My squash vines surprised me with a second crop after I had already picked the early ones. Unfortunately, these drew the attention of the squirrels.
Since ziplocking my apples had worked so well, I decided to protect the squash by enclosing each green fruit in a ziplock bag - gallon size, not sandwich as for the apples.
I was concerned that the humidity inside the bags might cause the fruit to grow mold or rot, but nothing of the sort has happened, and the squash are getting ripe without squirrel damage. I know the varmints could easily tear open the bags, but they haven't.
Since I already have plenty of squash in the cellar, I plan to leave these out on the vines until frost, hoping they will not get overripe.
Ziplock Squash
LTilton, could you please explain your ziplok method? I had a terrible time with ground squirrels eating my tomatoes this spring, and wonder if what you've done might work to keep them away from my next crop.
Thanks!
I'm not sure how it would work with tomatoes. You might be able to bag a whole cluster of fruit, once it was set. With apples, forex, I slip a sandwich bag over the new fruit and zip it shut around the stem; that holds it on. With the squash, I used a larger bag but did essentially the same thing - slipped the bag over the fruit after it was pollinated and growing, and zipped it around the stem. I didn't zip it entirely closed around the stem, since the fruit isn't suspended, and it didn't need to be slit to let water drain, better for re-using the bag.
But I couldn't do it with nectarines, which have no stems.
Hmmm.... interesting. I might give it a shot on a couple of clusters, just to see how it goes. If it saves my tomatoes, I'm game for almost anything!
Thanks!
Tuscon --- Very strange! I have a load of squirrels here but they never bother my fruits or veggies. Perhaps it is because I feed the birds with birdseed and the squirrels and Bluejays with raw peanuts? Try it! I consider it a bribe...LOL
I think the ground squirrels (more like chipmunks than classic bushy-tailed squirrels) are often after the water in the tomatoes. The problem was definitely at its worst during the hot & dry part of the summer, before the monsoons hit. Frustrating beyond belief--the little wretches would eat three tomatoes in the space of an hour, just as they were starting to get big enough to be exciting.
I'm just hoping that by next year they've forgotten how good tomatoes taste...
Do you grow your tomatoes on a trellis or let them sprawl on the ground?
The squirrels that are raiding my squash have a nearby bounty of acorns all over the ground. They aren't satisfied.
Mine are in a raised bed, 3 feet up, on/in tomato cages. I have a PVC frame (bigger than the tomato cages) that I drape bird netting over to keep the birds away (they go for nice juicy tomatoes in the heat and dry, too--especially the woodpeckers). I have the netting clipped to the base of the poles, and I weighted down the loose edges as best I could, but the varmints were still getting in and around--and by the time I had the edges all weighted, I couldn't get in! I used several different sprays, and finally found my most effective deterrent was powdered coyote urine (ugh, and $$$) combined with an inflatable snake.
It was, needless to say, a bizarre and frustrating summer in the tomato plot. The only good that came of it (and this is a really big good) was that, in the process of trying to figure out what was eating my 'matos and what to do about it, I found Dave's Garden!
Have you considered a cat? [I always recommend cats for varmint control]
Wish I could, and I've already got one who would be an outdoor kitty if I'd let her. Unfortunately, between the coyotes and the owls around here (not to mention my next door neighbor who drives like a maniac), I'm afraid a cat wouldn't necessarily be around too long. And the dog just sits and watches...
Try putting out some water for them. That seems to be what they were really after! I have fox, raccoon, rabbits, squirrels everything but deer and they very rarely do any damage. I grow extra cherry tomatos and the orioles eat them instead of my beefsteaks so my ways seem to be working. I also grow figs and they occasionally will have a couple but there are more than enough for all of us. Bluejays are the biggest culprits but since I've been buying and feeding them raw peanuts every morning along with birdseed for the doves and sparrows, everyone seems happy. Call it blackmail on their part but I enjoy them.
I'm going to try having water out earlier next year, I think. I'm afraid that by the time I had water out for them at ground squirrel-level, they had already gotten a taste for tomatoes. And really, who could blame them? I just wish they weren't so greedy!
I also like the idea of extra tomatoes for the critters. It seems like every year I wind up with too many yellow pear plants, so maybe I'll sacrifice one of those and see if that will keep the wildlife away from my slicers.
Your coyotes should be useful and take down the ground squirrels.
Masonry walls and a wrought-iron fence (they came with the subdivision). They are lovely to listen to, though! And we're in the middle of suburbia, but you still hear bunches of them on a nice evening. Gives you a little bit of faith that in spite of everything we do, Nature carries on.
Out in the garden this morn I saw muddy prints all over the bags protecting the butternut squash [none on the acorn]. But the squash still inside, undamaged.
I know they COULD rip open the bags or pull them off, but the bags seem to be just enough to discourage them.
(Picture Jill, rubbing her hands together with an evil grin...) This sounds like what I need to try!
Thanks so much for sharing your idea, LTilton!