We get the same problem - especially in dry weather - guess the birds
are thirsty !!
Best way round it is to pick the tomatoes as soon as they start to
show colour - they will ripen on the windowsill. We find the birds
only go for the ripe ones - they're not silly !
Doug Bone
Auckland Regional Botanic Gardens
Aotearoa-New Zealand
In article <34a3484b...@news.xtra.co.nz>, doug&jac...@xtra.co.nz
--
Pardee
North-central Indiana
pgu...@family.kconline.com
--
Don Chapman <d...@bio-organics.com>
Bio/Organics Supply Center
Camarillo CA (Near ocean N. of LA)
<http://www.bio-organics.com>
bbe...@ix.netcom.com wrote in article <34A32E...@ix.netcom.com>...
You know, I've heard this argument time and time again but - you should
pardon the pun - it doesn't hold water. Even with clean water readily
available in my yard and throughout the rest of the neighborhood the
birds still attack my, and my neighbors', tomatoes (and blackberries,
and strawberries, etc). Have you ever considered that the birds just
like the way the tomatoes taste? Just a thought.
Dan
--
-- "If food is the body of good living, wine is its soul"
--
-- Clifton Fadiman, American editor and writer.
-- 1904-?
--
On Sat, 27 Dec 1997, Dan Parker wrote:
> Pardee wrote:
> >
> > Has anyone ever considered giving the birds water? Just a thought.
>
> You know, I've heard this argument time and time again but - you should
> pardon the pun - it doesn't hold water. Even with clean water readily
> available in my yard and throughout the rest of the neighborhood the
> birds still attack my, and my neighbors', tomatoes (and blackberries,
> and strawberries, etc). Have you ever considered that the birds just
> like the way the tomatoes taste? Just a thought.
>
> Dan
>
I wouldn't stick to an all-water diet if tomatoes, blackberries and
strawberries were mine for the picking. Would you?
Gary
Another idea I've read about is to hang wren-houses in your
garden. If you can get some wrens to establish themselves
there, they will aggressively chase away the other birds.
The summer before last I tried this, and we did get wrens. They
scolded me every time I went to the garden! (This year they
didn't come back.)
--Anna
h...@navix.net
Southeastern Nebraska
Zone 5, but windy!
Gary Cooper wrot
>
> > >
> > > Has anyone ever considered giving the birds water? Just a thought.
> >
> >
What kind of bird shrubs and trees?
Birds are attracted to red fruit so it is highly likely that if you let the
tomatoes ripen on the vine the birds will eat them. I have a cherry plum
tree which supplies the birds with fruit early in the season. I also let
them eat the strawberries and in exchange they eat the slugs and snails. So
let them peck a few tomatoes. Think of it as a investment in pest control.
In Norway, they cover their currants and other berry plants with a netting
(not a cage) at about harvest time.
HTH
/z.
> In article <68csc1$5qr$1...@news.alphalink.com.au>, "Peter H"
> <NoSpa...@alphalink.com.au> wrote:
>
> > bbe...@ix.netcom.com wrote in message <34A32E...@ix.netcom.com>...
> > >This past year we had a great potential crop of tomatoes but 3 out of 4
> > >would get holes in them from birds. Besides enclosing the plants in a
> > >cage is there anything I do to keep the birds away.
> >
> > Birds are attracted to red fruit so it is highly likely that if you let the
> > tomatoes ripen on the vine the birds will eat them. I have a cherry plum
> > tree which supplies the birds with fruit early in the season. I also let
> > them eat the strawberries and in exchange they eat the slugs and snails. So
> > let them peck a few tomatoes. Think of it as a investment in pest control.
>
Yesterday while browsing catalogs, I saw an ad for an all-green tomato,
which is yellow-green when ripe. The vendor claims that birds, squirrels,
etc. will wait to eat the 'maters until they turn red, which of course
they never do.
I don't remember which catalog it was, though.
Has anybody tried this scheme? Does it work?
Gary
>Yesterday while browsing catalogs, I saw an ad for an all-green tomato,
>which is yellow-green when ripe. The vendor claims that birds, squirrels,
>etc. will wait to eat the 'maters until they turn red, which of course
>they never do.
>I don't remember which catalog it was, though.
Maybe Thompson & Morgan who have had this for at least one or two years
now.
>
>Has anybody tried this scheme? Does it work?
Sorry that I haven't tried it yet. I have got a huge and very thorny
Himalaya black berry (loganberry type??) in my greenhouse and I need
special equipment to remove it. The 8 m long greenhouse is at moment
completely ruined :-( (Beside the blackberry, lots of weeds has entered
it too, so it is impossible to do anything there right now :-((
Alf Christophersen
alf.chris...@basalmed.uio.no
Gary ;
Totally tomatoes (Route 1 Graniteville SC) has Evergreen, Green Zebra, and
Green grape as well Yellow, pink , purple and white varieties. In over a half
century of growing tomatoes, the only non-insect to bother them were box
turtles. They will bite large chunks out of any they can reach. I haave
robins, blue birds, blue jays, threshers, grackles, crows, starlings, doves,
martins, summer tanagers but never any bird damage to tomatoes and I grow,
whites, yellows, pinks purples, and reds.
Dill
On 2 Jan 1998, FarmerDill wrote:
> Totally tomatoes (Route 1 Graniteville SC) has Evergreen, Green Zebra, and
> Green grape as well Yellow, pink , purple and white varieties. In over a half
> century of growing tomatoes, the only non-insect to bother them were box
> turtles. They will bite large chunks out of any they can reach. I haave
> robins, blue birds, blue jays, threshers, grackles, crows, starlings, doves,
> martins, summer tanagers but never any bird damage to tomatoes and I grow,
> whites, yellows, pinks purples, and reds.
>
> Dill
>
This is amazing. What, if anything, do you do to keep the birds away from
the tomato fruits?
Gary
I have been growing dozens of varieties of tomatoes for years. I have never
had a single bird touch any of them! Slugs will eat holes into tomatoes.
Groundhogs take big chunks out. But birds aren't interested... around here
anyway. The green tomato "Green Zebra" is one of my favorites! Very tart,
slightly larger than cherry tomato size. Excellent in salsa and pretty
canned in their skins with other red and yellow tomatoes.
KG
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