Covering Tomatoes and Strawberries?

13 years ago

Hopefully last question for the day. ..

In my backyard my husband and I found a cottontail rabbit has been helping herself to my strawberries and a tomato so we decided to try and keep her out of our yard by stapling chicken wire around the parameter of our backyard.

We have privacy fencing which is rather close to the ground but we found she was digging in under the fence.

However once we did that we found out that we had trapped her in out backyard so my husband pulled up some of the chicken wire and proceeded to try and chase her out.

That's when we found out that she was a she. He found her nest of babies under our plant stand!

They have hair and but their eyes are not open so now we have decide to let her stay until those babies are raised but I don't want to share my strawberries and tomatoes with her!

A friend of mine suggested using old lace curtains and simply covering up the tomatoes and strawberries with them but won't that keep the plants from being pollinated by insects?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

digdirt2
13 years ago
Both tomatoes and strawberries are self-fertile plants meaning the blooms pollinate themselves. They don't require insects for pollination.

Dave
lnewport
Original Author
13 years ago
Sweet! Thank you
Related Discussions
Wanted: Bush tomato, strawberry popcorn, personal watermelon seed
Q
Comments (1)
I can send 50 seeds of either Sub Arctic Plenty or Rutgers Tomato seeds . LMK (No Trade needed)
...See More
Looking for german red strawberry tomato
Q
Comments (2)
Hello:Irish rose grower, I may have these seeds your looking for. Let me check my seed box and I will email you later this evening.I need to see how many seeds,I have available.
...See More
WANTED: Tomato, Strawberry, and Pepper Seeds (Offering SASE)
Q
Comments (6)
I have sungold cherokee purple Rose Amish Paste California Wonder Bell Red (Burpee) I also have a bunch of allstar June bearing strawberry crowns wintering in the garage if you'd be interested. My email is my username at gmail.com if you'd like any of these.
...See More
have: strawberry margarita and Tibet Apple tomato seeds
Q
Comments (9)
Hi would you like to exchange heirloom tomatoe seeds for Indian heirloom pepper seeds like Bhut Jolokia aka Ghost pepper, Mundu and Kanthari mulaku.
...See More
guavalane
13 years ago
We have squirrels eating the strawberries, so over the weekend we constructed a tulle hoop tent. Bear with me because this is my first photo posting. I also wonder if peppers and eggplants are also self-fertile.

{{gwi:52022}}
bleedenver
13 years ago
I believe eggplants and peppers are also self fertile like tomatoes and strawberries. They at least need wind to pollinate themselves though and I heard that eggplants and strawberries really benefit from insects to ensure good pollination.

I made some strawberry protection recently using a pvc frame and bird netting so that the little bees can still get in and do their thing while I keep the birds from pecking at the ripe berries.
lnewport
Original Author
13 years ago
Guavalane: Thanks for the images, What did you use for the frame? Looks like PVC but just checking

Bleedenver: Where did you get Bird Netting? Do you think it could keep out a rabbit?
lnewport
Original Author
13 years ago
Guavalane: I see where you said it's PVC. I like your setup! How do you have the Tulle held down and how do you access your plants? Thank you!
t-bird
13 years ago
"They have hair and but their eyes are not open so now we have decide to let her stay until those babies are raised but I don't want to share my strawberries and tomatoes with her! "

Very sweet and wonderful!

I would think something wire might be better. How will the curtains be anchored down?

But the curtains may help with birds as well. I've heard it used as an alternative to birdnetting
bleedenver
13 years ago
I got the bird netting at home depot. I have a roll which is about 7' wide (50' or 100' long?). I forget how much I got it for last year but it also worked great protecting my blueberries which the birds also loved.

I would think bird netting should keep a rabbit out as well as the tulle but can't guarantee if either would discourage a motivated rabbit family. I do know that the wind easily goes through the bird netting so won't blow it off as easily as a row cover or tulle. It also allows small bees to do their thing so you don't get mishapen partially pollinated strawberries.

I used cheap foam pipe insulation to hold the bird netting onto the pvc. 6' of pipe insulation is about $1 and you can cut to any length you want easily then slide over the pvc pipe.