"Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message
...
Gus said:


What non-lethal methods work best to keep city squirrels away from
tomatoes?
It is a serious problem here. I wouldn't mind sharing some tomatoes, but
the squirrels here are very rude and do not share. And actually taunt.
Taking a bite out of a perfectly good tomato and then leaving it.

Building a wire cage probably is the best method, but I hear they can even
get through those. And I'm not all that handy at building things.

Last year, putting soaking a rag with vinegar about every 3 or so days
seemed to work for a while. Though at the end of the summer, even that
was not deterring them that well.

Late to the party, but...

1) Provide a source of drinking water for the squirrels, birds, etc.
They may
be going after the tomatoes mainly for the water content.

2) My daughter ran an experiment as an assignment for one of her zoology
classes. She offered various 'flavors' of peanuts to hungry winter
squirrels,
including smoked, two levels of hot pepper seasoned and wasabi flavored
peanuts.

Their obvious preference was for plain or salted peanuts. They would eat
the hot pepper and smoked peanuts. They mainly ignored the wasabi
flavored. Which suggests that wasabi (similarly, horse radish or mustard
oil)
could be worth looking into as a squirrel deterent.

3) When all else fails, a cage of 1" hex wire netting ("chicken wire")
will
exclude squirrels. You need to bend the wire out at the bottom (to prevent
them going under) and either let the top flop outward or put a cap on the
cage (to prevent them going over). I've used panels of 48" chicken wire
stapled to 1" x 2" strapping. The panels can be moved around as needed.
Tie them using temporary stakes. You can make circles, triangles, etc.
They
should be rolled up and stashed out of the weather when not needed .

4) A sturdy 4' fence which is lined with chicken wire (bent out or buried
several inches deep at the bottom) and topped with a shock wire or two
will
keep out a whole lot of potential pests.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI


Thanks Pat in Plymouth. Good suggestions. I had read they bite the
tomatoes for the water content, that they not intentionally trying to ****
off the gardener by only taking one bite... Not sure about water source.
There is a major problem with mosquitoes in the summer around here, so not
supposed to leave standing water around. I suppose I could use put
something out though and dump the water every 2-3 days. But I don't think
it's water that is a problem around here, but maybe they just prefer water
from tomatoes or are just lazy squirrels. They will bite even green ones
that aren't that watery. I think I will try leaving water out.

Are you suggesting leaving peanuts out, but away from the tomatoes? I don't
have a big yard, but could maybe put some at the other end. Or in the front
yard. How do you know if the squirrels have a peanut allergy. (Actually,
that might be a good thing!)

I didn't mess with chicken wire too much because to do it right was getting
kinda involved. I had read that cheap chicken wire with larger hole they
can still get through. Though I did have some lying around and I did kinda
lay it around the plants. I think it did dissuade them a bit but not too
much. I didn't stake it thinking maybe if it was flimsy and gave way some
when they stepped on it maybe they would be skittish?

My SMIL suggested plastic snakes. But those are worthless. I've seen the
squirrels step right over a couple on the deck railing. I tried to tie a
couple with string so they should move a bit but that didn't have any effect
either. Not on the squirrels. I also put out some tinfoil. That may have
kept away some birds, but not squirrels.

I don't like wasabi, so afraid that would get into the tomatoes, but maybe I
can try spreading some around one of the plants and experiment. Maybe in
conjunction with the white vinegar.... What do you mean by mustard oil? I
like mustard so would try that. Spicy mustard??