Protecting Tomato Stems

uno · March 20, 2011

I have a chipmunk problem in my area.

What happens is I start my tomatoes from seeds and grow then under florescent lights and take good care of them for 6-8 weeks only to have a chipmunk rip the tomato off at the soil line 2 days after being transplanted outside!

I put up a fence but it does no good.

What does work is I got some fence with a real tight mesh on it that is called hardware cloth, it has spaces in it maybe 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch. I just bend it in a circle about the size of a softball and put my transplants through it.

My only problem is although this works and I no longer have any tomatoes ripped off at the soil line, it's a pain to use these protectors I made.

I just wanted to see how others go about protecting their tomato stems from getting ripped off by chipmunks or other pests.

Thanks

Jim

March 20, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by uno

I have a chipmunk problem in my area.

What happens is I start my tomatoes from seeds and grow then under florescent lights and take good care of them for 6-8 weeks only to have a chipmunk rip the tomato off at the soil line 2 days after being transplanted outside!

I put up a fence but it does no good.

What does work is I got some fence with a real tight mesh on it that is called hardware cloth, it has spaces in it maybe 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch. I just bend it in a circle about the size of a softball and put my transplants through it.

My only problem is although this works and I no longer have any tomatoes ripped off at the soil line, it's a pain to use these protectors I made.

I just wanted to see how others go about protecting their tomato stems from getting ripped off by chipmunks or other pests.

Thanks

Jim

Two words (( Pellet Gun ))

brokenbar · March 20, 2011

Hot wire..one line barely off the ground, one about a foot off the ground and one about two feet off the ground. They even have "solar" electric fence chargers. This is the ONLY thing that will keep coons out of the corn so I would think it would work well for squirrels as well. I had rabbits a-plenty in Wyoming and this served to keep them out as well. Critters...freeloaders, bandits an scoundrels!

Wi-sunflower · March 20, 2011

One solution for chipmunks is cats.

We had such a bad problem one year that you couldn't walk on the front lawn without turning your ankle. Then someone dumped a pregnant cat by us. . She took up residence in the barn and by fall we had no more chippies running around. We fed her a bit too and I tamed the kittens.

I'm a cat person and we have a herd of them here at this farm.

Carol

husker nana · March 20, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wi-sunflower

One solution for chipmunks is cats.

We had such a bad problem one year that you couldn't walk on the front lawn without turning your ankle. Then someone dumped a pregnant cat by us. . She took up residence in the barn and by fall we had no more chippies running around. We fed her a bit too and I tamed the kittens.

I'm a cat person and we have a herd of them here at this farm.

Carol

Same here Carol. No small critter problem here! Now we trip over the cats. Why do they criss cross in front of you when your walking? Try to pull weeds and they lay down in front of you right where your trying to work.

Beside the huge shed that they go in, I have a dog house with heating mat, and a heated water dish for them. You know how cold it can get here in Wisc.

I got rid of my problem and maybe created another. It is cute to see one of the kids out in the yard and a line of cats following. We have our own little pied piper that also is a cat whisperer.

Now what is really funny is that alot of times they will bring their kill to us. Sometimes they even drop it at your feet. I guess they are trying to show us that they are working for their room and board.

**carolyn137** · March 20, 2011

Are you sure it's chipmunks? I've had chipmunks at the many different places where I've grown tomatoes in the past and the only critters that have severed the stems at the soil line have been cutworms.

And the only way to deal with cutworms is to stick a plastic soda straw or a twig or whatever right next to the stem b'c cutworms have to encircle a stem before they can start gnawing. So physically preventing them from doing that solves the problem. Cutworm collars and the like are useless b'c the cutworms can up from the soil inside those collars.

If the transplants have sturdy stems to start with the cutworms can't bother them, but often the transplants set out have stems on the thin side and that's when the cutwroms can have breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Mark0820 · March 20, 2011

I too am wondering if it really is a chipmunk. I don't know if you have starlings in your area or not, but I have had problems with them. They like to pick apart tomato plants and marigolds in the Spring when they are making their nests. Starlings have never cut the plant off at the soil line, but they can destroy a tomato plant if it is still on the small side.

I just happened to be looking out the window one day, and saw the starlings picking at my plants. It took me a few years to figure out what was going on.

Wi-sunflower · March 20, 2011

Or Crows.

I've seen crows in my fields of cabbage transplants or winter squash seedlings. By the time I get to that field they are gone but I'll find plenty of plants pulled out of the ground and cooking/dying elsewhere.

Carol

piegirl · March 21, 2011

Rabbits used to chew off everything in my garden. I took non-climbing horse fence (in a roll) and cut 2 1/2 ft half sections - the length - kind of the half circle of the roll, if that makes sense. laid over the beets, etc poked into the ground and a roof tile blocks each open end but you can add more five foot sections then the tile. Because you are using the roll, the fencing pieces are curved so you don't have to bend. Still use them to keep the cat from flopping and rolling in new seed beds. Later I use them as hail guards - one piece will cover two CRW cages - works while the plants are smaller. Won't completely stop damage but the hail does bounce off. piegirl

shlacm · March 21, 2011

I don't know about chipmunks, but a single baited electric wire worked wonders for our rampant deer problem last year!!!

uno · March 24, 2011

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

I'm pretty sure it's chipmunks...they get into everything here....they even got up inside the air cleaner of the car and made a nest.

The tomato plants usually have digging around them and the stem is ripped off and sometimes it's a few feet away from where it was torn off at.

The cages I made solved the problem but they are a pain to use.

So if it is not chipmunks it's some other animal I thing because bugs and worms can still get through the cage.

And rabbits...forget it..my garden would be rabbit food with out a big fence around it. But even with a fence the chipmunks can get right in.

I'm surprised others do not have serious problems with the rodents.

My next door neighbor actually wraps screen like from a screen door around the stems of his plants......that seems like a bigger pain than what I do!

Jim

KevinCT · March 24, 2011

For munks,I use a 5 gallon bucket, filled up with water 3 quarters of the way or so, then I place sunflower seeds on top until you can't see the water. I also line the ramp (a 2x6, dont make it too steep) up the bucket with seed and the chipmunks always get greedy and hop into the bucket for a swim they never return from.

cloz · March 24, 2011

An old timer up in Maine used to use a similar setup for mice at his hunting camp. He used to put a stiff wire (coathanger) through a soda can so the can would spin on the wire and set it on top of the 5 gallon bucket that was half full of water. For bait he used a ring of peanut butter around the can. The mice would walk up the ramp (also baited with small blobs of peanut butter) get to the top of the bucket and jump to the can, the can would spin and the mouse plopped down into the water. When he returned to camp weeks later he just dumped out the bucket with lots of dead mice. It's the trap that always resets itself.

March 20, 2011	#1
uno Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: SW Pennsylvania, zone 6a Posts: 147	Protecting Tomato Stems I have a chipmunk problem in my area. What happens is I start my tomatoes from seeds and grow then under florescent lights and take good care of them for 6-8 weeks only to have a chipmunk rip the tomato off at the soil line 2 days after being transplanted outside! I put up a fence but it does no good. What does work is I got some fence with a real tight mesh on it that is called hardware cloth, it has spaces in it maybe 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch. I just bend it in a circle about the size of a softball and put my transplants through it. My only problem is although this works and I no longer have any tomatoes ripped off at the soil line, it's a pain to use these protectors I made. I just wanted to see how others go about protecting their tomato stems from getting ripped off by chipmunks or other pests. Thanks Jim

March 20, 2011	#3
brokenbar Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: South Of The Border Posts: 1,169	Hot wire..one line barely off the ground, one about a foot off the ground and one about two feet off the ground. They even have "solar" electric fence chargers. This is the ONLY thing that will keep coons out of the corn so I would think it would work well for squirrels as well. I had rabbits a-plenty in Wyoming and this served to keep them out as well. Critters...freeloaders, bandits an scoundrels! __________________ "If I'm not getting dirty, I'm not having a good time."

March 20, 2011	#6
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	Are you sure it's chipmunks? I've had chipmunks at the many different places where I've grown tomatoes in the past and the only critters that have severed the stems at the soil line have been cutworms. And the only way to deal with cutworms is to stick a plastic soda straw or a twig or whatever right next to the stem b'c cutworms have to encircle a stem before they can start gnawing. So physically preventing them from doing that solves the problem. Cutworm collars and the like are useless b'c the cutworms can up from the soil inside those collars. If the transplants have sturdy stems to start with the cutworms can't bother them, but often the transplants set out have stems on the thin side and that's when the cutwroms can have breakfast, lunch and dinner. __________________ Carolyn

March 20, 2011	#4
Wi-sunflower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 2,591	One solution for chipmunks is cats. We had such a bad problem one year that you couldn't walk on the front lawn without turning your ankle. Then someone dumped a pregnant cat by us. . She took up residence in the barn and by fall we had no more chippies running around. We fed her a bit too and I tamed the kittens. I'm a cat person and we have a herd of them here at this farm. Carol

March 20, 2011	#7
Mark0820 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Cincinnati Posts: 907	I too am wondering if it really is a chipmunk. I don't know if you have starlings in your area or not, but I have had problems with them. They like to pick apart tomato plants and marigolds in the Spring when they are making their nests. Starlings have never cut the plant off at the soil line, but they can destroy a tomato plant if it is still on the small side. I just happened to be looking out the window one day, and saw the starlings picking at my plants. It took me a few years to figure out what was going on.

March 21, 2011	#9
piegirl Tomatovillian™ Honoree Join Date: May 2006 Location: Lincoln, NE Posts: 791	Rabbits used to chew off everything in my garden. I took non-climbing horse fence (in a roll) and cut 2 1/2 ft half sections - the length - kind of the half circle of the roll, if that makes sense. laid over the beets, etc poked into the ground and a roof tile blocks each open end but you can add more five foot sections then the tile. Because you are using the roll, the fencing pieces are curved so you don't have to bend. Still use them to keep the cat from flopping and rolling in new seed beds. Later I use them as hail guards - one piece will cover two CRW cages - works while the plants are smaller. Won't completely stop damage but the hail does bounce off. piegirl

March 21, 2011	#10
shlacm Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Central VA Posts: 436	I don't know about chipmunks, but a single *baited* electric wire worked wonders for our rampant deer problem last year!!!

March 24, 2011	#11
uno Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: SW Pennsylvania, zone 6a Posts: 147	Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'm pretty sure it's chipmunks...they get into everything here....they even got up inside the air cleaner of the car and made a nest. The tomato plants usually have digging around them and the stem is ripped off and sometimes it's a few feet away from where it was torn off at. The cages I made solved the problem but they are a pain to use. So if it is not chipmunks it's some other animal I thing because bugs and worms can still get through the cage. And rabbits...forget it..my garden would be rabbit food with out a big fence around it. But even with a fence the chipmunks can get right in. I'm surprised others do not have serious problems with the rodents. My next door neighbor actually wraps screen like from a screen door around the stems of his plants......that seems like a bigger pain than what I do! Jim

March 24, 2011	#12
KevinCT Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: USA: CT Shoreline: Zone:6b Posts: 40	For munks,I use a 5 gallon bucket, filled up with water 3 quarters of the way or so, then I place sunflower seeds on top until you can't see the water. I also line the ramp (a 2x6, dont make it too steep) up the bucket with seed and the chipmunks always get greedy and hop into the bucket for a swim they never return from.

March 24, 2011	#13
cloz Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Southern Connecticut Posts: 435	An old timer up in Maine used to use a similar setup for mice at his hunting camp. He used to put a stiff wire (coathanger) through a soda can so the can would spin on the wire and set it on top of the 5 gallon bucket that was half full of water. For bait he used a ring of peanut butter around the can. The mice would walk up the ramp (also baited with small blobs of peanut butter) get to the top of the bucket and jump to the can, the can would spin and the mouse plopped down into the water. When he returned to camp weeks later he just dumped out the bucket with lots of dead mice. It's the trap that always resets itself.