# HELP! What is eating my tomatos?



## Blue.dog

I've got a great crop of tomatos. 
Something started eating my green tomatos. now they are into the red ones.
So, I decided it was birds. I went to a great deal of trouble to enclose them in BirdX netting. Something is still eating them.
The inside of each one is full of little bugs crawling around. I guess it could be bugs. I don't think the birds are getting to them.
Rats, maybe? I don't know what else. I even thought about putting a mouse trap in there with a tomato as bait.
I've expended a lot of work on these tomatos to see them go like this.
The inside is eaten out and slimy when I pull them.

Any ideas, should I spray an insecticide on them?

Help!

B.D


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## Fishin Tails

Go get insecticidal soap. It is an organic and safe alternative that will get rid of the bugs. You can spray and eat within a day, it is that safe. You can get it from home Depot or probably any nursery . It is very common.

Not sure what that is but I do feel your pain.


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## shorty70

How long do they take to get that way...might wanna sit around with a .22


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## Tate

Do you think squirrels are getting in there maybe? That looks like a lot of damage for a bug. I bought my bird netting from this vineyard. The guy told me that you really have to pin it to the ground or birds etc. will get under it. That being said, I haven't pinned my down yet and I haven't seen any problems. I got the pins right here. I probably need to go do that before its too late. Good luck.

Tate


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## McNasty55

Tate has jogged my memory. When I still lived with my folks, had trouble with birds and squirrles, net kept the birds out but the squirrles would go under. one time a squirrel got tangled up in the net. the damage looked simular best I recall.


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## huntinguy

Worms can do that too. Any damage to the foliage?


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## fishingcacher

Looks like the putting blood meal around the tomatoes should work.

http://www.tomatocasual.com/2008/02/18/when-animals-eat-your-tomatoes/


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## w_r_ranch

That is bird damage. A tree rat will pull it off & not leave it on the vine.


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## Blue.dog

*Tomato Hornworm*

My research tells me that I have Tomato Hornworms.
The pictures on this internet site look just like my tomatos are looking after being attacked!
What do you think?

http://hubpages.com/hub/Tomato-Plant-Pest-Hornworm


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## shorty70

Jeezz, hard to tell. I had a few last year and they didn't do near that damage. I'm still thinking critters and the .22. Good luck, IDK.


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## huntinguy

look for the pills......some of them, the pills and the worms will be big!


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## 11andy11

exact same thing happened to me. I had my tomato plants neted with boards on the netting on the ground. Ended up putting a havaheart trap in the with the plants and caught a half grown possum and a bigazz tree rat. Needless to say, I didn't have a heart for them. Lost about 10 tomatoes.


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## 11andy11

oh yeah, I used the half eaten tomatoes for bait except I put a little peanut butter in the bite marks.


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## WilliamH

w_r_ranch said:


> That is bird damage. A tree rat will pull it off & not leave it on the vine.


I agree, most likely mockingbirds.


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## Classic73Montauk

I had birds that did that to mine. I put the netting up, and they would land on the netting causing it to sag, and pick at them through the netting. 

My Lab will also eat them. 
I open the gate to water them, and she will walk over to the bushes slowly. I see her eyeballing a tomato. I will scold her, and she will look at me then grabs one and runs like #$ll and then she eats it real quick before I can catch her.:hairout:


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## G-O-T-B

looks like squirrel and bird damage get a plastic owl from academy to keep them away


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## trout250

I would think some sort of animal, then attacked by the bugs, put your game camera up. 
cover them with bird netting and make sure it goes all the way to the ground. 

If you don't mind i would like to know where you got the wire for your cages, i need to make some and have only have the smaller mesh at home depot, have not tried tractor supply.


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## RiverRat1962

Judging from the size of the maters (they look golf ball size to me) A large bird would cause more damage. whatever it is the culprit isn't large enough to eat it all or take it with him.

Usually, the birds will only go after the ripe fruit, whatever it is likes the green ones as well. If it is bugs or worms they should live on or close to the plant. look real good.


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## RiverRat1962

I also noticed you have those containers on a platform blocked up a few inches off the ground. Lots of room for bugs and critters to hide/live. I would toss some sevin dust under there to control any bugs.


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## Blue.dog

The wire is the heavy mesh used in concrete.

Caught a young possum several days ago. Green tomatoes keep getting eaten.

Tried a mouse trap. no luck
Tried sticky paper used for catching mice. no luck.

went thru 2 contains of sevin dust in the buckets.

sprayed the insecticidal soap. did not help

sprayed with dipal dust ingrediant. did not help.

All cameras are at my ranch. too bad. great idea.

B.D


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## Blue.dog

*More Pictures - May 31 - 2010*

Going to set out another trap tonight.

Here are some more pictures.

B.D


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## RiverRat1962

Now that I can see the fruit still on the vine, it looks like whatever it is sits on the wire mesh and eats em'.. could be birds.. 

Hmmm.. Tell you what, I seen some motion sensor operated sprinklers somewhere (maybe at Lowes) that you could set to come on just long enough to scare any birds away. Perhaps that would work.


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## nightgigger

Mine looked like that last year, it was a_ possum. My larger dog makes sure the critter stays high up on the fence. Black dog laying quiet in the dark. We Joke she is on possum patrol. _


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## boat_money

you might try covering in panty hose. looks like too much damage to just be mocking birds tho. cut a few inches of panty hose and stretch around fruit to cover. fools the birds, not sure about bigger critters tho. if it's a bigger critter, live trap and relo 30 miles away or so.

it's funny to me that in the city/suburbs, we have problems with things eating the veggies. but out at the ranch, nothing ever goes after my parents veggies except a big green worm or 2. and those don't do much damage.


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## workorfish

*Not Birds*

Mockingbirds usually only peck small holes (several) and only on red fruit. What you have there is either large rats (wharf/tree rats) or possums. Get a live catch trap and bait it with a can of cheap cat food. Possums are easy to catch. Racoons are also a problem in our garden, usually with the corn and they are a bit more wiley than possums but can still be caught with canned cat food.

If you have a Fido or Rover, let them stay out overnight near the garden - you'll soon find the culprit if you can't catch it.


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## Blue.dog

caught a big **** last night in my big trap

the small trap was sprung and the bait gone.
nothing in trap.

I'll try again tonight.


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## Fishin Tails

Home Depot also sells a deterent called Critter Ridder.


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## CoastalOutfitters

regular mice and rats , ***** , possums


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## fangard

Funny story about my tomatoes. Went out yesterday evening to pick tomatoes. My lab walks right past me, into the garden. Walks up to one of the tomato plants and eats a ripe cherry tomato right off the vine. Looks at me and walks back into the house. If it wasn't so funny, I would have been ticked. Wonder how many tomatoes she has eaten?

fangard


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## Jbs8307

Classic73Montauk said:


> I had birds that did that to mine. I put the netting up, and they would land on the netting causing it to sag, and pick at them through the netting.
> 
> My Lab will also eat them.
> I open the gate to water them, and she will walk over to the bushes slowly. I see her eyeballing a tomato. I will scold her, and she will look at me then grabs one and runs like #$ll and then she eats it real quick before I can catch her.:hairout:


I lost half my tomato crop this year to my two labs! They ate great. Two years ago i lost 14 watermelons to the little suckers too. I have a fence around my garden but sometimes the gate gets left open.

As far as the tomato problem. If it were horn worms then the leaves would be snipped off clean at the stem too. I looks like some kind of animal. I would put some traps out. And pesticide the hell out of it just for safe measure.


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## Blue.dog

The little devils are really hasseling me now.

I'm using a hav-a-hart trap with a trip in the bottom if they step on it.
the bait is past the trip plate.

Last night something got past the trip plate and ate the bread and peanut butter bait...... then the little bas*ard left a half eaten green tomato in its place.

Looks like I don't have to worry about this much longer. tomatoes are just about gone.

B.D


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## Red-fin man

um it could be horn worms but when i had horn worms they were just eating the leaves they wouldnt even touch the fruit hahaha idk really


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## Danny O

looks like squirrels to me! they eat jalapenos, too!


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## slabnabbin

my wife is an entomologist and she believes it is definetely not an insect. the insects inside them are fruit flies and are attracted to the scent caused by the damage to the fruit. rat or squirrel would be our guess.


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## gator

You could spray garlic pepper spray that would repell the varmints and still save your fruit.


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## Lunkerman

I had the same problem earlier this year, really pizzed me off. 

I saw a couple of rats in the yard running the fence line heading towards the garden, figured it was them. Since they mainly ate the ripe ones I started picking the maters soon as I saw a color change. 

I could tell it was the rats cause they got into the cantelopes too, I saw claw marks on the rines. 

My old cat Sid Vicious died first of the year or this would have never happened. He even was able to kill varmits when he went blind. He loved to kill rodents, mainly rats & squirrels. At first he would eat the entire squirrel, then only ate the heads. I hear some folks say squirrel brains are a delicacy, he thought so too. 

This summer a neighborhood cat started showing up in the yard. I could tell he was a hunter too. Low & behold the rats disappeared, good cat.

So the point is if you want to eliminate the problem get a good hunting cat.


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## V-Bottom

rats...............hard wood ashes on ground for bugs too....


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## Blue.dog

Well, got a complete new set of tomatoes growing in my pots.
Lots of different species.
Nothing has decided to eat the leaves or the green tomatoes.
I will bring back a camera from my deer camp to spy on the varmits.
thanks for all of you inputs.
B.D


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## LandLocked

That is a critter...NOT a bird...NOT a hornworm. Hornworms eat tomato leaves.

CHAYANNE PEPPER (hot powder ya put in chili) is yo friend for this one. Get a few BIG bottles a the store...sprinkle liberaly around (back side too) the base of them blocks.

Sniff that a few times and that should fix that critters plow.

Nice maters. Would really bend me outa shape if that happened to mine.

Good luck!!


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## Blue.dog

*They Are Back!!*

Well, I've got 3 trail cameras trained on my tomatoes.
and finally got them on camera.

RATS !!!

I went to the store yesterday and got some cayenne pepper and sprinked it everywhere.

Did not find any half eaten green tomatoes this morning.

Plan to set out traps tonights. This explains why they would not trip the lever on the have-a-heart traps. Little buggers...

I plan on using peanut butter on the trap trigger. Hope this works

B.D

Note the tail is in a different location between the top left and top right picture.


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## Tate

Are you sure those are rats? I think if rats they are juveniles. They might be adult mice. I recently trapped some in my garage that had bodies about 3 - 4 inches with tails about 5 - 6 inches. I thought they were mice. It is hard to tell sometimes. The main difference I could see was the size of the droppings. The droppings I saw seemed to be about the right size of a mouse according to the website I looked at.


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## Tate

Oh brother. I got a rat problem now. I added 75 weed fabric staples to hold my bird netting down. I added some glue traps that got dragged all over the place last night. I got a couple snap traps under the netting and a electronic rat zapper on the outside perimeter of the netting. One of the rats must have got frustrated with the new staples because he got permanent bird netting dental floss last night. He was hanging in the netting this morning. Any tips on how to control these without using poison? I don't want to the rats to drag off the poison and the neighbors dog gets into it. And I don't want a cat.


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## fletchoman

Tate said:


> Oh brother. I got a rat problem now.


Hi Tate,

I have the same problem and I have 3 dogs (2 JRT's). The Jacks will often catch rats but I have at least one that thinks it needs to dig to China in the pot where a Georgia Jet is growing. I have tried Cayenne to no avail...so I am trying a Havaheart live trap.

No luck after 48hrs, but I think I just need the right bait (tomatoes is my guess).


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## Tate

fletchoman said:


> Hi Tate,
> 
> I have the same problem and I have 3 dogs (2 JRT's). The Jacks will often catch rats but I have at least one that thinks it needs to dig to China in the pot where a Georgia Jet is growing. I have tried Cayenne to no avail...so I am trying a Havaheart live trap.
> 
> No luck after 48hrs, but I think I just need the right bait (tomatoes is my guess).


I baited all my traps with tomatoes and they didn't touch it. They are playing it safe and going for what they know they can eat without risk. The bastids are smart. I went out with an LED headlamp and LED flashlight shining it in my tomatoes to see if one was in there. I mistakenly assumed as soon as the light hit the area the rat was in it would run. Well I didn't think there was a rat because I saw no movement. I shook one of the cages and lo and behold one came climbing out and scampered off. I guess he chewed a hole through the bird netting and knew exactly how to get out quickly. He was gone. Tonight my air rifle will be put to use. I will mount my LED flashlight to my rifle and use the point of my gun to shake the cages. I am also baiting my traps with something other than tomatoes. I might also try the plaster of paris and oats recipe I read about. Good luck Fletch! Keep me posted on your progress and I will do the same. I have probably lost 20 pounds of tomatoes already. This is going to end soon, one way or another. Even if it means me pulling everything and making pickled green tomatoes.


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## Blue.dog

Hey,Pickled green tomatoes are good.
I did that in January with a lot of green tomatoes.
Good luck.
I am still eating them and they are really good.
B.D


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## Haute Pursuit

Tate said:


> I baited all my traps with tomatoes and they didn't touch it. They are playing it safe and going for what they know they can eat without risk. The bastids are smart. I went out with an LED headlamp and LED flashlight shining it in my tomatoes to see if one was in there. I mistakenly assumed as soon as the light hit the area the rat was in it would run. Well I didn't think there was a rat because I saw no movement. I shook one of the cages and lo and behold one came climbing out and scampered off. I guess he chewed a hole through the bird netting and knew exactly how to get out quickly. He was gone. Tonight my air rifle will be put to use. I will mount my LED flashlight to my rifle and use the point of my gun to shake the cages. I am also baiting my traps with something other than tomatoes. I might also try the plaster of paris and oats recipe I read about. Good luck Fletch! Keep me posted on your progress and I will do the same. I have probably lost 20 pounds of tomatoes already. This is going to end soon, one way or another. Even if it means me pulling everything and making pickled green tomatoes.


You need to get to a phone and summon JQ!


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## Tate

I caught a large mouse in one of my snap traps last night. I didn't have any bait in it. I just placed it where I think they are coming through the fence. I put another trap down and it was GONE this morning. I searched all over the place and could not find it.


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## rsj7855

Tate said:


> I caught a large mouse in one of my snap traps last night. I didn't have any bait in it. I just placed it where I think they are coming through the fence. I put another trap down and it was GONE this morning. I searched all over the place and could not find it.


The trap walked away? lol, the mouse took it!


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## jeridbrown

Lmao. This was hilarious to read because I have the same problem. A possum and squirrels are eating my tomatoes and butternut squash. The funny part is the extreme we go though and how mad we get about it. I feel your pain. Hope you get them bas!ards before the winter. 

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk


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## Tate

Update. I found the missing trap today after work with a dead possum in it. He probably carried it 50 yards with it clamped down hard on his neck. That explains the longer hair I found on some of my glue boards that got dragged around as well. That makes 1 rat, 1 mouse, and 1 possum so far and I am in the suburbs.


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## fletchoman

Hi Tate,

I captured this video last night. I had no idea that the problem was so bad...clearly, the Havaheart trap is too big for these critters.


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## Tate

Bummer. Is that the one designed for rats? I am considering buying one mouse and one rat trap.

http://www.havahart.com/store/live-animal-traps/0745

http://www.havahart.com/store/live-animal-traps/1020

My tomatoes are almost done. I have picked about 125 pounds despite this problem. I started picking them as soon as they turn pink and it seems to be helping. In another week or two I am taking out all of my plants and planting a few fall tomato plants. Hopefully, by taking out my plants and some rain they will decide not to come back. I have some Seminole pumpkins I am growing this year. They are almost volleyball size right now. Those bastids better not touch them.

Good luck!

Tate


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## Tate

Fletch, I was thinking. You might be able to get some fine mesh wire like rabbit wire and attach it to your trap so they can't get out. Just cut it to fit the outside and tie it on with wire or zip-ties. You would probably clean up because they think they are safe in your trap now so they have no worries about it.


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## fletchoman

Yes, I have been thinking of ways...I am considering putting a sticky trap inside of the live trap...but Amazon had the 1020 for $13.17...sold.


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## Tate

fletchoman said:


> Yes, I have been thinking of ways...I am considering putting a sticky trap inside of the live trap...but Amazon had the 1020 for $13.17...sold.


What model is the trap in your video?

0745?


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## fletchoman

I bought the 1078...way too big.


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## pick44

Mocking birds. Put a red tomatoe on a peg near your window. And watch them go to work on that tomatoe.


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