What's the squirrel population like around there? Take into consideration that it might not be birds doing the damage.

She's insisting on letting them vine ripen. Says they taste different. I don't like tomatoes all that much so I don't know the difference since I never eat them. Squirrels? Hm... I have to say, I almost never see them so I didn't consider them.

We live in eastern PA, so there's squirrels, it's just that I don't see them very often in our neighborhood.

I also just remembered that whatever they are were eating our strawberries too. We have a lot of crows and finches that hang around the pond so I assumed it was them.

I pick mine as soon as they have a little blush and put them on the counter to ripen. Do not put them in the fridge! That is what makes them mushy. If you really don't want to pick early, you will have to cover with bird netting. They are after the water. Cover and put out a bird bath. I have had trouble with birds, squirrels, and chipmunks.

"She's insisting on letting them vine ripen. Says they taste different."

*sigh* Doesn't sound like a great situation. The first thing you need to do is be sure of the identification of the pest.

I also would think squirrels first on these, but wouldn't rule out birds. Squirrels really went for my strawberries and the evidence was there in the form of spit out pieces and fragments of the green top in pieces with little bits of attached pulp and some other pieces of pulp since they can be sloppy gluttons. I didn't get a single strawberry. But the key comment was, just as it ripened. Squirrels here always seem to find that perfect moment a day or two before harvest and they are crepuscular creatures when it comes to feeding.

I didn't have any luck with cayenne pepper to repel squirrels but others do. Squirrels just outsmart me at every meeting. If there are only a few tomatoes and the pest is eating them just as they ripen, try wrapping the individual tomatoes with bird netting or stretched out stocking. Not that it will save the tomato (it might, depending on how hungry the pest is) but the rodents will probably rip the netting and birds won't. Now combine that with hot pepper repellent and things are getting less appetizing. A motion activated sprinkler (link) might work if you had a budget for it and could mount it high.

Cheers

PC

Hm, the sprinkler isn't a bad idea! For now we might give wrapping them a shot. It'd be a little tough to wrap the whole plant so doing the fruit individually might at least help deter whatever it is. How does the cayenne pepper work? We'll also maybe look into a bird bath of some kind. I'd love to see the birds in the bird bath and my step mom would love to see them not in her tomatoes haha

birds rarely attack the tomatoes in my garden.. perhaps the birds in my area are just dumb or color blind and think they are rocks because there are many red cherry tomatoes on the ground that have fallen and the birds just walk right by them eating the ants on the ground. that said, i really doubt it's birds doing that.. also, most birds have a small belly so unless they are seagulls, one bird isn't likely going to be able to eat a third of a tomato, you would just see small nibbles taken out.

Sounds like a plan with the alternate watering hole. I'd be more confident with that if they were birds, but with squirrels once they are on to something they can be real pains to change their behavior, since they discovered ripe tomatoes which clearly the pest in your case prefers to your green ones. The hot pepper seems to work for some people with rodents / mammals (not birds), usually just spraying it on the fruits and including ground garlic in it seems to help according to them. Check the threads here for many discussions. Here's one including some individually wrapped tomatoes (link)

Good luck

PC

That eaten pattern does not look like birds'.

Rats are other suspects. But you should try to persuade your mom to pick them at color break. Unless she insists sharing withe the birds, rats and squirrels.

Sey

Everyone seems pretty sure it's not birds so I'll keep a lookout for any rodents. I'm usually home during the day so I'll watch the plants a bit more closely to see if I can catch something in the act! Might check from the window with my dad's red flashlight before I go to bed. Could be getting the tomatoes at night.

Oddly enough there's banana peppers and almost fully grown eggplant in the box with the tomatoes and they are untouched.

I wish I could persuade her to bring them in. My stepmom is a bit of a food snob sometimes.

katie, No matter what the pest, it's probably a relatively big pest. If you want to build a neatly made version of this circus tent design ... it is fairly inexpensive and might do the job for your set-up, to protect against small mammals and birds in your stepmom's garden box or plot: Read this article! If nothing else, it helps to commiserate and I really like the way this woman expresses herself:

Finally, a gardener I can relate to regarding squirrels (link)

Be sure to click on the picture of her squirrel defense set-up, the picture gets much larger.

Cheers

PC

In my case, it is the chipmunks that eat my tomatoes crazily, even the tomatoes aren't fully ripened. If I do not pick my tomatoes raw, I may not be able to eat a single tomato that is untouched by chipmunks. So frustrated as a first time tomato grower.

Birds did that to my tomatoes, but I live in a totally different region with different birds. My birds absolutely will rip stuff and a buddy with squirrels has had them bite through stockings over fruit. This is the only option I've found that works:

It is a wire cage over the plant. It is the one thing I've tried that has not failed. I do also have a realistic plastic rattlesnake that I move around all the time that seems to help. The plants I set it next to are usually left alone for the day.

Good luck. Come back and post what you find to work best.

I need to read slower. At first skim I thought Julia wrote "it is the chimpanzees that eat my tomatoes crazily". Or maybe the coffee hadn't kicked in yet.

Provide them a water dish, some some bird feed. Put up a nice bird bath in the shade..

Birds pick on tomatoes mostly in dog days of summer when they are thirsty. They pick on tomatoes for its juice not the meat.

Sey

There are two ways to approach this: Doctor up the tomato, or doctor up the tomato eater.

It may be worthwhile to ask your stepmom to participate in a blindfold taste test of tomatoes ripened indoors and vine ripened. If she can reliably detect a difference proceed with all the protective devices. But if she cannot tell the difference in the test, it is simpler and easier to pick at first blush and bring the tomatoes indoors to ripen.