Squirrels!!
 

We moved from Toronto last year to sort of rural Ontario. Being the good homemaker that I am, I planted 12 tomato plants in the garden. Maybe we will get a few tomatoes to eat and some for canning or something. Well, now they are beginning to ripen- yea! Those darn squirrels are getting to the tomatoes before me and tasting each one! Honestly- I would like to take those little things and- oh well. They eat the bird seed too! Nice fat squirrels. Any ideas on how to keep them away from my cherished tomatoes? (Besides a gun that is)

I had a similar problem. I picked my tomatoes when they were just turning yellow and let them ripen in a kitchen window. A friend of mine said to put a bowl/bird bath in the middle of the tomatoes and keep it filled with water because they are biting into the tomatoes for the water inside. Don't know if that is true or not but can't hurt to try. By the way, I gave up growing tomatoes!

I use peppermint oil on cotton swabs to keep squirrels out of my flower pots. I also use Liquid Fence around things the deer like to eat & that seems to work with the squirrels as well. My neighbors supply me with tomatoes & they pick them before they are really ripe. They ripen fine on my kitchen counter.

Do you have a fence around your garden or just plants in pots? If you have a fence around, put some fencing on the top as well. Here we have squirrels; deer; groundhogs all competing for the veggies. I don't have a garden but BIL next door does. He has 12 ft. high fencing (sunk an additional 2-3 feet in the ground). Does not have a top on it but I don't see too much evidence of squirrel destruction with his garden. His plan seems to work on the worst of the culprits. Good luck.

If you spray the tomato plants with a mix of veggie oil and cayenne pepper, they will soon learn not to like the area. You just have to remember it's there and be careful around the plants yourself!
We used to use this mix on corn to keep the racoons away. Also, kept the family dog away, he learned to tell by sniffing what corn was ripe, then he would pick it and eat it raw, cob and all.

Shall l send my wild rabbits to scare away your squirrels?

One thing my mother learned about squirrels is they are rodents and reproduce to the level of their food source, they are not seasonal. She thought they were cure until they were eating all the bird food, her tomatoes and flowers about to bloom. She said she tried to talk to them about self control but it did no good. So my dad built a bird feeder they could not get to, and he put up cages around the tomatoes so they could get to them either. The flowers in pots were brought into the house. When they got into the attic he got the traps and then released them across the lake - but he was sure they got back to the house before he did - so they called in a specialist and made sure everything was boarded up better.

Nature- ya gotta love it. But they are just so cute!

Those suckers are aggressive! We have one claw it's way into our garage. Ugh, their cuteness level has gone down around here.

Here, we call them tree rats! Rodent doesn't even cover it.

Having the same problem but thought it was birds doing it as there would be just a puncture in each one. Also have a baby bunny that has found a hole in my chicken wire/picket fence too. Soon he'll be too large to get thru his secret opening though. Seems this year its taken forever for our tomatoes to ripen. Have plenty on the vine and its just been recently that they have been turning red for me. Now its canning time................finally.

I also have been picking them as soon as they start to show color and let them finish turning inside.

It didn't happen to me, but I read somewhere a few years ago that the tomato "culprit" was a big turtle that had acquired a taste for tomatoes. The guy came out to his garden just in time to see it take a big bite out of a tomato. I thought it was pretty funny. A turtle would be about the last thing you would expect.

I sprinkle cayenne pepper all around the base of the plants. It does have to be reapplied after several rainfalls. I just buy the cheap flakes at the dollar store. I am not so kind as to relocate, if we cross paths the squirrel is "morte,"

I have a little gopher turtle dining on cucumbers. Thank goodness, last years groundhogs have apparently moved elsewhere.

My Dad pops his squirrels popcorn every morning -apparently they prefer it to his tomato's. Even if he's late getting it out they stay away from his plants and patiently wait for their breakfast. And it only costs him $3 a month And no body gets hurt

Or, you could do what we did quite by accident; get yourself a half-feral calico cat. Sophie is our "everything" deterrent; and I really do hate that because we don't have a garden this year to worry about. I love all the little cute chipmunks, squirrels, cardinals, finches, wrens, but not the moles. She doesn't discriminate, though, if they appear on her territory, they are history.

I had squirrels and trapped for 2 years and hauled them about 10 miles away and released them in open fields. Now no more squirrels, but he deer have taken over, I have fenced and tried every spray in creation and it does no good even with pepper they just act like it is salad dressing. They not only bite the tomatoes, but eat the plants down to the ground. I have almost given up planting tomatoes.

We live in the country and have squirrels, ground squirrels, racoons,deer, groundhogs, coyotes, you name it and we had the same problem but here's how we cured it. We got rid of the problem by giving up our bird feeder...sob, sob,sob....in the summer. My son built me a 4 ft. tall and 4 ft wide planter on stilts. We planted tomatoes, cucumbers, onions. All going well. Only had two bad tomatoes and they were the first ripe ones and we had a really cold spell come through and I think that was the culprit. All since have been beautiful with not a spot. We did not use any kind of fencing above it other than just wire so the tomatoes had something to climb on. Hope this helps. Next year he's building me more raised planters so we can plant more things.

Our neighbor feeds the wildlife nuts, bread, pancakes, birdseed and who knows what else several times a day. We can count 14-15 squirrels in our backyard at one time. We have squirrel trails in our backyard going from tree to tree. We do have our garden fenced in to keep the deer out, but I know the squirrels can get in. But - so far they are leaving the tomatoes alone. Perhaps they get enough to eat next door. We did finally cut down our peach trees, because the squirrels would eat them a few days before they were ripe enough to pick. One day we would have beautiful peaches, the next the tree would be bare.

We have to watch our house carefully, because the squirrels like to eat the siding. I guess that's how they keep their teeth from getting too long, and if they can get in, they will nest in the attics.

We don't see many squirrels when the children on the other side of us are out playing. I'm tempted to set a radio on a windowsill and blast it outside, hoping the squirrels will think someone is outside.

Sorry to turn your post into my vent! I DO NOT like squirrels.

I have also had problems with squirrels eating my flowers. It has gotten some better since a pair of red tail hawks have moved into the neighborhood. They are slowly helping to control the squirrel population!

I had this problem in my old garden and solved it by tossing out a ton of peanuts in the shell. They got distracted and left my tomatoes alone long enough for them to ripen.

...this stuff works great..
http://www.enasco.com/product/C27189N

I took a large coffee can and cut a hole in the top big enough for a squirrel,so cats and dogs couldn't get in...used duct tape to secure the top even more, then just dropped a 1" sized piece in the can. I have a large garden..they ate every single one of my broccoli, brussel sprout, and cauliflower plants...I did try all of the "nicer" fixes...but this stuff works!!! When they started on my squash and tomatoes..they had to go....
Anyway...it takes about 4 days...so put it out in 1" chunks till there isn't any more activity, then just monitor after that.
I tried everything before this, killing them was my last choice, but they were wiping me out.

sprinkle red pepper around and on plants

My husband's night time camera caught deer, squirrels, a racoon and one human,me, eating the few figs that my tree finally made. Any ideas for next years crop? Had the same trouble with our tomatoes except the birds and rabbits were the culprits.

I went right out and mixed up veg. oil and Texas Pete. Will see if this will help our squirrel problem.

I have a dog...a small terrier (Jack Russell) that keeps the squirrels, rabbits & ground hogs away....

The veggie oil and cayenne pepper spray should work.

Everything here is caged and fenced. Between the deer, rabbits and squirrels, they will get it all. Even the gophers think they should have what is planted. Next year I am going to put up one of those dog kennels lined with 1/4 inch screening to try to keep them out. Don't need a big garden, but would love to have some tomatoes and squash

DH had a raised bed. It was about 2 ft. off the ground. He put 1/2" hole chicken wire (I call it) around the bed and made a frame to cover with 2 different openings. It was about 3 ft. high. Since he was curious, he got a trail cam to see what kind of critters were interested in the garden and to see how his idea of a raised garden bed would work. It worked keeping 4 legged critters out. Much to our dismay though it didn't deter 2 legged critters. We caught 3 young kids from the neighborhood who poured bleach and ammonia on the bed. The camera caught the direction and house they ran into. The next day DH showed the video to the neighbor and his sons and a friend were standing right there watching the video. DH took the $100.00 from the guy for cost and said if you want to press charges do it. DH said "No they will work/volunteer in a community harvest garden and see how much work goes into preparing and nurturing a garden so food can be put on the table to feed the hungry" They actually thought the $100.00 was the end of it. DH did threaten them if they did not do this he would press charges. Not sure what they're doing now but hopefully they did learn something from this. Dh did build another and it worked well. Wire kept the birds and we had a nice little harvest.

I have used Tabasco sauce diluted 1:10 with water spray plants. It is somewhat helpful, just have to reapply every few days or after a rain. Sometime ago I read a very inexpensive way to keep them from bird feeders. Not pretty, but inexpensive and the most effective I have found. I used an empty birdseed bag (40 lbs), opened a the bottom large enough to get over the pole between the bird feeder and the ground. Tie in place to create a hood on the pole. Squirrels crawl up the pole and end up inside the bag unable to reach the bird feeder. I have been using this all summer and have lost far less bird seed than normal. Unfortunately it does not work for grackles when they are around.

For me, too. Around here, it's more like destructive little devils. They are forever eating siding and getting into people's attic where they either die or reproduce. Neither of which produces a good result for the homeowner. I'm glad my dog keep them away from our house.

Interesting idea. These little critters jump down out of the trees onto the feeder then push the seed to the ground for their friends. We moved the feeder under a tree because the falcons were killing the doves when we had it out in the open. The doves eat mostly off the ground and supposedly the falcons cannot see them as well through the trees.

Try wolf urine. You can buy it through Amazon or from a couple different websites:
http://predatorpee.com or http://thepeemart.com
We used it just on the veggie garden, once only, and had no squirrels for 2 years.

Squirrels taste good when cooked in a crock pot with some vegetables, my husband and the pets love it. Yum:D

What do you mean I'm not supposed to be in here?