Something is chewing off the tops of my tomato plants

[Smokefree]

It started a few weeks ago with one plant. Then another. Then another. The tops of the plant and the ends of the stems are totally missing. It can't be rabbits because some of these plants are 3 feet high. It can't be deer because we don't have any ever show up in my yard- in town. What could it be?

[lavender]

This is going to sound weird but I suspect squirrels. They can be very destructive. We have white pine trees and they are constantly cutting off the smaller branches. I've also had plants near the trees that have had the tops cut off. They don't eat them they just cut them off. They, I think, use the cages or the plant itself to reach the tops.

[Guest snellma]

I vote for squirrels also.  They eat the living daylights out of my tomatoes.

[Smokefree]

It has to be squirrels and they are driving me crazy! Now my prize tomato that I have been watching daily has a huge bite out of it the size of a human bite mark. And I found several tomatos hidden in the bushes half eaten. Those little .............are picking the tomatoes and then munching down where they can't be seen. But the big tomato was chewed right on the plant (they probably knew it was too big to carry away) I just put mothballs around my garden. I hope that helps. It is so frustrating because I can never "see" it happening.

[Petee]

Be careful to put the Mothballs in something where they won't melt and contaminate the soil.  You don't want your tomatoes or any other veggies absorbing the chemical they are made of.

[Petee]

Be careful to put the Mothballs in something where they won't melt and contaminate the soil.  You don't want your tomatoes or any other veggies absorbing the chemical they are made of.

 

I had a problem just like this but it was a groundhog.  He was stretching up to get the best, ripest fruit and would just eat what he could reach or rip off of the bush.

[Bon]

will moth balls keep all critters out of the garden? and what do you put them in? pie plate, dish, something like that?

[lavender]

Anything that smells bad will keep animals out of the garden to a certain extent, mothballs, bleach, ammonia, etc. Their noses are much more sensitive than ours and they aren't happy with strong odors. Somebody told me that his dog got a whiff of the ammonia that he was using to keep groundhogs out and the poor dog took off in a hurry.

[Smokefree]

I found another huge tomato picked right from the garden and half chewed laying RIGHT ON TOP OF A BIG PILE OF MOTHBALLS beside the garden! That squirell has it out for me. It is almost like he is trying to show me what he thinks of my feeble attempts to get rid of him. I am so sick of this that I picked every single green tomato larger than a quarter and put them inside on my windowsills.

[badmonkey]

Based on the date of your posting, it is probably too late for this info but, every year, I plant around four dozen tomato plants. Only six of them are plated outside of a fence. Each year I find that deer (tracks present in the dirt) eat the tops off of my plants that are growing outside the fence. They also reach over the fence and eat the tops off of the plants growing closest to the fence.