Squirrels keep taking one bite out of my tomatoes — how do I stop them?
Squirrels often take single bites from tomatoes to access water during dry periods — a separate water source can reduce the behavior, but physical exclusion with netting is the most reliable solution.
The single-bite pattern is a useful diagnostic. Squirrels that take one bite and leave the rest are typically after water, not the tomato itself. During hot, dry stretches, ripe tomatoes become a water source. Providing a shallow dish of fresh water near the garden in hot weather can reduce this behavior noticeably. It sounds simple because it often is.
Physical exclusion is more reliable as a long-term solution. Bird netting draped over tomato cages or fastened to a simple frame above the bed keeps squirrels off the fruit once they've decided the garden is a food source. The netting needs to be fastened at the bottom — squirrels will find gaps and push underneath if it's only draped loosely. Rigid hardware cloth formed into a cage around individual plants provides better exclusion than soft netting, which squirrels can push through.
Motion-activated sprinklers scare squirrels reliably at first, but like most deterrents, some squirrels habituate within a few weeks. They work better as part of a multi-approach strategy than as a standalone solution.
Harvest tomatoes the moment they reach the breaker stage (when the color just begins to shift from green to orange or pink at the blossom end) and ripen them on the counter. A tomato picked at the breaker stage ripens indoors over 3–5 days with perfectly acceptable flavor, and it never gets the chance to attract wildlife. This approach isn't ideal for flavor, but it may be the most practical option when squirrel pressure is high.
- AnthracnoseSunken, dark circular lesions on ripening fruit, sometimes with salmon-colored spores in the center.
- Black RotV-shaped yellow lesions at brassica leaf margins with blackened veins inside — a bacterial disease that moves through the vascular system.
- Blossom DropFlowers fall before setting fruit, often during temperature extremes or after weather stress.
- Corn Earworm / Tomato FruitwormCaterpillars eating corn kernels from the tip; same species bores into tomato and pepper fruit. Often called 'tomato fruitworm' when found on tomato.
- White-tailed DeerRagged, torn foliage and missing plants from the top down — hoof prints nearby confirm the cause.
- Deer are eating my garden — what actually works to stop them?An 8-foot fence is the only reliably effective deer deterrent — repellents and shorter fences work temporarily but tend to fail when deer are hungry enough.
- My tomatoes are still green as fall approaches — will they ripen on the vine?Tomatoes that have started to change color will ripen indoors just fine; fully green tomatoes will not ripen after frost — pick them at any color change and bring them in.
- Why are my tomatoes cracking and splitting?Tomato skin cracks when the fruit expands rapidly after a period of drought — inconsistent watering is almost always the cause, though some varieties are simply crack-prone.