The Leaping Dachshund Farms Tomato Cam is up

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Last year I had some pesky critters that kept grabbing my most prized tomatoes just as they ripened in the middle of the night. After a number of failed attempts to catch and rid myself of the problem I set up a WiFi security camera with inferred night vision to try and figure out what was eating them. It opened my eyes to a whole new world of crazy things that were going on in my little urban garden at night. Cats that I'd never seen around before, Possums, rats lots of moths and all sorts of stuff. Even one of my smart aleck running buddies got caught swiping one in the early morning. I think the garden got more traffic through it at night than during the day.

Anyway as things are just starting to ripen I set up the camera again last night and left it out today. I'll be moving it around the garden to get different vantage points and I thought I'd share some of the images here. It's a bit over kill but it did help me pinpoint that rats were doing most of the damage. I was able to catch and relocate them into a burlap submarine and solve the problem.

I present the Leaping Dachshund Farms Tomato Cam and I'll post some updates as things progress.

[heirloomtomaguy]

Thats awesome. Im glad im not the only one who considered putting up a camera to catch thieves in the act.

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Here's the rat I caught in action last year. He was a big sucker, well fed on all those stolen heirloom tomatoes. He was 15" long from nose to tip of tail (mostly tail) when I caught him, yuck!

[kayrobbins]

Can you tell us about the camera you use? My suspects are possums, raccoons, rats and squirrels. I have caught the darn squirrels stealing tomatoes in broad daylight and have no idea which varmit is the night time thief.

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I somewhat randomly selected this camera made by Foscam, Foscam FI9805P 960P Outdoor HD Wireless IP Camera. It's not the cheapest one out there, about $95 on Amazon. It's made to be permanently installed outdoors and once it's set up it only needs to be plugged into power but nothing else because it's WiFi. I have mine on a small tripod that I can move around easily to get different vantage points. You need a computer on the back end to run the software that records and everything else. Quite frankly it's a bit of a bugger to setup initially but once it's working it's been quite reliable. There may be some better and cheaper options out there. I'm not a security camera expert by any stretch. It has quite a few infrared leds built into it that enable it to see very well at night though.

The software that came with it works but was far from intuitive to use. There's another software package called blueiris that is for managing and recording from security cameras that is quite good. I downloaded a trial of it and ended up buying it. It's much easier to use. I've got it set up so that it sends me a text with an image if the camera is triggered by motion. You can also set it up to stream to a web page so you can monitor it remotely, even on your phone.

Here's a little youtube video about the camera that I found. I'm not sure I'd buy this one again:

[kayrobbins]

Thanks for the information. Even if there is one cheaper it is always good to get one that someone has used and is pleased with. It is also good to know about the better software option.

[PhilaGardener]

Do you stream over a network, or direct to your PC?

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@PhilaGardener - Currently streaming direct from my PC or I would share the link here. I just got it up last night so once I get it onto somewhere that can handle more traffic I'll share the address here.

I just set the camera up for tonight, lets see if we get any visitors.

[jhp]

Oh I love this. I have some wifi security cameras, but I'm pretty sure they are not outdoor/waterproof. Will have to ask the hubby. Years ago, I put an electric fence around my garden and that stops almost all nighttime garden thieves, except when occasionally the fence gets grounded out. The animals seem to know and that's when they get in. It also seems to happen when we're away on vacation. Tomatoes are starting to set. Time to fire up the fence. This is a good reminder. I had to LOL at you catching a human thief too! Too funny!



Jen

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well not a single critter has been by since the camera went up. So here's a shot from this morning of the plants in containers. I was able to add the local weather conditions which is nice to keep track of during the week from work

[jhp]

Very nice. What are the red plastic looking things at the base of those two plants I see on the left?

I confirmed that my webcams are not waterproof, but it's been so dry, I may just put them out overnight when no rain is expected. Fun to see what happens when we're not looking.

Jen

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@Jen - The red plastic things are called tomato craters that I bought in a moment of weakness. There little dishes that snap together around the base of the plant. I had issues with cut worms in the past and these seemed like they might help. Really not needed with the plants in containers but I had them sitting in my garden shed so I just put them on. I wouldn't buy them again, here's a photo from there web site

http://www.tomatocrater.com/home.php

If your worried about the web cams getting wet try putting a ziploc bag over everything but the lens. It wouldn't be a long term solution but would probably work for a few nights in case you get an unscheduled rain storm. I wish we got rain here, the weather is lovely but it really is a desert in SoCal.

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No action on the tomato cam again last night, all my local critters are camera shy. Tim, our CFO at Leaping Dachshund Farms, took the opportunity to pose for this publicity shot on our board room table while we wait for things to ripen and critters to get caught in the middle of the night.

[GrowingCoastal]

"If your worried about the web cams getting wet try putting a ziploc bag over everything but the lens."

I have been using a cut plastic pop bottle, large size, over my indoor Logitech webcam outside. It has been outside for maybe 4 years now, no problems (except with W7). It is in a protected spot out of strong winds. For a cheap webcam- was $40.00 - sure works great!

[Worth1]

I am getting a real kick out of this thread.

Worth