MOCK

I was just coming to this forum to vent about my summer harvest of exactly 1 tomato, thanks to the squirrels, birds, raccoons, and deer.
Has anyone tried crop cages? Something like this: https://www.gardeners.com/buy/crop-cage-4x8/8596539.html?channable=4118756964003835393635333962&SC=GGLPLA&gclid=Cj0KCQjworiXBhDJARIsAMuzAuw-XZWqcFioQw4auUZeF_hALZ2SWFYKMS_1dwbRuJ7ILLrQloc1YBcaAi7fEALw_wcB.
Any other animal-proof solution? I really would love to grow vegetables.

Groundhogs not only ate all my vegetables, but now they've taken to dropping nibbled cucumbers on my back steps.

I set up a netting contraption a couple years ago to try to keep the critters out. It does help with the birds even if they poke from the sides and get ones that have grown out the top. But there is one particular squirrel that always, always finds a way in, no matter what I do.

We have a squirrel who has now moved on to unripe tomatoes.

Anonymous wrote:They’re looking for moisture. A lot of these problems went away after I set up a birdbath.

Catbirds are by far the highest users of our birdbath.

BB gun. Lol

Anonymous wrote:They’re looking for moisture. A lot of these problems went away after I set up a birdbath.

I have two. Always kept filled. Those thugs pick & peck at everything. It's infuriating.

It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.

And I don’t think they eat tomatoes.

1. Get Merlin Bird ID on your phone. You can ID a bird from a pic OR from their call. It's so so cool.

2. Try foil on a clothesline or other shiny, moving things to scare them off.

Anonymous wrote:They’re looking for moisture. A lot of these problems went away after I set up a birdbath.

+1. I have tomatoes right by the birdbath and birds leave them alone.
A raccoon has been carrying off all my large ones though (leaves the grape and cherry tomatoes).

They’re looking for moisture. A lot of these problems went away after I set up a birdbath.

Anonymous wrote:Ugh I'm with you about the gun. I have what I think is catbirds (grey bird, dark grey cap). They do the same thing. Eat absolutely every berry & bit of fruit not hidden. Peck, only once, every tomato visibly ripe. They are horrible vandals and I pray the neighborhood cats get them. It looks like building a big netted enclosure is going to be the only way to stop them.

Actually PP, my problem too is a vicious catbird! I'm terrible at IDing birds. I thought it was a mockingbird, but I looked up catbird images after you mentioned them. That's definitely my culprit. A single catbird is isnanely destructive. It's unreal.

Ugh I'm with you about the gun. I have what I think is catbirds (grey bird, dark grey cap). They do the same thing. Eat absolutely every berry & bit of fruit not hidden. Peck, only once, every tomato visibly ripe. They are horrible vandals and I pray the neighborhood cats get them. It looks like building a big netted enclosure is going to be the only way to stop them.

We got this nasty bugger, which I believe is a mocking bird. It flies into my garden almost every. single. day around 4-6 PM and pecks away at all of the ripe tomatoes. It is so bad that I've gotten almost zero tomatoes from my entire crop this year because of this single bird. I've already tried to hang shiny things that move, yet this bugger give zero craps and continues to eat every single tomato. I know bird netting is a solution, but is there anything else? Netting would be difficult because of the size of the area. I am getting really sick of this bird. It's amazing how a single bird can be so damaging. I'm at the point where I am seriously contemplating taking it out with a pellet gun.