LOL! Plant marker looking like a gravestone! That image just tickled my funnybone! Well put.
I've had similar "gravestones" and I think my culprit might be a skunk.
I'm a little scared to use traps...I wouldn't know where to put the critter. And, if it turned out to be a skunk...yikes!

nothing this morning, but no plants disapeared last night either. so I wait

patience..............

regaldozer,
How big were your tomato transplants? And are those lost all next to each others? These are important in determining what the culprit might be. You may not need a trap or whatever other stuff you mentioned to solve the problems, also you may never solve the problems if you don't know the actual culprit.

and therin lies the problem. I work and am gone most days from about 8-7. I have 2 small children that I adore and want to spend as much time as possible with. So it would take a act of random pure luck for me to see what is doing the damage. Thus the decision to place a trap and set out some deadly treats.....

The tomato transplants were all the same height (about 10-12") and in the same row. There was nothing left of them, so i ruled out cutworms (i mean they were clearly cut down at the soil level. looked like it was done with scissors but the plant itself was gone, maybe DW? JK)

In addition to the other stuff, i did dust the surrounding plants with garden dust just in case it is insects not varmit (even though i doubt , it)

Ruthie - i will be as zen as possible ! until I lose another transplant, then I go "CARL" about the situation

(Carl is the name of the character Bill Murray played in Caddyshack.)

Sounds more like rabbits

I've never seen a rabbit touch a tomato plant. They usually seem more into brassicas and carrots.

they had their choice of squash, peas, corn and basil all within a few feet but went for the tomatos

My gut tells me raccoon. Seems to happen at night, although I am not sure. But Anytime the garbage bins are not shut tight, i have a clean up the next morning. the garbage are is 100 feet or so from the garden. But I also cant rule out birds. I have seen some big crows around. especially after the garbage has been dumped. But I really think a coon is gonna turn up....

so what does a racoon love to eat?

You said:"Chewed down to soil level and no evidence that there was ever a tomato plant there except for the plant marker,...". If this is really the case, I would rule out everything, ground hog, deer, rabbit, ... except a human being. May be someone steal your plants, tomato plants of a foot tall is worth stealing, so I would keep an eye on that. Ground hogs are big veggie eaters, but they don't devout tomato plants like you described. Deer love tomato plants, but they never eat anything to the ground. Cut worms are out of questions for plants of one foot tall. Birds to eat the whole plant? Ney!

I live on a secluded piece of property. It just can not be humans unless my wife is playing a particularly mean joke on me.

and she isn't mean.

Are there any ground squirrels in your area? They have been known to tunnel under and literally pull a plant down into the hole.

never heard of a ground squirrel, moles yes. I haven't seen any thing at all. Just the mysterious disapearing tomatos.

Nothing in the trap last night and i didnt notice any PB balls gone, but I did lose a cabbage plant. not all the way down to the ground. All the leaves were gone and the main stem was chewed at about 6 in.

I am........................I don't even know what I am at this point.

Anyway, i am going to plant more tomato transplants in that row tonight and cross my fingers.

I am also thinking about adding a motion activated sprinkler. has anyone used/had success with these?

It may be more expense than you care to go to, but my oldest son is an avid hunter. He set up a camera and light with a motion sensor at one of his deer stands and captured some remarkable pictures. One of a bob cat, a Coyote stalking a rabbit that was eating under the feeder, deer, turkeys (at dawn) field rats, wild hogs, you name it.

If you could determine the culprit responsible, it would definitely be a help in deciding how to proceed. Is there no tracks of other sign of any kind to give a clue. Can you rake the ground real smooth so that tracks would show up?
It may take a really good fence around the garden to stop the problem.

A couple of years ago, my brother had his two biggest watermellons just disappear out of the patch. He found them some distance away in high grass where Coyotes had taken them and chewed a hole in them. They were just pink. He put up one strand of electric wire around the patch and did not lose any more. I do not think that they would like tomato plants though. I think that they can be toxic to some things, and if not Deer would tend to think that the crows might be to blame.
Keep us posted.
Bill P.

emailed my local cooperative extension and here is her reply..

Chipmunks or young Groundhogs.
Chipmunks have a thing for Tomatoes, and young groundhogs will climb a fence with ease (they are squirrels after all).
Try repellents, or individually fence tomatoes until they are larger.

gone fishin: electric fence. I like that idea.

about 1 million volts! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

(sorry, frustration got the best of me)

I used to have those trouble too. Until my oldest step son chained one of the dogs out by the garden. Now nothing goes near the garden. Not even the neighbors dog that has been tramping thru my raised beds the past 4 yrs. Breaking everying in her path.

E

If its groundhogs, try some broccoli, I use it all the time to trap them. I noticed how some were hesitant entering the trap, feeling the wire beneath their feet. I even observed one enter the trap up to the trip plate but refused to step on it, so I now lightly cover the bottom wire and trip plate with dirt. Be careful not to obstruct the door/trip plate closing, locking. The very first one I trapped got out because I piled dirt too high at the opening, it tripped but didnÂt lock, by the time I got downstairs he had pushed the spring door open and escaped. He came back an hour later and went on vacation :)

nothing again last night in trap. but I bought a 9 pack of toms from Lowes and put it next to the trap. 1/2 the flat is gone. tonight, the rest go IN the trap and the trap gets a little weatherin.....

Nothing doing in the trap but no more transplants gone....weird. It's possible that the Peanut Butter and Plaster of Paris balls did the trick. Either way, I am spraying a deterrant reccomended by the Coop Ext and leaving the PB balls around. I returned the trap to Lowes (they are great about stuff like that) and bought a bunch of other stuff....

I've actually seen birds and crows grab my tomatoe plants right out of the ground (quite a struggle, but the bird won). I don't know if they line their nests with them or what. I vote for birds.

transplants in a 6 pack or 9 pack are much too small. I always buy them early as possible and immediately go home and transplant into 5 inch pots. I let them grow for 3 or 4 weeks and then put into the ground.

Those little babies are way to delicate for setting into the ground if you have creatures around. Big transplants will probably be passed up.

Those tiny new plants taste too good. let them get big and tough.

I do not know the animal problem but it would be nice to get a picture and see what it is. the hunting section of wal mart sells them.

I got a picture of two deer making baby deer. Kind of caught them in an embarassing position. It was easy to tell the buck from the doe. haha.

those cameras can work great sometimes.