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+--- Thread: Strategies to keep rats off tomatoes (/showthread.php?tid=20931)
Strategies to keep rats off tomatoes - EightFingers - 05-24-2019
I have a few tomato plants in containers and wonder about ways to keep rats off them. They’re just getting started so I thought maybe some planning might be in order.
I will have netting for birds, but I imagine rats could blow through that no problem.
So, I’m looking for suggestions!
Puna: Our roosters crow first
RE: Strategies to keep rats off tomatoes - ElysianWort - 05-25-2019
I'm curious why you think rats will pester the tomato garden and have you experienced this before? I question if they will touch them at all.
I'm guessing you don't have cats around the house. That is by far the best way to keep rat populations in check.
RE: Strategies to keep rats off tomatoes - 1voyager1 - 05-25-2019
The only thing the rats seem to bother are our avocados.
They will climb the trees and gnaw on the fruit.
They have never bothered our tomato plantings.
I keep 2 poison bait boxes, one near the back edge our property next to the compost bin and one by the avo trees.
They clean out the box by the compost bin rarely reaching the one by the avo trees.
When the back box is empty, I refill it and exchange it with the one by the avos.
We do have cats.
One of them is a very good hunter.
But, M'Lady feeds him too much, too often.
He only hunts for sport.
The other is little more than a lap cat.
RE: Strategies to keep rats off tomatoes - bananahead - 05-25-2019
rat traps... it kills them dead... no come back...
#2 cat... also needs (other) food though...
aloha
******************************************************************
save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
RE: Strategies to keep rats off tomatoes - dayna - 05-25-2019
Rat traps, poison, cats. All good ideas. And yes, the occasion rat does wander into my tomato town and of course its always my prized brandywine, or the first one coming up ripe that I've never grown before that they must taste test, but then not actually eat.
Dayna
www.E-Z-Caps.com
RE: Strategies to keep rats off tomatoes - EightFingers - 05-25-2019
quote:
Originally posted by ElysianWort
I'm curious why you think rats will pester the tomato garden and have you experienced this before? I question if they will touch them at all.
I'm guessing you don't have cats around the house. That is by far the best way to keep rat populations in check.
I assumed rats would eat the tomatoes. I’ll be happy if I’m wrong.
They do get avocados.
I’ve got a couple rat traps, I think will be redeployed.
No cats except for a couple neighbors’ that wander into our yard sometimes.
Puna: Our roosters crow first
RE: Strategies to keep rats off tomatoes - terracore - 05-27-2019
The green parts of the plant are often considered toxic if consumed in large quantities, though the literature is conflicting on whether or not this applies to specifically to rats, but they tend to avoid tomatoes more than other plants, though that could be a result of not liking the way they smell. There ARE much more toxic species of the nightshade family that tomatoes are a part of, rats may have evolved to be deterred by them.