Gardening
Related: About this forumDamned White Tailed Rats (deer) ate mah 'mater plants!
I have two sorry little tomato plants I bought at the Southern States. Nothing at all special. I planted them off the driveway along with basil, parsley, and some marigolds.
We have gotten two nice ripe tomatoes off them so far.
This morning there were a bunch of green tomatoes with tooth marks in them on the ground. The plants themselves were eaten down to the tomato cages and as far down into the cage as a white tailed rat can reach its head.
How does one keep the white tailed rats from eating tomatoes?
The Velveteen Ocelot
(120,899 posts)Stinky The Clown
(68,461 posts)The population is Out.Of.Control.
We are on the very edge of suburbia/near rural. They are everywhere and bold as can be. No fear of humans or dogs.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(120,899 posts)and learned that they live only in South Africa and Swaziland. Deer, on the other hand, are a menace. My dad used to call them "woodland cattle." About the only thing you can do, besides getting a family of pumas to hang out in your yard, is put up an electric fence.
Stinky The Clown
(68,461 posts)I have to reapply, of course, but the foxes haven't been back.
The deer, on the other hand, are as nonchalant as you can imagine.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(120,899 posts)NRaleighLiberal
(60,504 posts)Water Scarecrow. We have two on each garden. No deer attacks since we started using them a few years ago. Prior to that, we tried everything....and nothing worked for more than a few days or weeks.
http://www.amazon.com/Contech-CRO101-Scarecrow-Activated-Sprinkler/dp/B000071NUS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374808544&sr=8-1&keywords=water+scarecrow
Stinky The Clown
(68,461 posts)That's a great idea.
Not as bad price, either.
Thanks!!!!
NRaleighLiberal
(60,504 posts)My wife has her quilt guild here some times - Sue and I love it when the women come walking in semi-drenched!
(they find it funny, and usually it is so hot they welcome the relief)
Stinky The Clown
(68,461 posts)I park my truck pretty close to the tomato plant area. Maybe ten feet or so away.
NRaleighLiberal
(60,504 posts)Deer in our neighborhood are as tame as dogs....that they work to protect my gardens (you know how I feel about my 200 tomato plants!) is a testament to their effectiveness!
mtnester
(8,885 posts)to keep them out of the sweet corn. Electric fence, no matter how staggered, just makes them screech and keep going....they can decimate a nearly ready plot overnight.
NRaleighLiberal
(60,504 posts)customers have to say about use of the device beyond deer (it certainly didn't deter hungry groundhogs last year!)
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)elleng
(136,098 posts)My new landlord has a small kitchen garden, and its surrounded by a wire with light electric shock. Might work. He does it for smaller critters.
NutmegYankee
(16,311 posts)And cross the top with some wire (creating a roof effect) to dissuade the pests from trying to jump the fence. I live in rural Conn,. and we have them everywhere.
Also, the turkeys are everywhere this year too.