How can I protect my tomatoes?

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I have about a dozen plants and the first batch of fruit is starting to get ripe. Something - squirrels, raccoons, grackles, I dunno - is coming when I'm away and eating them on the vine. There's a fence around the garden to keep the dogs from running over it, but the wire mesh is easily wide enough for some medium size critter to creep through and dig in, plus if it's birds there's no roof. Is there anything I can do, short of rebuilding the fence so it's a chicken-wire cage?

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Monday, 6 June 2005 00:30 (twenty years ago)

Shoot them from your porch with a bb gun.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Monday, 6 June 2005 00:33 (twenty years ago)

im not sure but i seem to remember from somewhere in my childhood that aluminum foil keeps birds away. right?

more importantly - what the hell is a grackle???

― sunny successor (katharine), Monday, 6 June 2005 00:34 (twenty years ago)

Also, the dogs are totally useless as far as protection from critters. What kind of self respecting dog doesn't chase squirrels, I ask you?

xp with Alex -

no can do. This all happens when I'm asleep or at work, and I daren't forfeit either in defense of the veggies. I like the way you think, though.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Monday, 6 June 2005 00:35 (twenty years ago)

The title of this thread sounds like a line of dialogue from a black-and-white B-movie.

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 6 June 2005 00:36 (twenty years ago)

The title of this thread made me want to marry whoever posted it.

― Orbit (Orbit), Monday, 6 June 2005 00:37 (twenty years ago)

A grackle is pure evil in blackbird form.

Aluminum foil, eh? Worth a try.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Monday, 6 June 2005 00:37 (twenty years ago)

"There's a killer on the loose, preying on chorus girls. How can I protect my tomatoes?"

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 6 June 2005 00:37 (twenty years ago)

I agree with Orbit, it is a very attractive and endearing thread title. I saw sunlight and a windowsill when I read it.

― estela (estela), Monday, 6 June 2005 00:40 (twenty years ago)

Thank you both. I shudder to contemplate what you'd think of me if I posted photos of the grisly, beefsteaky corpses though.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Monday, 6 June 2005 00:46 (twenty years ago)

Perhaps we can identify the culprits CSI stylee, by getting close-ups of the tiny jaw-marks surrounding the wounds.

― Orbit (Orbit), Monday, 6 June 2005 00:48 (twenty years ago)

that sounds more like dialogue from a gay porno murder mystery.

xpost (or maybe not)

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 6 June 2005 00:50 (twenty years ago)

I think I've heart of netting you can drape over tomato plants — sun and rain can get through, birds and critters can't.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Monday, 6 June 2005 00:55 (twenty years ago)

Apparently something about vegetable cultivation awakens the sleazy pulp novelist in me.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Monday, 6 June 2005 00:56 (twenty years ago)

Sweet Sue, every one of your girls is a virtuoso. But the music business is fraught with temptation. How can I protect my tomatoes?

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 6 June 2005 01:18 (twenty years ago)

I bought a hot pepper wax spray from a nursery out here & spritz it on my vegetables. If I reapply it every few days, it works pretty well, and then when you pick the veggie & eat it, the stuff washes right off.

― lyra (lyra), Monday, 6 June 2005 01:51 (twenty years ago)

Jock strap.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Monday, 6 June 2005 01:56 (twenty years ago)

saran wrap them

― Vichitravirya XI, Monday, 6 June 2005 02:00 (twenty years ago)

"Dino is coming to town for a one month engagement at the Sands. How can I protect my tomatoes?"

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 6 June 2005 02:06 (twenty years ago)

http://www.taintedbill.com/archives/newjersey.jpg

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 6 June 2005 02:28 (twenty years ago)

WEAR PANTS!

― speed is my only need (Speedy Gonzalas), Monday, 6 June 2005 07:00 (twenty years ago)

Go to your hardware store and get four lengths of PVC that will be tall enough to tower over the tomatoes. Drive them into the ground around your tomato plants. If you want to, you can also get some connectors and build a quick top to it for added stability, though that's not necessary. (see bottom right in picture below) Then get some green garden netting, also at the hardware store. It's lightweight, flexible, and you can drape it over the frame that you made. Use a few tent stakes or something similar to keep it attached to the ground and taut over the frame. Voilà! This is also very good for berry plants.

http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/PUBLIC/PICTURES/images/large/GDN-950.jpg

― Bienvenue à la ferme (you better believe it), Monday, 6 June 2005 07:20 (twenty years ago)

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