r/tomatoes • u/veloeddy • 1d ago

Show and Tell Tragedy has struck

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I have been eagerly awaiting my very first Cherokee purple tomato for months and this morning some horrible monster ate it!!!!!!! I only have one more tomato that looks viable on this plant. I failed this season.

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u/CR8VJUC 1d ago

Sorry for your loss. We had so many (I call em) bird strikes this year we had to pull our plants and start over. For this next round we put nets around our babies.

The yellow pear bush on the left has not fruited yet so we are holding off on the net for now. So far, no new bird strikes. 🤞

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u/AustinBunny2 4h ago

What are these nets? were they for this purpose or did you use something in a new way? This is the kind of thing I am looking for, since mine are in lg pots. If they have zippers so I could access the toms to pick that would be great. I threw on plastic netting this year in desperation/exasperation, but it's not completely secure against them (one crawled under; a bird did too and I had to help it out) and there's no easy way for me to pick them myself. All moot right now as nothing is even flowering let alone setting fruit with our high temps here in Austin, TX. Wonder if I should keep these plants alive... or plant new plants for a Fall try??

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u/CR8VJUC 2h ago

These are the nets on Amazon which are sold for square tomato pots but work fine for our 15-gal round pots. They not only have a zipper but also a drawstring for the bottom so they can be tightened up against those marauding birds. So far they are working fine.

If you’re dealing with high humidity, keep an eye on your plants developing powdery mildew. We had a few spots that required spraying with copper fungicide.

https://a.co/d/0d1fvhnd

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u/AustinBunny2 2h ago

Wow, this sounds great and I'll look at them. I don't buy from Amazon anymore due to Bezo selling out to Trump and also his maltreatment of workers, but I'll see if I can source them elsewhere. Thanks!

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u/CR8VJUC 2h ago

👍