Last year was stink bugs

[Southern Gardener]

this year my foes are Blue Jays - they are loving my tomatoes! I was waiting on one particular Homestead tomato to ripen - it was huge and oh so beautiful. I got home from work yesterday eager to check on it and there was a huge hole in it!!!

We haven't had rain in weeks and it is so dry here, do you think they are after the moisture from the tomato or they just like them?

What do you do to keep the birds away?

 

[lesa]

Someone else posted that birds were eating their tomatoes.... I had never heard of it before!! Geez, as if we don't have enough problems in the garden! I suppose you could try the usual, scarecrow, hanging Cd's etc. What about that deer netting- could you cover the plants? The other poster mentioned they harvested early and let the tomatoes ripen inside....

 

[Southern Gardener]

We do have a case of cd's that are not being used and I may have an old fall scarecrow in the shed. I'll try both. :/ I've never had a problem with birds until now - don't know why.

 

[wifezilla]

The only bird I am having trouble with is my duck Shelley! She has figured out a new way to escape from the pen and has wiped out a bed of kale, a bed of lettuce, and a bed of swiss chard. If she wasn't so cute she would be on the grill by now

 

[thistlebloom]

this year my foes are Blue Jays - they are loving my tomatoes! I was waiting on one particular Homestead tomato to ripen - it was huge and oh so beautiful. I got home from work yesterday eager to check on it and there was a huge hole in it!!!

We haven't had rain in weeks and it is so dry here, do you think they are after the moisture from the tomato or they just like them?

What do you do to keep the birds away?

If it's the moisture they're after maybe you could put a birdbath out, or some big plant saucers, or......? Just a thought.

 

[digitS']

. . . The other poster mentioned they harvested early and let the tomatoes ripen inside....

I harvest most of mine when they just have a good "blush" - the quail will snack on them otherwise. The tomatoes are full ripe in just a few days but this seems just enuf to deter the birds. (If I find a fully ripe tomato that's been overlooked by humans and birds, I usually eat that one immediately . You can't be too careful!)

A few minutes looking at Cornell's All about Birds site makes me think that tomatoes aren't the jays preferred food. So, I'm thinking that they are eating them because they are thirsty.

What I've done to keep the sparrows from eating lettuce seedlings or dust bathing in seed beds is to borrow my daughter's cat. No, not a live cat. I had a toy cat for the beds in the backyard for a number of years - things are often started there and the sparrows would congregate and cause trouble.

The toy cat might turn up just anywhere! . . . and, often did.

Under this or behind that, always slightly hidden, always lurking. Never in the same place for very long. . . Dangerous, dangerous Mr. Kat!

Steve

 

[Southern Gardener]

thistle, I have two bird baths out and fill them daily -

steve, hmmm, not the jays preferred food? maybe they've acquired a taste for them?

 

[lesa]

I'll bet your tomatoes are delicious!! That is the problem....

 

[vfem]

I think I would trade the mocking birds here for your blue jays if you are interested?!

 

[digitS']

I'll bet your tomatoes are delicious!! That is the problem....

Yeah, I bet that's it!

Really, try the kat. Or, a rubber snake is supposed to work well. But, a toy cat or small dog is easy to find (after the kid goes off to college or at a thrift store ) then just kind of hide it.

I would move mine a couple times a day. Ha! It was fun . . . trying to put a bird into cardiac arrest!

digitS'


edited because it was time to git wid of dat putty tat! So, I did! I did!