In article
, dyogi
wrote:

On Aug 15, 7:01 pm, Paul Cassel
wrote:
Of the four tomato plants we have, one is being attacked by an unknown
animal. It only eats the tomatoes themselves but takes rather large
bites out of them. My wife (the gardener) says the bites may be caused
by a hornworm (?) except there are no other signs of hornworms so she
rules that out.

She thinks it may be a rodent. I suppose there may be mice around. Do
mice eat tomatoes? These bites are roughly 5 mm x 3 mm. Any other ideas?

Just guessing: are the bites only on the lower-most tomatoes? I had
this problem in my garden one year and blamed rabbits and squirrels.
Whatever was eating my tomatoes would take only a bite or two from
one, then go on to another... why not eat a single tomato completely
and leave the others alone?

I caught the varmint in the act: It was a woodchuck. It could reach
only as high as it could stand on its back legs, so tomatoes higher on
the plants survived intact through the rest of the season. I now keep
my "rabbit fence" in place even after my spring vegetables are gone--
this season no one's eating my tomatoes but me and my family.

I've written a few blog entries about tomatoes--if you have a chance,
please take a look at:
http://www.smallkitchengarden.net/sm...sucker-plucker
and
http://www.smallkitchengarden.net/sm...omatoes-a-mess

You've described classic behavior not only of groundhogs but also
ground-squirrels, grey squirrels, and a few other gnawing animals. They
tend not to like tomatoes very much but if there are droughty conditions,
they gnaw open tomatoes for a drink of water. The rabbit-fence is the best
thing obviously but sometimes you can get them to stop just by providing a
ground-level birdbath.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
visit my temperate gardening website:
http://www.paghat.com
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http://www.weirdwildrealm.com