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Re: What's eating my tomatoes?

Dawn wants to know what's eating her toms:

>As soon as the fruits started to turn red, something started taking bites out
>of them.  In two days a tomatoe thats 5" across is nothing but a few pieces
>of skin on the ground.  I thought it was slugs but after today I'm not sure.
>I found some tomatoes with what looked like teeth marks.  Do slugs have
>teeth?  <grin>
>....and found slugs last year (horrible 5"-6" long scary
>looking things).

Geez, Dawn, that doesn't sound like Long Beach slugs to me, it
sounds more like Portland or Seattle slugs! I've never seen a slug
down here longer than a couple inches or so. Slugs don't have teeth
in the vertebrate sense, so I doubt that's what's eating.
Some suggestions have been, raccoons (slightly posssible, but I've
not known them to have an appetite for toms), rabbits (slightly less
possible, and I thought they only liked green veggies), possums (quite
possible in our area, though we had tons of toms and several possums
last year and I never noticed huge eating), and squirrels (they don't
eat toms either do they?). I had some toms get chewed on by birds last
year, I think. Could it be birds? You could try putting bird netting
over a few plants and see if that helps.

>Should I start the seeds now?

Weell, don't take my advice as what you should always do, but due to
serious spring time constraints, I did not get my garden in until the
first week of June. I planted three varieties of toms by seed directly
in the garden, as I did last year. I have lots of healthy 2-3 foot plants with
yellow blossoms, but so far no tomatoes. I think it is too soon yet, but
I am expecting a great harvest like I had last year. Living in Long Beach
might give you an edge, except for our inland valleys usually stay warmer
in the fall than you coastal people. I harvested tomatoes from my plants
until late December, early January last year. So you should have plenty of
time to get some toms again. I would try seeds or plants right now, and
when you get your first tomato forming, try covering all but one of the
plants with something to keep birds and maybe possums out.
Good luck, and keep us posted.
Shawn
swestaway@stmplink.coh.org
Claremont, CA  USDA9b  Sunset19

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