Can someone help me with this? I have grown tomatoes the last 4 years with varying success, but this year (when they are doing better than ever before) the squirrels have discovered them as a bountiful feast! Every time one of the slicers starts to turn red and I anticipate enjoying it-- the next day, it is either gone, or there are big bites in it! I have even seen them sitting on the garden fence eating a piece of a tomato. (They seem to leave the grape tomatoes alone for the most part with only 2-3 being taken.) I don't know what to put on the tomatoes-- would that help? to spray hot sauce on them? Any ideas greatly appreciated!
Thanks very much!!!
v.l.

Welcome, v.l., and good luck! In my neck of the woods, a motivated squirrel is pretty hard to stop. They scarfed a good bit of my precious corn last year, then actually had the audacity to chuck an empty cob down out of a tree on the dog and me as we walked *innocently* by underneath.

For this year, would you consider harvesting a little earlier? Either that or construct a physical barrier all around the plant so they can't get in. For next year, perhaps you have room to plant more, so as to increase your odds? I've also heard you can deter them by interplanting with something viney and spiney like pumpkins or squash. Have not yet tested that theory.

When I lived in Brooklyn, I had to contend with squirrels. There are a few here in the Rockaways, also.

Sometimes sqirrels take tomatoes, when what they really want is water, so if there is a birdbath or something for them to drink from, they won't be taking a bite or two out of a tomato for moisture.

To keep squirrels off eggplants, I made this spray in the blender: a jalapeno or cayenne pepper and a few garlic cloves pureed, add a quart of water, strain and add a few tablespoons of oil to give it sticking power. I have also enclosed fruits in pieces of pantyhose held on with rubber bands. A combination of the two works very well. The spray usually dissipates before harvest. You only have to spray the fruit at the beginning of the harvest season. The squirrels quickly learn to avoid the fruit.

GD, I don't think I ever remember seeing a squirrel in Park Slope where I grew up in Brooklyn. Except, maybe, up in Prospect Park. But when we moved to Bensonhurst, we saw plenty. They used to hang out in front of all the pizza parlors, smoking and pinching all the female squirrels as they walked by.

I agree about their desire more for the moisture content inside the tomatoes than for solid food needs. Otherwise, they'd eat the whole thing, I imagine. Ever since I started adding more and more birdbaths, both elevated and on the ground, the only damage I occasionally see is from my friendly, neighborhood woodchuck who - this year - lives outside my patio door under my back deck.

We have coffee together in the morning.

There is the possibility that there are too many squirrels in your area. I don't know what the "normal" reproductive rate of squirrels would be, but chances are your area is overpopulated.
If there is new housing development not far from you, and trees have been taken down, the squirrels that used to live there may have moved into your neighborhood. If this is the case, other than contact some city authorities and find out if there is a safe way to relocate some of the animals, I'm afraid you'll be stock with thirsty and hungry squirrels which will continue to feed off your garden.

We have a children's pool we got for around $15 at walmart. My hubby surrounded it with big tocks, and put cannas in the front of it. (they grow betterin the water and bloom more than the ones in the ground.) We filled it with water plants. The squirrels come most days to drink from it. our tomatoes and eggplant are less than ten feet away from the tree they use, and no squrrels come near.

Mindwing

That's a nice idea. How do you keep mosquitos out? Do you keep water running in slowly, stock it with small fish, use mosqito dunks or something else? When I lived in Corpus Christi, Texas as a teenager, I raised guppies and water plants in one of those hard plastic pools. At the end of the summer, I would take them to the nearest five and dime and sell them for $20. That was a lot in those days, when babysitting paid 50 cents an hour.

We have mosquito fish in all standing water. In addition, we have a Skeeter-vac trap. we have almost no mosquitos now, even though we turned the trap off. My hubby says he'll wait until he gets bit before turning it on because it uses $15 of propane every 22 days.

mindwing

Ah, mosquito fish- gambusia. We had those in Texas. What part of the country and zone are you located in, Mindwing?

Since I wrote about squirrels the other day, our local one decided to pay me a visit. Pulled off two ripe tomatoes and ate a little of each. I cut off the eaten part and rinsed off the squirrel spit. We didn't have rain this week, so I am guessing they were thirsty. I'll have to put out some water for them if it doesn't rain tonight.

I put bird netting over my tomato plants. Keeps out the squirrels.

I just love the way your favorite squirrel will sit in a near by tree and complain to you when you beat them to a nice ripe tomato! It's their garden how dare you! LOL!

Wow, thanks for all the ideas! I have tried harvesting a bit earlier, and I plan to try the recipe for "squirrel hot sauce" too. My husband did say it could be about water. I have some small pans of water about 20ft away near the house. That may not be close enough, though I do see them drink from them. The birdbath was broken (by a squirrel who knocked the basin off the pedestal when he jumped off of it!) earlier this year and we can't afford a new one til next year. I will try putting some water pans between the garden and the fence they use as a super highway around here. And next year, yes, I plan to plant more plants, and cover them!
You folks are great! Thanks for all the tips-I will definately be back the next time I have a question!
v.l.