Hooray! I Have Tomatoes - Oh Darn...

[OldGuy43]

First we got a couple of Roma's. (At least that's what they look like, the plants were given to us) They were delicious. Yesterday I looked out the kitchen window and saw two of the larger fruits were getting red. Yeah! Went down to take a closer look and discovered that the birds had found them first.

Bought some netting. Hope it works. :tools

 

[Ridgerunner]

Congratulations, sort of. I've used the netting before and it did really slow down the birds. I had one get tangled up and die, but it was pretty effective at protecting the tomatoes. It did make it a bit hard to get to some ripe tomatoes behind the netting, but I worked it out.

One problem I had was that the tomato vine kept growing on through the netting. After a while the netting was so tied up in the plant you could not get it out. The new tomatoes eventually started setting on outside the netting where it did not protect them. I don't have any good solutions, just something to be aware of.

At the end of the season, I compost my old tomato vines. I had to remove that netting from the vines. A royal pain.

I have not had a big problem with birds for a few years. With all I've said, I'd use netting again if I had a real need.

 

[Carol Dee]

I have not used any netting for tomaotes. But had a thought... depending how wide it is, could you tent it up over the plants so there was room to grow and you could flip up a side to get in and harvest?

 

[OldGuy43]

I have not used any netting for tomaotes. But had a thought... depending how wide it is, could you tent it up over the plants so there was room to grow and you could flip up a side to get in and harvest?

Great idea, but no, it isn't big enough to even cover the whole plot. The ends are still open. I may have to pickup some more.

 

[so lucky]

Do you think the birds are going after the tomatoes for moisture? They haven't bothered my tomatoes yet, but I have a birdbath in the garden that I refill daily.

 

[Just-Moxie]

Birds are attracted to anything red, from what I read. Strawberries, tomatoes, humming bird feeders, flowers.

 

[baymule]

When my tomatoes start to turn, we pick them and pile them up on the kitchen windowsill. Got about 25 there now, piled 3 high :rainbow-sun

 

[vfem]

Congrats! I usually just cut off the bad spots and eat them anyways. Between the chickens, ducks, stink bugs and caterpillars... I cut a lot of bad spots.

 

[OldGuy43]

When my tomatoes start to turn, we pick them and pile them up on the kitchen windowsill. Got about 25 there now, piled 3 high :rainbow-sun

Yeah, but they taste so much better when you let them ripen on the vine.

 

[curly_kate]

I have the same problem, but the culprit is our Houdini chicken.