How do I stop birds from eating the tomatoes?
Question:Have a small garden with five plants. Last year the local birds did a lot of damage, and this year they seem to be starting again with the few tomatoes that already ripened.
I tried last year a net that they sell at Home Depot, but it blocked the sun and killed the plants. This year I put some red Christmas tree bulbs on the plants - read somwhere that the birds will think it's fruit, peck on it, hurt their beaks, and give up.
This doesn't seem likely but right now I'll try anything. (Putting water out for them didn't work either.)
I could pick the tomatoes before they're ripe, but they don't taste as good as vine-ripened.
Anyone have any experience with this prob, and a sure-fire remedy?
Answers:
Scarecrow. strips of pie tins, (things that move with the wind, or make noise. plastic snakes will all work for a while maybe long enough for the season. You got the wrong netting, get the kind for fruit trees, it won't block the sun. Lay it across some tall bamboo stakes to make a tent that you can lift up to get to the plants.
Put cans on a string. Hang the string over the tomatoes.(take two posts. put them on opposite ends of the row of tomatoes in your garden. Tie a string across.) When the birds land on them the cans will jingle together and scare away the birds.
At Lowe's they sell a black plastic netting it is to keep pests out of areas like yours...You could get some of this...and some "treated" 2x2 lumber and make a net box around them... that netting makes them so mad...they don't usually come back for long.
shoot them.good skeet practice
try tying tin pie plates to poles in the garden
As they blow around, the noise and movement, as well as the reflection scares off most creatures
Then you can always try the black netting as suggested earlier..it works but is a pain when you want to pick the fruits of your labor
Birds don't mind red pepper..so if anyone suggests that,,,they are wrong
try a taste repellent that is safe to use. has to be non-toxic.
one company ropel sells one quart bottle for about 17 bucks.
so,pretty expensive stuff. a cheaper way might be to use bitter skins extract from fuits or veggies.birds don't like the bitter taste.
Try a fake snake or two or you can buy plastic owls at the home stores. I have heard they work great.
Oh that makes me so mad, when a perfectly good tomato has a big old bird peck in the side of it!
I pick them when they are almost ripe, then set them in a sunny window for a few more days.
I might try the bird netting, though.
Thanks for asking this question.
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