The squirrels are eating what few tomatoes I am getting this season.

1,000 pardons if this gets asked every week! Google searching has
uncovered these suggestions;

- Spread moth balls around the garden (toxic active ingredient?)
- Rat poison (way too dangerous to pets)
- Plastic owl/snakes (seems like the rodents would catch on pretty
quickly)
- Christmas Tree ornaments
- Spray pepper sauce on the fruits

Just wondering if folks here have any methods that they are happy with.
Thanks much!

--
Mark
Raleigh, NC USA

In article , Mark wrote:
The squirrels are eating what few tomatoes I am getting this season.

1,000 pardons if this gets asked every week! Google searching has
uncovered these suggestions;

- Spread moth balls around the garden (toxic active ingredient?)
- Rat poison (way too dangerous to pets)
- Plastic owl/snakes (seems like the rodents would catch on pretty
quickly)
- Christmas Tree ornaments
- Spray pepper sauce on the fruits

Just wondering if folks here have any methods that they are happy with.
Thanks much!


I generally plant more than I can use so I don't fuss about them or the
birds getting a few. Pepper spray is probably safest - just remember to
wash them first.

I gave up on corn though since they got 2 ears for every 1 I got.

--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

spam@www.spam.com is a garbage address.

I can personally vouch for the ineffectiveness of plastic owls/snakes to
scare squirrels. I've tried both. The plastic snakes nailed to our
house siding did manage to scare off the woodpeckers, as long as the
snakes position is rotated ever week or so. However, neither the owls
or the snakes ever scared off the squirrels in our yard. (If you want
to buy a plastic snake they have them at dollar stores). I needed to
scare off the woodpeckers b/c they have put so many holes into the cedar
siding of our house!

I found the squirrels would not go near any areas that I had sprinkled
dried blood. But while the dried blood seemed to repel the squirrels,
it sure attracted our dogs who attempted to eat it!

Good luck!
Heidi





Mark wrote:

The squirrels are eating what few tomatoes I am getting this season.

1,000 pardons if this gets asked every week! Google searching has
uncovered these suggestions;

- Spread moth balls around the garden (toxic active ingredient?)
- Rat poison (way too dangerous to pets)
- Plastic owl/snakes (seems like the rodents would catch on pretty
quickly)
- Christmas Tree ornaments
- Spray pepper sauce on the fruits

Just wondering if folks here have any methods that they are happy with.
Thanks much!

Have you tried distracting them by placing something they like in another
area of the yard away from the tomatoes? Earlier this summer I had
squirrels that decided to empty my bird feeders hanging from a large pine
tree in the back yard. I also have a bunch of tomato plants with lots of
ripe tomatoes and they have not touched them yet. I have a friend who feeds
squirrels in her back yard just to watch their quirky behavior and she feeds
them corn. It's that corn you buy for animals to nibble. I'm not really
sure of the exact name. Reminds me of what we used call cow corn (grown up
north for cows to eat). It's worth a try.

A cat might help too. I've got 3 cats (2 in/outdoor and 1 indoor). The 2
cats that hunt are very good at keeping voles/moles/snakes out of the yard.
They always leave me souvenirs. That's probably another reason I don't see
squirrels around my tomatoes.

Good luck. Let us know if what you try works.

Penny
"Mark" wrote in message
...
The squirrels are eating what few tomatoes I am getting this season.

1,000 pardons if this gets asked every week! Google searching has
uncovered these suggestions;

- Spread moth balls around the garden (toxic active ingredient?)
- Rat poison (way too dangerous to pets)
- Plastic owl/snakes (seems like the rodents would catch on pretty
quickly)
- Christmas Tree ornaments
- Spray pepper sauce on the fruits

Just wondering if folks here have any methods that they are happy with.
Thanks much!

--
Mark
Raleigh, NC USA

In article ,
Mark wrote:

The squirrels are eating what few tomatoes I am getting this season.


Chicken wire or hardware cloth formed into a tube around the plants.
It's cheap and readily available at Lowes et al, albeit not exactly
attractive. If the plants are in containers, run the tube around the
outside of the container and wedge some under the bottom. If in the
ground, bury the wire about six inches underground. It will tend to
discourage digging. Use wire ties to tie the sides together so that you
can get access into the tubes easily to get at the tomatos.

--
Steve Holzworth "Do not attribute to poor spelling
That which is actually poor typing..."
Senior Systems Developer - me
SAS Institute - Cary, N.C. - Open Systems R&D UNIX/VMS/MAC

In article ,
Mark wrote:

The squirrels are eating what few tomatoes I am getting this season.


These are some really good ideas!

A barrier like chicken wire would probably be the most reliable, but
this is a strip right next to the side of the house and only about 18'
from the house next door, so there are aesthetic issues with that. But
if nothing else works, I may do that when I plant next year.

Dried blood sounds interesting. What is it mainly used for? Can you
get it at gardening places (or do you have to make your own)? ;-

I am going to take an incremental approach. First, spray some pepper
around. The missus has a line on some red round Christmas ornaments, so
I may add those next. Maybe some 'decoy' corn in the back yard ...

I have only 12 plants. They did so poorly earlier (bugs, rain,
squirrels) but they are now getting a second wind and blooming like
crazy, so I want to be able to enjoy a few more of my own tomatoes this
summer!

Thanks much. Will post results.

--
Mark
Raleigh, NC USA

HI Mark,

You can buy dried blood at HD or Lowes in the garden/soil additives
section. It's fairly cheap. Dried blood is high in nitrogen and is
often used to green up plants. I did not need to use much blood to
deter the squirrels in our yard. I wouldn't over use the dried blood,
or your tomatoes will stop producing fruit from too much nitrogen. But,
it shouldn't hurt to sprinkle a few tablespoons around the plants.

Good luck!
Heidi

Mark wrote:

The squirrels are eating what few tomatoes I am getting this season.

1,000 pardons if this gets asked every week! Google searching has
uncovered these suggestions;

- Spread moth balls around the garden (toxic active ingredient?)
- Rat poison (way too dangerous to pets)
- Plastic owl/snakes (seems like the rodents would catch on pretty
quickly)
- Christmas Tree ornaments
- Spray pepper sauce on the fruits

Just wondering if folks here have any methods that they are happy with.
Thanks much!

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

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

--
Mark
Raleigh, NC USA

Mark wrote:
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.



I'm guessing the little white guys are aphids? If so, you can rid them by spraying the plant with horticulture oil. I'm not sure if you can find this at Lowes, but I know Homewood sells a horticulture oil called All Season's Oil. I believe what happens
is the oil smothers the aphids. It is not a chemical, which makes me feel safer using it around dogs, and food that I am going to eat!


Heidi





Mark wrote:

The squirrels are eating what few tomatoes I am getting this season.

1,000 pardons if this gets asked every week! Google searching has
uncovered these suggestions;

- Spread moth balls around the garden (toxic active ingredient?)
- Rat poison (way too dangerous to pets)
- Plastic owl/snakes (seems like the rodents would catch on pretty
quickly)
- Christmas Tree ornaments
- Spray pepper sauce on the fruits

Just wondering if folks here have any methods that they are happy with.
Thanks much!

In article ,
Heidi wrote:

Thanks much for the info. I was not aware of horticultural oil - it
certainly sounds better than insecticide. I did get a bag of dried
blood at a local hardware store. I will try it if the pepper doesn't
work (I can always use it for fall planting if I don't use it on the
tomatoes).

I also got a cayenne pepper oil spray product. I got the spray for the
squirrels but it may work on the insects as well. Although I have lost
one more tomato since I sprinkled ground red pepper on Thursday, I think
it may be having an effect!



Mark wrote:
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.



I'm guessing the little white guys are aphids? If so, you can rid them by
spraying the plant with horticulture oil. I'm not sure if you can find this
at Lowes, but I know Homewood sells a horticulture oil called All Season's
Oil. I believe what happens is the oil smothers the aphids. It is not a
chemical, which makes me feel safer using it around dogs, and food that I am
going to eat!


Heidi





Mark wrote:

The squirrels are eating what few tomatoes I am getting this season.

1,000 pardons if this gets asked every week! Google searching has
uncovered these suggestions;

- Spread moth balls around the garden (toxic active ingredient?)
- Rat poison (way too dangerous to pets)
- Plastic owl/snakes (seems like the rodents would catch on pretty
quickly)
- Christmas Tree ornaments
- Spray pepper sauce on the fruits

Just wondering if folks here have any methods that they are happy with.
Thanks much!





--
Mark
Raleigh, NC USA

In article ,
Heidi wrote:

Thanks much for the info. I was not aware of horticultural oil - it
certainly sounds better than insecticide. I did get a bag of dried
blood at a local hardware store. I will try it if the pepper doesn't
work (I can always use it for fall planting if I don't use it on the
tomatoes).

I also got a cayenne pepper oil spray product. I got the spray for the
squirrels but it may work on the insects as well. Although I have lost
one more tomato since I sprinkled ground red pepper on Thursday, I think
it may be having an effect!



Mark wrote:
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.



I'm guessing the little white guys are aphids? If so, you can rid them by
spraying the plant with horticulture oil. I'm not sure if you can find this
at Lowes, but I know Homewood sells a horticulture oil called All Season's
Oil. I believe what happens is the oil smothers the aphids. It is not a
chemical, which makes me feel safer using it around dogs, and food that I am
going to eat!


Heidi





Mark wrote:

The squirrels are eating what few tomatoes I am getting this season.

1,000 pardons if this gets asked every week! Google searching has
uncovered these suggestions;

- Spread moth balls around the garden (toxic active ingredient?)
- Rat poison (way too dangerous to pets)
- Plastic owl/snakes (seems like the rodents would catch on pretty
quickly)
- Christmas Tree ornaments
- Spray pepper sauce on the fruits

Just wondering if folks here have any methods that they are happy with.
Thanks much!





--
Mark
Raleigh, NC USA

Mark, I think "horticultural oil" may be the same as the dormant oil sprayed on fruit trees before they bud out. To the best of my knowledge, the oil smothers the insects rather than poisoning them. Just make sure that the oil is not mixed with something else. In the old days, people used to spray fruit trees with dormant oil spray & sulfur (or something), but I don't recall whether the two were mixed together.

I just googled for "horticultural oil" and found out that it's apparently a lighter grade of mineral oil than dormant oil spray.

I also found a recipe at Organic Gardening http://www.organicgardening.com/library/ for making your own spray, which might be worth a try:
Home Horticultural Oil
Recipe: Mix 1 cup of cottonseed or soybean oil with 1 tablespoon of liquid soap; use 1 to 1½ teaspoons per cup of water to spray. When applying, make sure the temperature is below 85 degrees F and that plants are not drought- or heat-stressed.

_________________________

Anne Lurie



"Mark" wrote in message ...
Thanks much for the info. I was not aware of horticultural oil - it
certainly sounds better than insecticide. I did get a bag of dried
blood at a local hardware store. I will try it if the pepper doesn't
work (I can always use it for fall planting if I don't use it on the
tomatoes).

a pellet gun works great for me!

dookie

"Mark" wrote in message
...
The squirrels are eating what few tomatoes I am getting this season.

1,000 pardons if this gets asked every week! Google searching has
uncovered these suggestions;

- Spread moth balls around the garden (toxic active ingredient?)
- Rat poison (way too dangerous to pets)
- Plastic owl/snakes (seems like the rodents would catch on pretty
quickly)
- Christmas Tree ornaments
- Spray pepper sauce on the fruits

Just wondering if folks here have any methods that they are happy with.
Thanks much!

--
Mark
Raleigh, NC USA

In article ,
(Patskywriter) wrote:

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


[Followup]

Pardon me for the delay, but I wanted to give it enough time to be sure
if it worked ...

I started out by sprinkling chili powder and ground red pepper on the
ground around the plants. Then I treated the leaves and fruits with
Hot Pepper Wax http://www.hotpepperwax.com/default.htm.

The product is 0.00001125% capsaicin. I believe that it is primarily
used for insect control, but according to their web site, it is also a
"registered animal repellent effective against rabbits and tree
squirrels." It is around 10.00 for a 22oz. spray bottle at the local
nursery.

This seems to be working great, as I have had only one small bite mark
out of 15-25 tomatoes since late August. It also seems to be
controlling insect pests (but I do wonder if it is deterring pollinating
insects, as well).

Anyway, I just wanted to drop back by and say that I think I've found a
relatively benign way to keep the squirrels away from my tomatoes.
Thanks again for all of the great tips!

--
Mark
Raleigh, NC USA