New kind of tomato-eating pest ....

[Beekissed]

Kept finding big bites out of the side of my ripening tomatoes. Suspected the occasional jailbird escapee at first. Then, when no further attempts to escape were successful, I kept finding these bite marks and the whole side carved out of my maters! No other type of pest can get to my garden as it is well guarded by my two dogs......

Hey!....wait a tic! That miserable mutt!!! Yep, my younger dog, who has been known to eat anything that isn't nailed down, has been eating my tomatoes! I caught him all nestled down under one of our trees with a tomato between his legs, enjoying a juicy snack. GRRRRRRR! un

Guess I'll have to "nail down" the maters....

 

[ams3651]

thats funny, we had a pear eating cocker spaniel. he would take just one bite out of each one, we really had to make sure we got them off the ground fast.

 

[Beekissed]

I just saw the miserable mongrel walking out of my garden with a ripe tomato in his mouth! No wonder I was thinking my tomatoes were ripening kind of slow....he's more vigilant than I and is plucking them before I can get to them!

How in the world to keep out this mutt? I can't afford any netting or fencing right now and I don't wish to tie him up....he doesn't do well tied, as he hasn't been tied more than a couple of times since he was a pup. He tangles himself and whines a lot and makes a general nuisance of himself.

Next year....electric fencing around the garden!

 

[Grow 4 Food]

Sorry, can't blame him I like them fresh out of the garden too!

 

[simple life]

I don't know how well those repellant sprays work, you put them around the perimeter of where you want to keep them out. I know they make for dogs in the house and yard. You would have to buy alot of it thought. You could use that nasty pepper solution on them, see if it eats another tomato.
I just bought one of those water scarecrows myself to keep the dogs and chickens out of my garden.
Its motion activated, you hook it up to the hose and it sprays and turns around when something comes within 1200 yards of it.
It also is suppose to train them so they learn new behaviors and to keep them from even trying to enter the garden eventually. I am not holding my breath on that one working for all of my animals, but as long as it keeps them out by spraying, I'm good.
It had free shipping on it, so even better.
I pasted the link to the scarecrow and the the dog repellant below.Good luck, I know how frustrating it is, I am not having the best luck with pumpkins so far this year and someone nibbled the only one I had on the vine today.

http://www.aquaticponds.com/Scarecrow-Motion-Activated-Sprinkler_p_19-189.html

http://www.gardeners.com/Dog and Cat Repellent/YardPests_DogsCats,33-848,default,cp.html

 

[simple life]

Beekissed,
Are you entirely sure its not Tutter stealing your tomatoes?

 

[Beekissed]

Beekissed,
Are you entirely sure its not Tutter stealing your tomatoes?

HEY!!! I hadn't considered that...... :/ hmmmm... maybe Tutter even trained that mutt to fetch tomatoes to her! She is evil and must be destroyed! I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!

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[curly_kate]

But they look so sweet!!

 

[Beekissed]

Oh, they are sweet, alright! The white one (big, baby girl Lucy) digs holes at the roots of my apple trees, in my corn, in my potatoes....well, anywhere she didn't dig them before...just to lay down in them! If you pet her, she won't let you stop, but will follow you around and keep pushing her nose under your hand or arm until you pet her more.

The brown one, Chocolate Jake, is a big baby that tries to get in your lap every time you sit down too! He is so sweet because he eats all the dropped apples, tomatoes, potatoes, chicken poop and feed, cat poop, songbirds (snatched right out of the air!), mice, etc. he can fit into that garbage disposal he calls a mouth!

They were both mistreated as children, so we constantly have to compensate....just to keep them from having to go for therapy, you know!

Now these dogs are neither starved for food nor affection, folks, but it seems they can't get enough of either! Gotta love 'em, though! Never thought I would have to protect my tomatoes from them.....rotten, sweet, darn ol' pups!

 

[curly_kate]

If you pet her, she won't let you stop, but will follow you around and keep pushing her nose under your hand or arm until you pet her more.

Mine does the same thing!