How To Stop Birds From Eating Your Tomatoes

Our tomato plants are finally starting to take off! They are growing so tall that we've put cages around them to help them grow straight. We're starting to see lots of flowers, and even have some tiny tomatoes growing.

We know the first few years of gardening out here will be trial and error, but we really don't want any birds (or guineas!) to eat our tomatoes once they get nice and big. I read a very interesting tip in a magazine a few years ago on how to keep birds from eating your tomatoes while they are ripening on the vine. It seemed crazy at first, but once I thought about it, it really made sense and seemed like a great idea.

The article suggested putting unbreakable red Christmas ornaments on your tomato vines before your tomatoes start to ripen. Birds will peck at the ornaments, thinking they are tomatoes. When they realize they aren't edible, they forget about the plants for good. Then when your tomatoes actually do start to get red and ripen, the birds won't eat them because they still associate the fruit with the inedible ornaments.

We figured it was worth a try!

They actually do look like tomatoes from far away, so maybe it will really work. Only time will tell!

~Tammy