Nothing sours a summer garden faster than stepping outside to find your best tomatoes half-eaten.
In a new video, CaliKim (@CaliKim29) compared three ways to deter rats while a camera recorded the garden after dark.
What happened?
CaliKim talks in her video about how rats were eating the tomatoes in her garden and that she wanted to do something about it.
The deterrent methods she compared were wire mesh tomato bags, nylon mesh fruit bags, and a Green Guardian organic pest control featuring white vinegar.
By morning, the night camera showed that two of these worked pretty well. The wire mesh tomato bag was a little more expensive and hard to use, but it successfully warded off the rats. The Green Guardian had also done the trick, at least initially, in keeping rats away from cherry tomatoes.
Unfortunately, the nylon mesh bags didn't really work. While they were cheaper and easier to use, the rats chewed right through them in a few cases.
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Why does it matter?
For many households, growing tomatoes is one of the easiest ways to save money on produce, especially during peak season, when plants can produce heavily. Homegrown tomatoes also tend to have an edge over store-bought ones because they can be picked fully ripe instead of being harvested early for shipping.
Gardening can also provide regular physical activity and boost mental health. When pests wipe out a harvest, those benefits can disappear along with the fruit.
A persistent pest problem can discourage beginners from continuing to garden at all. And for people trying to grow more of their own food, losing crops means losing savings, flavor, and confidence.
While pest control is an added expense in the process, CaliKim's testing shows that it might be worthwhile.
What can I do?
If fruit keeps disappearing, it helps to confirm what animal is responsible and when the damage is happening. Checking for bite marks and droppings can keep gardeners from wasting time on the wrong fix.
It also helps to reduce what may be attracting rodents in the first place. Harvesting ripe tomatoes quickly and even keeping nearby clutter to a minimum can help. After all, small, preventative steps can go a long way.
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