Who's eating my tomatoes?

[eggplant333.livejournal.com]

Dearest Wise Ones of DSLJ,

I have a few tomato plants in large pots growing in my yard, which is on the corner of a busy street outside of Davis. I live in a first floor apartment, so this is the most convenient and sunniest place to keep my plants. In the past few weeks, as some of my very first ripe tomatoes have started to appear, I've noticed that they seem to be disappearing at a faster rate than I'm picking them. This makes me sad/annoyed, since I'm new to growing veggies and am ecstatic every time a little cherry tomato looks ready for me to pick.

I'm pretty sure it's not an animal that's snacking on my veggies, since there are never any little bits left behind or bite marks on other tomatoes. They're popped off quite efficiently, as I would do myself.

What should I do? There's not really another place where I could keep them. I'm thinking of just putting a note outside next to the pots, something to the effect of, 'I know you're eating my tomatoes, and that really sucks since I put so much effort into growing them and now can't even enjoy eating them. I'll take a photo of you the next time I see you.' Any other ideas? If it's somebody hungry who doesn't have anything else to eat, I'd feel less annoyed of course, but they're little cherry tomatoes so even a handful (which would take my plants weeks to produce, at this point) would hardly be a satisfying snack.

What do you think?
Thanks.

Comments

[ifotismeni]

chicken wire over the plants, maybe?

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

spray them with hot sauce :)

well, that works for SOME animals ;)

#

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

That would just make them a tastier treat. Mmmmm...

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

that's why i said some ;)

course, one could in theory make them VERY VERY VERY VERY hot :> me? i'd love that. though it might surprise someone.

there's always bitter apple apple spray too :)

so if 400 people go by, and only a few people pick "just one"... well, that's all it takes

#

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Ah. I don't even like medium hot, so it would certainly work for this grraminal.

I just can't fathom going into someone's yard to pick a tomato to begin with.

On the other hand, drunk college kids are known to do stranger things. Of course, if it's homeless people, well, I guess I wouldn't blame them in a way...

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

it's probably the local restaurant on the corner, who is serving it with fresh mozarella (also local), and olive oil for $9.99 :>

#

[theodosia.livejournal.com]

Get some tall stakes and the kind of cheap netting meant to keep off squirrels? If you make the tomatoes harder to casually grab, you may finally get to keep some....

Tomato stealer

[lovefourpaws.livejournal.com]

My husband thinks I'm paranoid, but I said the same thing about our tomatoes!! We live right outside of the square and aren't exactly on a main corner, but our ripe tomatoes have been disappearing. Our plants are in our (shared) backyard, though, which narrows down the list of potential suspects. I know that an animal hasn't been swiping them because they've been cleanly plucked with no bite marks, seeds, or any remnants of the fruit nearby. None of the unripe food has been taken and none of the surrounding veggies have been touched. I don't know it says about the world today, but the fact that someone would actually steal a ripe tomato from another person's plant is just sad. And pathetic...

This is Just to Say

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I have eaten
the tomatoes
that were in
the yard

and which
you were probably
saving
for bruschetta

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so ripe

Re: This is Just to Say

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

♥ This was awesome.

Re: This is Just to Say

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

WIN!

Re: This is Just to Say

[omg-anna.livejournal.com]

you have no idea how happy this just made me.

Re: This is Just to Say

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

And note that "Forgive me" is in fact a command and not a request -- revealing the poet's rhetorical attempt to reposition herself as at the top of the heteropatriarchy, in an unexpected reversal of gender modes. (The image of bruschetta is, of course, deliberately titillating.)

Re: This is Just to Say

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

the tomato-centric nightshade liberation movement...

#

Re: This is Just to Say

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

And you are going to do Just Fine in your PhD program :D
(said with no sarcasm at all, actually)

Re: This is Just to Say

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Icon Love!

Re: This is Just to Say

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

You may have it! I have no more need of it since I got this one (and the PhD)

Re: This is Just to Say

[jadelennox]

ILU

Re: This is Just to Say

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Tee hee.

Re: This is Just to Say

[teele-sq.livejournal.com]

hah!!

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15535

Re: This is Just to Say

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Hi, here's your internet.

Re: This is Just to Say

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

I ate your web page.
Forgive me. It was juicy
and tart on my tongue.

Re: This is Just to Say

[maelithil.livejournal.com]

Oh, awesome. :)

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

I think posting a sign saying "Please don't eat my tomatoes" would be enough to get thoughtless people to pause.

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

I was thinking the same thing. Can't hurt to try.

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

While I do not doubt that the world has tomato-stealing human villains in it, I will note that Somerville has highly evolved squirrels who are capable of stealing entire light bulbs from a string of mini-Christmas lights on the back porch, so I would not put it past them to be able to steal a whole grape tomato at a time.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

also: crows and other birds are pretty adept at such things. Lastly, cherry tomatoes, when very ripe, will actually just fall off the vine. Little buggers might also grab those and run. Often, scavengers grab and go.

[ron_newman]

Do they think the Christmas light bulbs are food?

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

They would plant them in the flower beds afterwards, so we speculated that they thought they were acorns.

[squirrelitude]

That is the most wonderful thing I have heard all week.

[blondeamazon.livejournal.com]

I agree!

[jennyelfenmass.livejournal.com]

That's so cute! (And mildly irritating if you get stuck with one of the broken bulbs I'm sure.)

[koloratur.livejournal.com]

I agree with this statement. Also, birds stole 4 nearly ripe jalapenos right off my plant without leaving a trace. I haven't lost any veggies since covering my entire garden with bird netting. It's super cheap, and will be much easier to do with a pot of tomatoes than an entire garden. Added bonus - while someone pulling a single tomato off of your plant would not be obvious, someone removing the netting and then walking away is infinitely more suspicious.

[jennyelfenmass.livejournal.com]

I have a private backyard with a fence and I'm having the same problem (whole cherry tomatoes disappearing, but only the ripe ones, not the green ones). I suspect animals. Chicken wire helped some (at least kept things from nibbling the whole plant down to the nub), but not enough. I put up bird netting today and hope that will stop them.

[nomacmac.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't rule out squirrels. My Asian pear trees have no fruit left on them. Several times I saw squirrels sitting on my fence eating them, but have never found traces of them on the ground or any evidence in the trees that they were snatched by critters.

[motive-nuance.livejournal.com]

I'd expect a mild physical barrier to work better than a sign. A simpler way that would be more effective than a sign alone woud be the same sign with a photo of a face (looking directly at the camera) attached above it at roughly eye level.

[kjc.livejournal.com]

I'd suggest netting on top AND pot shards sticking up.

If you stick large chunks of broken pots or broken glass into your pots so the pointy bits are sticking up, it becomes very difficult for the squirrels to climb into the pots and do their dirty deeds. This has helped me with my figs (my fig tree is small & in a big pot).

You could also make an awesome quick & dirty scarecrow out of some dowels and used CDs/DVDs. Hang them from string or fishing line & the wind will move them & the reflections will help startle/keep away many birds.

[eggplant333.livejournal.com]

thanks everyone. the other thing is that the plants are on the front corner of the yard, and there's a fence around the yard with an opening only at the back of the house, so if someone (a person) wants the tomatoes, they have to come in through the backyard and walk all the way up the side of the yard to reach them. so there's a bit of effort involved just to reach the plants.

i've got a few in cages and a few with stakes, so it might be tricky to use netting or chicken wire i'm thinking.

i think i'll try the sign, and i also might try picking them before they're completely ripe, since can ripen the rest of the way in the house, and maybe then i can snatch them before the other snatchers.

glad to hear i'm not imagining things, but sorry that i'm not the only one with this strange problem :)

[squirrelitude]

Raccoons have the motive and the opportunity. If they're the culprits, god help you -- raccoons are devilishly smart and dexterous, and your best bet would be a webcam (for capturing cute videos of them.)

ninja scavengers

[davelew.livejournal.com]

I really think you are underestimating the number, voraciousness, and fastidiousness of Somerville's wild scavengers. I would not expect there to any remnants of fruit after the animals were done with it.

For example, there was a box of Fruit Loops emptied next to the trash can at the intersection of Willow Ave and the bike path this morning, as well as a serving of onion rings nearby on the other side of the path. I doubt there will be traces of either in 48 hours. There will be no mess, nothing left over, and no incriminating bite marks, but everything will be gone.

[808.livejournal.com]

As others have said, don't rule out the animals. They are expert fruit pickers with millions of years of evolution built into their tiny hands and teeth. They can easily take food without damaging the plant and they usually don't eat it nearby (it attracts predators, who know where to hang out...). I used to have a pear tree outside my window at work and every fall I'd watch the pears mature and then, POOF, in a couple of days hundreds of pairs would vanish in the hands of squirrels. It was pretty cool to watch.

Thirsty squirrels?

[obie119.livejournal.com]

Another vote for animals - I'm on the Arlington gardeners list and this has been discussed recently - one of the ideas is that it's been so dry that the little squirrels are thirsty and are taking the tomatoes mainly to have liquids. Apparently putting out a little dish of water works wonders. And it can't hurt, really. Good luck!

update

[eggplant333.livejournal.com]

thanks again, everyone. we've done a few things to combat the nibblers:

1. we're loosely saran wrapping and twist-tying the tomato bunches so they're not such easy targets

2. we put some water out for the thirsty squirrels

3. i'm going to try sprinkling some hair on the soil in the pots, i've heard that critters don't like the smell of it

i'll let you know how it goes :)