The squirrels are decimating my tomatoes

[bearfan454]

The worst I've ever seen them do. The sweet and hot banana peppers are kicking butt.

[NJCher]

1. I'll bet

a nontoxic peppermint based repellent will do the trick. I'll post the name of mine after I go out to the shed and refresh my memory on the brand name.


Cher

[bearfan454]

5. Thanks

Early girls really taste good.

[packman]

2. My sympathies - Love the little buggers

and all that life energy. I would never advocate killing them with deadly traps or poisons, BUT they have humane live capture traps that you could use - catch and release somewhere else away from your garden.

[femmocrat]

3. The damn chipmunks have dug up every cucumber and pumpkin plant.

I used to think those guys were cute, but now I'm just annoyed with them.

They dug up all the seeds first. So I bought good-sized plants. They dug those up and ate the roots.

My tomatoes are OK for now, but they will soon be attacked by blight as they are every summer.

[NutmegYankee]

7. I always have issues with septoria leaf spot.

I have to accept it as my garden has shade in the early morning, so dew is slow to burn off.

Have you tried putting chicken wire over the seed area for the cukes? The plant will go right through flat wire but the it makes digging nearly impossible.

[femmocrat]

8. Great idea! I think the plants are too big now, but I will remember that for next year!!

I put a tomato cage around each hill and then wrapped chicken wire around the bottom of the cage. That seems to be working for now.

[NutmegYankee]

10. I had some little raccoons annoying me this year.

They dug up some plants and made holes in several places. I knew it wasn't the skunk as I have a fence around the main garden plot. That and the skunk is too busy eating my blueberries.

[elleng]

4. Have seen lots of squirrels this year,

and no bunnies! Don't know effect on garden as it belongs to neighbor, and I haven't kept track.

[NutmegYankee]

6. Last Fall was an Oak tree mast year.

Oaks produce acorns on a boom or bust cycle that keeps predators of the seeds low. The lean years keep the populations of rodents low and then in a mast year there are simply too many acorns for the rodents to eat. The squirrels exploded from the extra food but will suffer a Malthusian bust this winter.

[NutmegYankee]

9. Oh, I do have an evil remedy for the squirrels.

I always plant cat mint and cat nip near my garden areas. The outdoor cats of my neighbors love to hang around, which keeps the critters away most of the time.

[Brainstormy]

11. That's brilliant!

I don't have neighbor cats but I do have a home remedy for squirrels. Get some tea tree oil from the drug store. Soak cotton balls and half-bury them near the plants. Also keeps off lots of insect pests. Keeps spiders out of my garage, too.