Tomatoes

[ERD50]

If the neighbors would feed them more, maybe the deer would not have to eat your garden? Give the neighbors an extra bag of feed once in a while.

Now there's an optimist!

-ERD50

 

[frank]

anyone had problems with japanese beetles and what did you do about it?

 

[Gumby]

I use Grubex.

 

[Free To Canoe]

2 plants, "heavy duty" cages. Here is a picture from before the Big Boy reached full size. The wall is 5' high.

Wow! Nice pic.

I hope this doesn't create a problem.

 

[veremchuka]

Here's the cure: Remington® 30-06 Whitetail Pro® Model 770 Rifle/Scope Combo | Bass Pro Shops

Now Walt has the right idea but in a suburban neighborhood that's not an option. I'm out in the sticks but there a a few houses nearby so it isn't worth the risk to me.

+1
Can't seem to get any tomatoes to grow before the deer get at them! Argh! Cucumbers are having a pretty good year though... so I have that going for me.

So here's how to protect your tomatoes or pole beans from 100-200 pound rats AKA deer. This works IF your fenced in area is too small/cluttered for them to jump into and if you use CRW cages or stake them to fill up the enclosed area then the rats can't jump into the enclosure. If you leave a large open area the rats might think they can jump in. This seems odd but trust me it works.

Dental floss! Yes dental floss. 100 yards on sale is 99 cents! Oh use waxed because the floss can droop after a while and you can tighten it up I'm not sure if unwaxed would work the same, more below on this.

Here's how I do it. I have CRW cages for tomatoes and a steel A frame trellis for cukes and pole beans. All that stuff occupies the area I fence in so the rats can't jump in. I drive 4 6' wood tomato stakes 1' into the ground leaving a border for me to walk around the interior perimeter of about 18". I then string dental floss to each stake, I start at the top and drop 5-6" for the next "wire". I do this until the last one is 10-12" off the ground. I leave an opening vis a vis the stakes I'm tying the floss to as wide as 1 extra CRW cage and use that as the "door" to block the opening. When the floss droops a little (you want to keep it taut or the rats will stick their heads in the gap) just gently pull the extra floss end tied to a stake to snug it up, I leave about 2" at each end for this.

It takes a little time to set up but in an hour or two I protect the beans and tomatoes otherwise there'd be no point in planting them. Here's my bulldozer moving some tomatoes.

 

[Amethyst]

Land mines! That way, the venison is already cut up and ready to eat!

I'd use a grenade launcher on 'em if I could get away with it.



-ERD50

 

[Walt34]

Land mines! That way, the venison is already cut up and ready to eat!

Oh, there's probably some silly law against that too.

 

[veremchuka]

Oh, there's probably some silly law against that too.

There are laws against anything that is fun.