of caterpillar. I
hate to use chemicals, but I think I am going to have to spray.
Thanks all for the tips (and also the additional blood info). I will
post results.
actually, if your squirrels are like our squirrels, what they're doing is
taking a bite or two out of the tomatoes and sucking out the water because
they're thirsty. they don't really like the tomatoes. what we used to do is
set
out peanuts and bowls of water for the little critters and they left our
crops
alone. try that and let us know what happens!
pat
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Mark
Raleigh, NC USA
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