Whos eating my ripe tomatoes?

Gloria
by Gloria
I have raccoons and squirrels in my area. Who would eat 1/2 of them off the vine?
Racoon, squirrels, or rats?
what could I put on them to stop this? Help. Thank you
  6 answers
  • Cha17778244 Cha17778244 on May 13, 2017

    Birds!

  • Mimi H. Mimi H. on May 14, 2017

    Squirrels! They even feast on the green ones. I sprinkle some black or red pepper

    on them and that seems to deter them a little!

  • Ljgordon Ljgordon on May 14, 2017

    Formula: Finely chop 5 garlic cloves leaving peel intact. Place in a blender with 6 cayenne peppers, 2 TSP of mineral oil (or canola, olive etc.) , 2 cups of boiling water, 3 tsp. of liquid dish soap. Blend until pureed. Allow to stand over night. This will increase the heat. Put on a pair of rubber gloves and drain the solution through nylon hose, cheese cloth or a fine sieve. Put in a spray bottle and spray every few days or after a rain. It doesn't take much, so don't spray a lot on each tomato. Keep in fridge up to 90 days.

  • Gma Kirk Gma Kirk on May 14, 2017

    All wild life! 😊. Usually this is because they are thirsty. If you provide a nearby fresh water source, this can help immensely!

  • Goldrushgal Goldrushgal on May 14, 2017

    Birds also attack tomatoes when looking for water. I keep a dish pan of water on the opposite side of the garden behind shrubbery. Critters can drink and it is out of site.

  • Ardale Ardale on May 15, 2017

    We had the same problem with birds, squirrels, rabbits and raccoons of which we have a lot of all three of them. All we did is buy a cheap life size owl (plastic) that used to me motion activated but no longer is. Doesn't matter it will works to deter all those little pests. We just placed a large plastic empty flower pot turned upside down and set our owl on top of it right in the middle of our garden which isn't a small garden. I also hung empty aluminum pie tins and empty white plastic shopping bags from about every other tomato cage and we no longer have to much trouble with critters getting our veggies before we do. The owl is a natural predator so just seeing it deters most small critters and with the added movement from the plastic bags moving in a light breeze as well as the shiny pie tins moving and making sound when they move in the breeze also helps keep critters from getting used to one single thing in the garden and getting comfortable with it. I just use twine to hang the pie tins and just use the handles of the plastic bags to tie them onto the tomato cages. Single almost free fix that really works although it might not look to neat to neighbors but hey do you really care what someone else thinks opposed to having no fresh veggies to enjoy? Now if I could only figure out a cheap way to keep those pesky insects away that doesn't involve chemicals I'll be one happy camper.