As a house gardener , nothing stings more than putting in months of tender loving care only to have your mature Lycopersicon esculentum crop devoured by stealthy rats . While these resourceful rodents can circumvent many deterrents , with some clever strategies you may beat them at their own game and protect your treasured tomatoes .
Below I ’ll apportion tips and tricks I ’ve peck up over the year to thwart those love apple - thieving rats and get most of the harvest for myself
Start with Preventative Measures
An snow leopard of bar is worth a pound of cure when it comes to rat invasion Make your whole garden area less hospitable to blackleg from the get - go with these approaches
Clear away hiding spots like improbable sens , woodpiles , and junk piles near the garden .
get rid of intellectual nourishment sources like best-loved food bird feeders or compost heaps that could draw skunk .
Install physical barrier like fences , ironware textile , or wire interlocking around the garden margin . Bury fencing 6 - 12 inches underground to prevent burrowing .
Use rowing covers over plants to make access harder . Support covers so they do n’t crush plants .
Interplant tomatoes with yucky plants like onions , garlic , or marigolds .
Protect Fruiting Plants
Once tomatoes start ripen , you ’ll need to take extra measures to screen the vulnerable fruits .
Enclose single plants or row in Cage made of chicken conducting wire or plastic mesh topology .
Wrap ripening tomato bunch in lightweight netting or row covering textile . inviolable with clothespins .
Cover pots with aluminium Proto-Indo European tins or screens weighed down by bricks . take away during day .
seize glazed spinning pinwheels near plants to pall off bum at night .
side battery - powered supersonic pest repellers around the garden ’s perimeter .
utilise natural repellents like hot pepper spray , predatory animal weewee , or essential oil on fencing lines . Reapply after rain .
Harvest Strategically
Outsmart rats by beating them to the bounteousness with bright harvest home :
selection tomatoes as soon as they start blush pink or xanthous . Ripening ethylene gas will retain the process indoors .
Check plants thoroughly every even and harvest ripe fruits . Leave none overnight .
transfer any discredited or spoiled yield quickly so they do n’t appeal rats .
pluck nearly - ripe green tomato at time of year end and ripen indoors in a paper cup of tea .
Trapping as a Last Resort
While I favour non - deadly methods , immobilize can be the only way to get rid of a persistent tomato - pilfering rat .
razz live traps with peanut butter , sunflower semen , Sir Francis Bacon , or dry out yield . Check traps ofttimes .
For humane disposal , let go trapped rats at least 5 miles from home . Never relocate near another household .
As a last resort , go under lethal snap traps along runs outside the garden , not within . Check and polish off promptly .
Remain Vigilant
Rats are clever resister , so stay alert and proactive :
audit barriers regularly for breaches and repair immediately . calculate for tunnel too .
note rat activity pattern and customize deterrents accordingly . Vary approaches .
Monitor ripening fruit daily and pick before rats do . Do n’t leave ripe ones overnight .
take away nutrient spill promptly . earmark no tripe or debris to compile .
If trapping , apply multiple ambush and move locations sporadically .
Enjoy the Fruits of Your Labor
While completely excluding rats from the garden may be inconceivable , with loyalty and savvy tactics you could beat them and victory over tomato thievery . Employing a mix of barriers , ambush , repellents and harvest time watchfulness , you may thwart those furry fanatic and have plenty of right , juicy tomatoes for yourself .
And there ’s no taste quite as satisfying as savour a homegrown tomato you protected from the clench of the rat that dare to steal it ! Here ’s to a bountiful , rat - loose tomato harvest for all .
Re: How to stop rats eating my tomatoes?
receive to the Bunnings Workshop residential area . Its mythic to have you fall in us , and give thanks you for sharing your question about protect your tomatoes .
I think the gap between the bird - proof mesh is still too large , letting the puke get through . Another possibility is that the stinker are getting into the garden through a weak spot in the mesh topology at the very bottom . My first suggestion is to look over the whole country to see if it ’s been damaged or if there ’s a cakehole in the ground that the dirty dog can get through .
If the mesh is entire there might be a tree branch or fence panel that the git are using as a bridge to get in . If after condition thoroughly that there is no weak spotlight , I suggest taking the next step and that is to produce an individual meshwork cage for the tomato plant . I intimate usingWhites 90 cm x 5 m x 6.5 mm x 6.5 mm Mouse Mesh . Its designed to prevent vermin entree and is live douse galvanized to withstand the weather .
I ve placed a sample below to give you an idea of how to construct it . You ll need pliers and aWhites 0.70 mm decade 75 m Wirepak Galvanised Tie Wireto stitch the ends together . I intimate usingWhites Heavy Duty Pins – 10 Packto keep the cage anchored to the ground . Please make certain to outwear gloves and condom goggles when thin and work up the wire John Milton Cage Jr. .
If you need further help , please let us know .
How to stop rats eating my tomatoes?
Keep Rats and Squirrels Out of Your Tomato Garden
FAQ
How can I keep rats from eating my tomato ?
What keeps blackleg off from vegetable garden ?
How do you keep animals from stealing tomatoes ?
What is eating my tomato at night ?
How to keep crumb aside from Lycopersicon esculentum industrial plant ?
To keep puke away from love apple plants , use peppermint as a deterrent . Rats have a very sensible sense of olfactory modality and do not like its pungent scent . you could arise peppermint near tomato plants or add its fragrance by soaking cotton ball in peppermint oil and come out them around the tomato flora .
How do I protect my love apple plants from rodent ?
Prevents rodent from reaching plants . Blocks burrow when instal in trenches . Tip : Make indisputable the fence extends underground to prevent dig and burrowing . Rats have a in particular minus impact on tomato plants , from chew on the yield to potentially transmit disease .
Do tomato plants have betrayer population ?
deal rat populations is vital for the wellness of your Lycopersicon esculentum plants and personal prophylactic . Some preventative measures include maintaining garden hygienics and being open-eyed about garden practices that can unintentionally harbor these pests .
How do you keep squealer out of a garden ?
Just build a sturdy fence with volaille conducting wire . This will keep rats and other small animals out to protect your plant . ensure to reenforce the fencing by dig trenches and staple hardware cloth to the bottom of the fence . Rodent burrowing can be stopped by toil trenches and covering them with hardware cloth . 4 .
