Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Incompletely Disappeared
This time, since the tomato was only half-ripe, only half of it was eaten. I think this rules out the neighbors - you'd have to be awfully low to the ground to eat this tomato while it was still on the plant. Maybe the ones that are coming on now, and are higher on the plant, will be out of reach of whatever critter likes them. Likes them when they're ripe, that is. The totally green one next to the half-eaten half-ripe one had a bite out of it, but that was all.
8 Comments:
Squirrels go after tomatoes, too - maybe one of them is your culprit?
sounds like the M.O. of a groundhog. they're notorious for "sampling".
The plot thickens! Ah well, at least you don't have to wonder about your neighbors anymore... ;)
Rabbits and squirrels and groundhogs, oh my! You've reminded me, Annie, that long ago my dentist told me squirrels were eating his tomatoes. I thought at the time that surely he must be mistaken, but that was before I had lived a long time in the company of squirrels. I wouldn't put anything past them now. Groundhogs? Could be too. I've never actually seen any on our lot, but I know they live nearby. Rabbits came to mind first because they've been so thick around there this year, but mostly just eating weeds (good rabbits). Chipmunks have been very visible this year too - I forgot all about them - I think one tomato would feed a whole family of chipmunks. And I suspected a raccoon of knocking down my bird feeders a few months ago, but had no real evidence. The weird thing is that I've been growing tomatoes in containers for some time and never had any critter trouble. This year I put them in the ground and look what happens.
Maybe I should consider a surveillance camera.....
i'm not a blogger usually . was just wandering looking for gardening info. But I can almost gaurantee the critters that are eating your tomatoes are...drum roll.....skunks...in this case 1 skunk. Most likely the theif wandered into the tomatoes while checking out your yard for grubs. case closed.
Ah, it very well could be a skunk. On Friday morning, I went out early to water the plants and noticed skunk odor. We don't usually smell that in the summertime - seems they come around more in the fall and spring. And also on Friday morning, the last tomato in that cluster had vanished. I'm willing to wait and see if the ones higher off the ground are left alone before I try to protect the plants in some way.
I am sure that I have a skunk getting my tomatoes as well. Every half ripe tomatoe on my plants IS getting half eaten. I placed a 3 foot high fence around my plants and it is still happening. I am now putting "Critter Repellent" around my plants that is supposed to repell groundhogs, squirrels, skunks and etc. Now it seems that only one or two is eaten per night. But I smell a faint skunk odor every morning.
The critter problem has subsided here, at least for now. The tomatoes that are ripening now are higher up on the plants. I'm hoping that's all that's necessary to fix the problem.
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