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How to Keep Squirrels From Eating Tomatoes

Squirrels take one bite from a tomato and leave it, because they are after water. Cages that work, the water trick, and what does not help.

By Zakaria 4 min read Save to Pinterest — opens Pinterest in a new tab
Ripening tomatoes hanging on the vine among green foliage
Photo: bohdanchreptak, Pixabay Content License, via Pixabay
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The single-bite pattern gives it away, and it also gives you the fix: the squirrel is not hungry, it is thirsty. A tomato in a dry August is the nearest available drink.

Reading the damage

Who took the tomato
SignCulprit
One bite from many fruit, rest abandonedSquirrel
Fruit knocked down or carried a short waySquirrel
Shallow pecks, same fruit revisitedBirds
Irregular holes low down, slime trailsSlugs
Rough cavity, most of the fruit eaten, at nightRats
Small fruit gone entirelyChipmunks
Neat clean cut, whole fruit removedDeer

Put water out

It sounds too easy, and it works better than most of what is sold for this. A shallow dish, kept filled, at the edge of the garden away from the beds.

The squirrels get what they were taking the tomatoes for. It is free, it takes a minute, and it is the only thing on this page that addresses the motive rather than the behaviour.

It will not protect an unfenced bed by itself. It makes everything else work better.

Exclusion, which is the real answer

A squirrel climbs, jumps, chews and remembers. Anything that is not a physical barrier is a delay.

A cage:

  • Half-inch or one-inch hardware cloth, not chicken wire and not plastic netting
  • Closed at the top. An open-topped cage is a doorway
  • Framed on stakes, timber or hoops, sitting clear of the foliage
  • Pinned or buried at the bottom, so nothing goes under
  • A hinged side or removable panel, or harvesting becomes a daily fight

Individual fruit:

  • Organza drawstring bags — the kind sold for wedding favours. Cheap, breathable, reusable
  • Slip one over each truss as it starts to colour
  • Fiddly across a whole bed; excellent on a few prize plants

Do not use bird netting

Squirrels chew through it, and in the meantime birds, snakes and squirrels get tangled in it and die there.

If you use netting at all, it needs to be taut, fine and framed away from the plants, not draped. Hardware cloth is better in every respect.

Pick early

The change that costs nothing.

Squirrels go for fruit at the point of ripening. Harvest at first blush — the breaker stage, when colour is just appearing at the blossom end — and finish ripening indoors on a windowsill.

The flavour is essentially the same. A tomato at breaker stage has already cut itself off from the plant’s supply, and everything after that is ripening the fruit can do on a counter. Vine ripening is largely a habit rather than a requirement.

What barely works

  • Cayenne and chilli spray. Real but brief. Washes off in the first rain, needs reapplying after every watering and every new fruit, and is unpleasant to harvest around
  • Blood meal, hair, soap. No
  • Ultrasonic devices. No
  • Fake owls, spinners, shiny tape. A few days
  • Motion-activated sprinklers. Better than most — but squirrels learn the arc, and you are watering the path
  • Mothballs. No effect, and illegal used this way

Reducing the pressure

  • Move bird feeders well away from the vegetable garden, or stop feeding through summer. A feeder is a squirrel recruitment programme thirty feet from your tomatoes
  • Clear fallen fruit promptly, which otherwise advertises the bed
  • A dog in the garden does more than any spray
  • Grow more than you need, if you have room. Ten plants absorb what three cannot
  • Cherry tomatoes higher up are often left while large fruit lower down is taken

The combination that actually works

Water dish, early picking, and a hardware cloth cage over the plants that matter. Together those three resolve most tomato-and-squirrel complaints, and none of them depends on convincing a squirrel of anything.

Common questions

Why do squirrels take one bite out of a tomato and leave it?

Because they are after water rather than food. A ripening tomato is a convenient water source in a dry spell, and once the squirrel has the moisture it wants it drops the rest and moves to the next fruit — which is why a raided bed has a dozen tomatoes each with a single bite out of them rather than one eaten properly. It also explains why the damage spikes in hot dry weather and eases after rain, and why a shallow dish of water nearby helps more than most deterrents.

What actually stops squirrels taking tomatoes?

Physical exclusion. A cage of half-inch or one-inch hardware cloth around the plants, closed at the top, is the only approach that holds, because a squirrel climbs, jumps, chews and remembers. Individual fruit can be protected with organza drawstring bags, which is fiddly but cheap and works well on a few prize plants. Bird netting is not adequate on its own — squirrels chew through it and get tangled in it, which is bad for them and for you.

Does putting out water really help?

It helps more than it sounds like it should, because thirst is the motive. A shallow dish of water kept filled at the edge of the garden, away from the beds, gives the squirrels what they were taking the tomatoes for, and many gardeners report a marked drop in damage within days. It is not a complete solution and it will not protect an unfenced bed on its own, but it is free, it takes a minute, and it addresses the actual cause rather than trying to frighten the animal.

Will cayenne pepper or chilli spray keep squirrels off tomatoes?

Barely, and not for long. Capsaicin does not affect birds but mammals dislike it, so it has a real if short-lived effect — it washes off in the first rain and needs reapplying after every watering and every new fruit. It is also unpleasant to handle and to harvest around. Treat it as something that buys a few days on a few plants, not as protection, and never rely on it in place of a cage.

How do I know it was squirrels and not something else?

The single-bite pattern is close to a signature — a scatter of fruit each with one chunk taken and the rest abandoned, often with the fruit knocked to the ground or carried a short distance. Birds peck shallow holes and keep returning to the same fruit. Slugs leave irregular holes with slime trails, low down. Rats gnaw a rough cavity and eat much more of the fruit, usually at night. Chipmunks take whole small fruit and leave nothing.

Does picking tomatoes early work?

Yes, and it is the easiest change on this page. Squirrels go for fruit at the point of ripening, so harvesting at the first blush of colour and finishing the ripening indoors on a windowsill removes the window they exploit. A tomato picked at breaker stage ripens with essentially the same flavour as one left on the vine, which is the part people doubt. Combine it with a cage and the problem mostly disappears.

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