Get a container of cayenne pepper... sprinkle it all around them, and even on them. Squirrels and rabbits can feel the burn, and they don't like it.

Worked well for me thus far. Squirrels are diggin up everything but my peppers and tomatoes.

Will do...thank you!!

The problem with pepper is that any animal (like dogs and cats) that gets pepper in their eyes and will claw themselves raw trying to get rid of the pain. As I found out to my great sadness.

What does your neighbor recommend?

I agree with Jill - the pepper concoctions are torture for animals. I've seen the results and decided years back they weren't for me. JMO

Yes, it is likely squirrels stealing the green fruit. If one has lots of plants the few losses are no big deal but with only a few plants, netting and other obstacle tricks till they get tired and move on to other sources helps.

Snakes love rocks - we have seen a marked reduction in them since eliminating the rock gardens and the rock walls around the flower beds and switching to wood. Just something to consider.

Dave

RTG

On another thread, a poster said that the main reason squirrels eat vegetables is for water. I don't know if that's true -- maybe they just love green tomatoes -- but she suggested putting out a bird-bath or some other kind of basin for the squirrels' water supply. It wouldn't hurt to try!

Of course, if you're having as much rain as the rest of us, that may blow that theory out of the ground!

what makes you think an animal ate them?

*burp*

Below is a 2008 discussion of problems with squirrels and how people dealt with them. Maybe it will be helpful.

Here is a link that might be useful: Squirrels - Garden

Are you sure someone down the road isn't enjoying fried green tomatoes? Just kidding. I vote for the squirrels.

Hey, your neighbor and I enjoyed your tomatoes!! HA HA

Considering that they were Cherokee Purple...I might have to check the neighbor and perhaps compostpete's and kterlep's kitchens...;o)

Thank you for the info on the pepper. I certainly don't want to torture the animals, even if they are getting my tomatoes.

jll0306-neighbor has been lucky this year with no issues, perhaps it's because they discovered my garden instead! In the past he has used netting, so that may be a good option.

We are in drought season and will have negligible rainfall from here to September. I believe our averages are between 1/2" and 1" per month through the summer. The bird bath may be worth a try.

Dave- the rattlesnake was right next to the stone retaining wall. Interesting that you should point that out.

Thanks for the link, anney. I'll look around and see what I come up with. I'll be replanting my in-ground bed soon, the one that the rabbits decimated in February, so I'll either have to cover that with netting (probably not practical) or use some of the other suggestions from the various squirrel related threads.

Well it seems like cayenne is a no-no if you don't want the animals to suffer, but I noticed a difference after I sprinkled it all over my half-eaten beet greens. A small rabbit was decimating the tops of my red beets, and after adding cayenne powder I noticed new leaves started to grow back again. So far, they are recovering and I haven't noticed any new damage. If I see the rabbit again, I may apply more pepper. If I had an easier, less painful (for the rabbit) way to keep the critter off my plants, I would use it. But for now, I'm using cayenne.

catman: Can always put out the Cayenne powder like you're doing, then sit on your roof and apply an airsoft gun. ;-)

The best pepper for rabbits is hassen.

Bets

Hey, we have at least 4 or 5 airsoft guns around here. (can you say, MP-40?) Perhaps I will give my teenager a new task on his to-do list. :)

Funny (not really funny), I went back out and checked the plant again today, and the remaining tomato was gone. I have a feeling that I will be in for quite the battle this season!!

I will post a pic in the 2009 thread, but my plants that I started from seed are happier and healthier than I ever imagined that I would be able to produce. I can deal with the not-so-happy Cherokee Purple from the nursery being ravaged by the squirrels, but if they touch one of my plants that I started from seed (there are currently 8, but I have 4 more to put out soon), there will be an all out war!

Happy hunting..I mean gardening! ;)

I have been in need of a good airsoft gun. Since I don't have anything to shoot rabbits/squirrels with, it will have to be cayenne for now.

But I would much prefer an airsoft gun...if I could spot the rabbit.

Funny I haven't seen that rabbit since I put out the cayenne...I wonder if there's a correlation? >:)

He's probably back in the forest somewhere, taking a dump, a** on fire, cursing you in rabbit talk....lol

my 3 outside cats think squirrels are a tasty treat and keep the members of the lower level of the food chain out of the garden pretty well the squirrel that gets a tomato has won it and deserves it in my garden.LOL

I would suggest, a fencing around the toms of some sort. I have heard and read that anything from rabbits, to squirrels, to deer, even, will nibble on whatever they can as a source of food.

Pepper spray works well, the heat will deter them, but like a poster said above, if the eye-clawing is true, then you might be harming an animal and that defeats the purpose.

Good luck!

Rabbits are just rats with big ears.
Deer are just tall rats with a fuzzy tail.
Squirrels are just grey rats with a long tail.

Think of it that way and you won't have trouble with the pepper deterrent.

Lee all the above animals have much better PR agents than the rats.

The difference between deer and rats in the garden is small, but when it comes to meat, I think venison might far exceed rat meat...lol

Try the bird bath by all means. Also buy a bag of peanuts in the shell. Scatter them in an area away from your garden. Squirrels will choose those over anything else. Sunflower seeds too.
Doing that helped give me some of an apple crop.

I agree on the bird bath. You might try one on the ground and one on a pedestal. When I lived in CA, adding one to my garden virtually eliminated the holes birds were gnawing in my tomatoes. If you google "how to make a concrete birdbath" there are instructions on making a solid one for really cheap (that's my art project for this weekend).

Lots of squirrels in my "hood". Never had tomatoes stolen. Might be one of your neighbors. People will steal most anything these days.

I saw the squirrels on my plants!! Of course, they are little baby ones and very cute. I'm thinking of just leaving this plant there as a sacrificial plant for the squirrels to ravage, and then trying the various means of protection for the others. I can put the bird bath and peanuts near the sacrificial plant, which is on the other side of the house as the rest of my garden, and perhaps they would stay in their little paradise area and leave my other plants alone??

Anyone try something like this before?

I imagine they'll prefer your squirrel paradise area to your garden if you have food and water for them there. That is, unless they've developed a taste now for green tomatoes! When they've stripped the sacrificial plant, let's hope they don't find the others.

Sometimes animals eat tomatoes because they are thirsty instead of hungry. Put a bowl of water next to the plant so that they can drink it and they might leave the tomatoes alone.