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Lakewood, Colorado

I had a squirrel try to eat my best tomato. There are a number of bite marks and tears in the skin. No flesh was removed.

Is it possible to treat with Captan and keep this thing growing for another couple weeks, or should I pick it and weigh it as damaged?

9/15/2014 4:15:17 PM

valparaiso, in

If you have others growing I would give it a try. If not I would weigh it just incase.

To be honest I would try it to see if it would work or not, but that is me. I have never heard of anyone using Captan on a tomato before.

9/15/2014 9:25:09 PM

Wixom MI.

I would leave it on, as long as the damage is small, it will probably dry up and continue to grow

9/16/2014 7:04:02 PM

East Carbon, Utah

I've seen - caught red-handed! - the neighborhood feral cat eating my big ripe tomatoes (and cantaloupes).

I've heard of others whose pet dogs eat ripe tomatoes. No squirrels around here though.

I few times I've attempted to apply a copper-based fungicide powder to tomato wounds to encourage them to heal. No luck so far; barely touched the degradation.

It might work for a green tomato, but healing is unlikely if it's already starting to ripen.

But I agree, it's worth a try either way. Potentially sacrifice it in the interest of knowledge gained - knowledge that many of us might be able to use some day.

9/16/2014 10:53:33 PM

Lakewood, Colorado

Tomato was treated with Captan on Monday shortly after the squirrel bit it. Today, the affected area was getting soft. The Captan apparently didn't abate the decay of the wound. So now we know.

Tomato weighed 2.01 pounds, which isn't too bad for my first year growing giant tomatoes. As near as I can tell, that is the 6th biggest grown in Colorado.

I am bit by the bug now, and will be looking for some good seeds from you heavy hitters this fall.

9/19/2014 5:17:28 PM

valparaiso, in

Thanks for trying.

9/19/2014 11:24:17 PM

East Carbon, Utah

Thanks for the feedback!

Closely related question - I'm in the process of trying to save and store two large ones for display at the local weighoff in 8 days; already in the fridge (trying to keep it around 55°F) for two days. Both were fully ripe and just starting to split when picked. One has some serious cracks around the stem, and fungus is starting to grow and the fruit is getting soft around those dark sections.

I prepared a 10% bleach solution which I put in a spray bottle and have been spraying the vulnerable spots a couple of times a day. Too early to tell if it's helping (or hindering) much.

Has anyone tried something like this with bleach to retard spoilage? Any suggestions or lessons learned?

9/20/2014 1:46:16 AM