Silly surrenderist! Don’t you know, if you withdraw, the enemy will follow you home? 
:dubious:
Just kidding. I’m an ammonia guy. As for the plants, spray them with curry sauce. Why do you think there are no raccoons in India? 
Firearms have been ruled out, but you have other items of possible use on your utility belt. No, not the handcuffs , how about the pepper spray or taser . Ok, perhaps not the taser (having a pissed off raccoon attached to you via wire mightn’t be a fun time :smack: but we’d love to see the video if you did 
), but what happens to all the part used pepper canisters. Would that be effective sprayed around the deck prior to raccoon arrival? Do that for a few nights and the little horror might keep away for good.
Would hot peppers/capsaicin sprinkled on the leaves work? I have added it to bird food, to keep squirrels away, and it worked.
You would have to be sure to wash your tomatoes before eating them.
I was trapping ground hogs last year. I caught two raccoons by mistake. The one was young and easy to get loose the other was an extremely angry adult. It was very scary releasing this demonic hellbeast. I probably should just called animal control. I was lucky he did not bite me.
They do sell products at any good hardware store to deter pests like raccoons and ground hogs. They are usually pepper based. The problem is you of course have to continue to apply it or they will come back.
BTW: Are you sure it is a raccoon getting your tomatoes? This sounds more like a ground hog or rabbit issue.
Jim
I regret killing the one that bit me; I shot her in the head and the health department was unable to test for rabies, I took the shots anyway. Neither .22 LR nor needles bounced off anything.
Evacuating Havahart: Wear very thick gloves. Open trap, back away. Coon usually runs like hell. If this method fails, using above gloves, hold trap with door downwards, shake vigorously. The latter method is most often used on o’possums.
I used the Heavy gloves and a heavy coat method on the adult raccoon. It was still scary.
There are certainly a lot of teeth on the business end. 
And sharp claws. :eek:
The good news is that after eleven years I am still making rabies antibodies. I can wrestle with raccoons and 'possums with impunity should I so desire.
I will sit on your deck and frighten them away for a negotiable fee. Have antibodies, will travel.
How about the sort of electric fencing they use for dogs?
A raccoon took up residence in our cat’s cathouse over the winter. (He’s an outdoor-only cat.). The cathouse sits on our back deck.
A buddy of mine came over one day, and I asked for his help in getting rid of the raccoon. I tilted the cathouse forward while my buddy laid on the deck in the prone position and holding a Colt 1911 pistol. When the raccoon came out of the cathouse he shot it three times. The bullets were traveling horizontal, so there was no concern about putting holes in the deck.
While all of you were shooting raccoons, I was feeding them out of my hands. It’s a much gentler approach.
Or just make salsa
[Shakes head sadly]
Too much club
My parents had some similar problems. They tried all sorts of repellents (including pepper spray) and motion detectors to deter the buggers. None of it worked, but the 'coons eventually went away. I think it was a combination of a motion activated water sprinkler type thing and keeping a pellet gun ready to go by the door that finally did the trick. I’m guessing the sprinkler worked better to alert my parents that there was something to shoot than as a deterrent in its own right.
Agreed, but I’m the one with the rabies vaccine, so be careful.
We have a Chow Chow and a Chow mix, and besides the inconvenient raccoon body to dispose of (we learned to never call animal control, unless we cared to be quarantined for a week), we don’t have raccoons eating our plants.
Anyone feeding nuisance animals and reading this thread please follow me to the pit.
I second Ender Will’s suggestion of the motion activated water sprayer.
I would find it hard to believe that it would be a ground hog or a rabbit. The plants are no where near the ground. They are up on a pretty high deck.
I think I’ll try the ammonia.
My mother loves to grow tomatoes. Hers were mainly hunted by squirrels and birds. Birds love them, and a squirrel will eat anything it can find.
I have trapped and relocated five raccoons over the last six years or so with no problems.
Bait the trip panel of the trap, the entrance and surrounding area with marshmallows.
The first raccoon rolled the cage over and sprung himself loose. After that, I ran two old broomsticks through the mesh of the cage so they couldn’t be rolled over. The raccoon chewed through the broomsticks and rolled it anyway. After that, I nailed the trap down to a eight foor piece of 1x12 and the trap stayed put.
Most of the captured raccoons were pretty wary and mellow, but one big monster was really pissed. Didn’t know a raccoon could growl.
All my releases went the same. I found a secluded area out in the country. miles from home, sat the trap down on the ground and pointed the door to some bushes about six feet away, figuring the raccoon would want to hightail it into the bushes at first chance. I used a coathanger with a hook on the end to open the trap door and stood at the rear of the trap. After a couple of seconds, all the critters ran out the door and into the brush.