Small bites out of the tomatoes!

Help! After waiting an eternity for the tomatoes to ripen in a chilly New England summer (unusually cool) we finally saw three red ones low on a vine....each one of them had 2 or 3 bites about a half inch in diameter taken out of them....no sign of a ground hog and the deer certainly didn't do it...could it be chipmunks or squirrels????

Could you have slugs? We usually don't have them but with the wet cooler summers a smaller variety hatches out in my yard. They have done the same damage to my tomatoes.

My daughter had the same thing happen to her container grown tomatoes. The tomatoes grew with no problems, and just as they reached full ripe each one had a small hole-like bite taken out of it, in the SAME PLACE, on the top of each tomatoe! Since the conainers were sitting on a concrete patio, we figured it was a bird with good aim and a long memory. LOL
Pati

It COULD be slugs actually as we have a lot of them in the lettuce this year which is unusual, but it has been strangely cool this summer! I prefer the bird explanation but I bet it's the slugs.....for the bird problem I would think some kind of netting cover would work....the slugs are another story! Thanks for the ideas.....

I have a spot in a community and voles have taken bites out of my maters. Maybe you have voles..

Paul

Also caught squirrels doing the tomato tasting exercise so the above guess may be right.

Milan

Oh dear, we do have voles and lots of squirrels around and the bites are getting BIGGER! Only when the tomato is ripe....tried sluggo in case it was the slugs but since the bites continue and are larger I now suspect that Paul or Milan may be on to something....I've never seen the squirrels in the garden but it makes sense and the voles are really thick this year...does anyone know how to protect against voles????!!!

Mousetraps

Two mini-Dachshunds! LOL

Here are a couple of photos of what is happening to some of my tomatos. I think that it could possibly be slugs but I really have only seen one or two slugs. I did not see and bugs or slugs in the holes. Any ideas anyone? It is on both green and ripe tomatoes.

Here is the same tomato with one slice through the hole. Big_Red on the Tomatoes forum suggested slugs. Has anyone seen this look to slug bites? Thanks.

This message was edited Aug 14, 2004 12:32 AM

My guess it's a small animal, vole,gopher,mouse etc.

Paul

A golden retreiver.

When I found the damage on mine I was very unsure too. But when I started weeding and lifting the plants and the bricks that surrounded them I found the slugs. Later on, when the plants were loaded, I discovered those that were touching the ground had slugs that had moved right in. :(

Thank you Lilypon,

I will proceed to attack those critters.

Rick