Tomatoes - I give up!

[Joe Pelonio]

Usually my problem with tomatoes is the short growing season here, and the lack of full sun with all the tall trees. Normally I get a dozen or so before frost sets in and I have to dig up the plants to let them ripen indoors. This year July and August were cool and wet, and now it's been nice all month but down to the 40s at night, so none have ripened yet.

Today I was planning to pick the first two, with two more close behind. I just came in from the garden, and those $#%@^#% squirrels have beaten me to it! I never had them eat tomatoes before, but the two ripest ones are totally gone, a third has just one part of the outside left, a 4th that's still light pink has a big chunk eaten out of it!

I guess I'd better try netting over them, but I'm not overly confident. I think next year I'll just stick to the farmer's markets.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Joe,

My sympathies!

My wife put out 4 tomato plants this year. I've been remarking for 2 months now how much I"m going to miss those plants. We have already passed the date for an occasional hard frost. It won't be long. We'll be blowing out out sprinkler system in the next 6 weeks or so.

[Prashun Patel]

I feel your pain.
For three years I've had minimal luck growing tomatoes and I've tried EVERYTHING. Just can't get em to ripen well. Each year it gets a little better. But I ain't giving up! I'm gonna beat them at their game eventually. As Leslie Nielsen said in Stephen King's Creepshow, "I can hold my breath a long, long time!"

Just hang in there. You'll get em eventually. I got a couple non-rocket scientists whom I work with that bring in bumper crops year after year. If THEY can do it, certainly we can!

[Scott Loven]

Try upside down tomatoes! Hang them where the sun shines, move them in when you get a frost. I have 4 hanging on my back deck.
Scott

[Joe Pelonio]

Try upside down tomatoes! Hang them where the sun shines, move them in when you get a frost. I have 4 hanging on my back deck.
Scott
Hmmm, if I hang them high enough maybe the squirrels can't get to them. Can they walk a tightrope?

[Joe Cunningham]

That is too bad. Nothing worse than putting effort into a garden and watching it just sit there, doing nothing. Sometimes I (jokingly) start scolding my plants to just "Grow. C'mon, it's sunny, can't you see the sun? Grow darn it!"

This is my first year for 'tomaters, and I am overflowing. Friends a few miles away are not doing as well from what they tell me.

My chiles (meanwhile) are much worse than last year. I was hoping for the full salsa garden this year, compared to last year when I was knee-deep in hot chiles and had to use (ugh) store-bought tomatoes.

The bunnies got my lettuce and endive early in the season.

[David DeCristoforo]

You gotta move out here to the "Big Tomato"... Sacramento that is. Well, not necessarily Sacramento but somewhere in the Central Valley for sure. Tomatoes don't need a long growing season so much as they need those couple of weeks of triple digit heat. Without heat, tomatoes just won't ripen properly. Around here, it does not really matter when you plant them as long as there is enough time for the plants to grow those little green balls. Then it gets hot and bam.... tomatoes!

[Joe Pelonio]

You gotta move out here to the "Big Tomato"... Sacramento that is. Well, not necessarily Sacramento but somewhere in the Central Valley for sure.
I think that's what's so disappointing for us, we came from the Bay Area and often had to give away tomatoes, because we got so many. After trying here 15 years now the most we've ever had ripen on the vine is a dozen or so, and now for this year that's reduced by 4 thanks to those tree rats.

[Bonnie Campbell]

I think this year has been our best for tomatoes. We started eating them in May and got some still coming...... it's time to get mustard greens growing now :)

[Dar Lounsbury]

Joe

Try a different type of tomatoe plant next year. Some seem to produce eariler than others. Early Girl is a good one for our area. We have 4 or 5 plants and have had several buckets full rippen, so far.
We are just a few miles from you, so the weather should be about equal.

Dar

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

trying different types is a good idea. We had buckets of tomatoes last year ("big boys", I think?) ....but we tried Early Girls this year and she wasn't as early as we thought she'd be :) we've had very few ripe ones. we had a very rainy and overcast summer at times though....and maybe we don't get enough sun in our garden. OUr cherry tomatoes produced more than enough though.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Shotgun with a flashlight duct-taped to it.

That'll do it. Yep..... shotgun.
.

[Joe Pelonio]

Joe

Try a different type of tomatoe plant next year. Some seem to produce eariler than others. Early Girl is a good one for our area. We have 4 or 5 plants and have had several buckets full rippen, so far.
We are just a few miles from you, so the weather should be about equal.

Dar
Mine are early girl too. While close to you we are at 800' elevation so cooler nights, plus the house is two story and we are completely surrounded with 80-100' firs plus other trees so the most sun we get in one spot is just a few hours. If I decide to try again next year it may be in a whiskey barrel on wheels, so I can move it to follow the sun, and completely surround it with wire screen. The buggers got all my apples again too, and took a few bites out of some zucchini. So far they haven't bothered the cucumbers nor the broccoli so we've been enjoying those.

[Art Mulder]

Hmmm, if I hang them high enough maybe the squirrels can't get to them. Can they walk a tightrope?

Yes they can. I've seen them. upside down even.

I'm not making this up! We used to hang our bird feeder in the middle of a 30' length of clothesline, strung between the swingset and the high back fence. It took a while, but they taught themselves to hang under the clothesline and walked paw-over-paw out to the birdfeeder.

But they don't bother our tomatoes. Hmm.

[Joe Pelonio]

Yes they can. I've seen them. upside down even.

I'm not making this up! We used to hang our bird feeder in the middle of a 30' length of clothesline, strung between the swingset and the high back fence. It took a while, but they taught themselves to hang under the clothesline and walked paw-over-paw out to the birdfeeder.

But they don't bother our tomatoes. Hmm.
That makes me wonder.

We have grown tomatoes every year here (15) with lots of squirrels around and they have never bothered them before. I wonder if I'm placing the blame in the wrong place. We do also have raccoons, which ate some of my pond fish one time, coyotes, rabbits and opossums, even an odd bear once in a while running around the neighborhood. The back yard is fenced for the dogs, but with wire that all but the raccoons, coyotes and bears could get through, but the raccoons could easily climb over. Maybe it's time to rig a night vision camera out there and put some store bought tomato bait out.

[Judy Kingery]

Joe, ours didn't do so well this year either. Maybe due to a decrease in bees/pollination - or - the ones we had, I don't think it was squirrels, I think it was rats that live out at the creek bed and cane. Our peppers did extremely well, though. I've heard of all kinds of remedies. Tried sprinkling cayenne pepper on the tomatoes, but that didn't work either, just spiced up their meal for all the better, I guess! My sympathies, Jude

[Belinda Barfield]

Yes, Joe, squirrels can walk a tightrope. I would really be surprised if squirrels got your 'maters. I've never known of a squirrel to eat a tomato, and never heard of it either. I had a pet squirrel for a while and he wouldn't touch a tomato slice. Maybe a raccoon, but that's a little doubtful, too. Good luck catching the thief!

[Joe Pelonio]

Joe, ours didn't do so well this year either. Maybe due to a decrease in bees/pollination - or - the ones we had, I don't think it was squirrels, I think it was rats that live out at the creek bed and cane. Our peppers did extremely well, though. I've heard of all kinds of remedies. Tried sprinkling cayenne pepper on the tomatoes, but that didn't work either, just spiced up their meal for all the better, I guess! My sympathies, Jude
Pollen is spread by wind, not bees for tomatoes so that's not your problem. The lack of bees did affect the zucchini crop, I have been pollinated them myself.

[Joe Pelonio]

Yes, Joe, squirrels can walk a tightrope. I would really be surprised if squirrels got your 'maters. I've never known of a squirrel to eat a tomato, and never heard of it either. I had a pet squirrel for a while and he wouldn't touch a tomato slice. Maybe a raccoon, but that's a little doubtful, too. Good luck catching the thief!
I did some research and find that raccoons, opossums, rabbits, rats and squirrels will all eat tomatoes. I doubt that a bunny did it, because they do not climb and these were a good 30" off the ground, so that leaves all the rest as suspects. The only activity I have seen in that area lately is squirrels,
but since it happened at night I suppose it could have been one of the others.

[Mike Henderson]

Mice will also eat tomatoes. I have problems with mice every year. I never think to put out poison until I lose some tomatoes. They wait till the tomatoes get just a bit pink and then they eat them.

And every area has mice. No one wants to admit it, but they're there.

Mike

[Peter Stahl]

Hmmm, if I hang them high enough maybe the squirrels can't get to them. Can they walk a tightrope?

Joe,

Unless you levitate them 30 feet from anything a Squirrel can climb on then yes they won't be able to get them. Extremely difficult to squirrel proof anything.

[Russ Filtz]

You need to flip around your thinking. Use the tomatoes as BAIT! Start a new fashion of squirrel fur gloves or something. Does BBQ squirrel taste good? :p

[Scott Donley]

Joe, do you have a dog ? I ask because my dog use to eat my tomatoes. ( I know, not good for dogs) He also eats the pears and plums. It is a riot to watch him pacing under the trees looking for one he thinks he can reach with a good jump.

[Ted Calver]

We had the same problem with our crop. After we put up the rabbit fence the tomatoes were ok.

[Joe Pelonio]

Mice will also eat tomatoes. I have problems with mice every year. I never think to put out poison until I lose some tomatoes. They wait till the tomatoes get just a bit pink and then they eat them.

And every area has mice. No one wants to admit it, but they're there.

Mike
We have a winner!

I wouldn't have thought that mice could do such damage, but then where there's one mouse there's always more. I set a trap below the victim vine and last night checked it with a flashlight. One was caught, another sitting there right before my eyes munching on the tomato that had been bitten into before which I had left there. I saw where he went, and now know where they live. It ran under the siding around the family room gas fireplace chimney which sticks out from the back of the house. Bait and more traps are in place and the war is on!

Scott, we do have dogs and they are known to snitch strawberries but that's about it.

[Brian Brown]

Best year for my tomatoes in a while. They seem to be the only things the squirrels don't eat. However, squirrels can walk a tight rope. They do it on the phone lines around here all the time. Then they chew through them, and take out the phones. The phone company has fits here trying to keep the phones working. The best is when a squirrel gets his nose and tail caught between the conductors on the transformers. "Idaho Fried Squirrel", not to be confused with Kentucky Fried Chicken. The only problem, is that it always trips a circuit breaker and we have to wait for the power company to come re-set it. It also sounds like a shotgun blast going off. It has gotten so bad, that now we just call the power company, say squirrel, and give the power pole number. As for using a shotgun on the squirrel, I always hated buck shot in my 'maters! My brother had a great solution, but I haven't tried it yet. Set up a trap shooting thrower on the fence top, and when a squirrel comes running along, fire the thrower, and launch it into next week. I thought it would be more efficient to sharpen the arm like a sword, and cut the rodent in two, but he thought that might be a bit messy. How can anything so cute be so %&)$ destructive? This is starting to sound like a Bugs Bunny Cartoon!

[Belinda Barfield]

How can anything so cute be so %&)$ destructive?

Our pet squirrel was a rescue from Hurricane Floyd. Honey called me on the way home from work to tell me he had a surprise for me. Little did I know it was a very small animal whose eyes hadn't opened yet that would need to be dropper fed for weeks. Everything was fine until I caught the little rascal chewing on the post of my antique oak bed. He nearly became "rats and rice" at that point. They are very destructive and chew constantly. IIRC, like other rodents they must chew to wear down their teeth which continue to grow. He did love to watch the Braves play baseball though, so I cut him a little slack on the chewing.

[Judy Kingery]

Hey Joe,

Ok, didn't know that, but goodness W TX has plenty of wind, yet much fewer tomatoes this year for some reason. Yep, Glen's pollinated the squash before and those didn't do great, but it was bugs that messed with those and generally we can grow way too much squash to give away.

I really think it was rats gnawing on a few, tomatoes in our case, not squirrels and not birds. Hmm.

Anyway, mowed everything yesterday and will till prior to winter, other than the peppers, those are still doing great! So guess we'll see about it next spring and wish everybody the best with their gardens next time around.

Jude

[Scott Donley]

Glad you THINK you found your problem ;) My dog also went for the strawberry's, only when red,and they say dogs are color blind :D Proof of the pear eating dog, no pics, it didn't happen !

[Brian Brown]

I did some research and find that raccoons, opossums, rabbits, rats and squirrels will all eat tomatoes.


Joe,

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if your visitor is nocturnal, It could be dare I say it, a skunk. :( They eat (or at least sample) most anything a human eats. Having had less than favorable encounters with my white striped nemeses, my advice is that if you find out it is a skunk, you politely ask it if it would like more, and invite it to help itself to anything else it would like while you are running for the the next county. :D Nothing in this world is worth dancing with a polecat. :eek:

[Randy Cohen]

Let me just add deer to the list of tomato eating wildlife.

[Dee Gallo]

Joe, have you tried fried green tomatoes? They are absolutely delicious and you have all you want before the critters get them. Just slice like 1/4", cover with flour (mixed with salt and pepper to taste) and fry in butter until brown...yum!