Tomato is a very juicy plant that is why it attracts a lot of animals such as squirrels love to eat them. So, if you have tomatoes in your garden, then you might want to learn to repel squirrels from tomato plants.
Best Method to Repel Squirrels from Tomato Plants
- Create pepper spray
Hot peppers have a strong scent and the squirrels
hate them since they have a very sensitive sense which makes them not
like the capsaicin scent and component inside the peppers. You can
combine 3.7 liters of water with 10 cayenne, 6 garlic and put them in
a spray bottle. Then you can spray them around the garden or on the
plant’s leaves. - Use Predator Urine
If you are too lazy to make a spray yourself,
there is actually a spray filled with predator urine that you can buy
at your nearest garden store. This spray contains urine from coyotes
and foxes with a strong scent which will make the squirrels afraid of
even going near your garden.
However, the spray only works if you live in a rural area as squirrels that live in the city are not familiar with these predators. Remember to respray the garden every week and after the rain have washed them away. - Provide water
The reason why squirrels try to eat your tomatoes is
because of their rich water content. The squirrels do not exactly
like the tomatoes themselves but they do need water especially during
the summer season. Thus, to repel squirrels from tomato plants you
might want to provide them with water at a spot far away from your
precious tomatoes. Add a bird bath then make sure that it is filled
with water to help the squirrels get what they need. That way, they
do not need to go near your tomatoes. - Install some fence
Those that grow the tomatoes on a garden bed you can try to install some fence around them. You can easily create the fence using wire mesh and woods yourself as a weekend DIY.
Remember that you need to install the fence at least 6 inches deep so the squirrels cannot dig their way down into your garden. Furthermore the tomatoes that you grow inside should be bush or determinate tomato varieties since they are shorter.
- Grow companion plants
If you do not want to put a fence around your
tomatoes then you can try to grow companion plants instead. The
squirrels do not like mustard, nasturtium, marigold and mint so they
will stay away from them. The best thing is, those plants are
actually good plants to be used as companion plants with the
tomatoes. - Install sprinkles
Like any other animals, squirrels hate being
sprayed when they try to reach the tomatoes. That is why, you can try
to find sprinkles that can be automatically activated with motion.
Install it all over your garden and it can naturally help to repel
the squirrels. That way when the squirrels went inside the sprinkle’s
reach it would spray them with water. It might take a while but
eventually the squirrels will learn and they will not go near your
garden anymore. - Owl statue
Scarecrows cannot scare the squirrels away so instead you
can use an owl statue for the squirrels. Owls are the squirrel’s
natural predator so they are naturally scared of the owl. But
remember that you need to move the statue frequently so the squirrels
would not know that it’s fake. - Provide other food source
If you feel that you cannot repel squirrels from tomato plants at all then maybe you can give them another food
source instead. You can try to install a bird feeder filled with
seeds and nuts which are the squirrel’s favorite food. But you do not
want them to steal all of the food from the bird so make sure that
the bird feeder is studied enough so the squirrels cannot steal all
of its content. - Grow more
If for some reason you are willing to share your tomatoes
with the squirrels then you can try to grow more of them. That way
you can still have enough for yourself while giving the squirrels
what they need as well. But of course, this means you need to work
extra and spend extra resources on them.
As you can see you can try to repel squirrels from tomato plants using various natural methods that will not harm them but still protect your plants.