Garden

[ciao_bella]

We've had groundhogs and as @Just Bling noted in her post, those ugly big green caterpillars...  They don't look too much like a regular caterpillar because they mimic the green tomato branch and are larger than a regular caterpillar.  Actually, one of those caterpillars had dozens of wasp eggs attached to it and it looked like a white flower.  It was so gross looking!   These caterpillars will eat the tomatoes and the leaves and will quickly move from one tomato plant to another.  

[ciao_bella]

@Just Bling  OMG...I just googled hornworm and that's exactly what we have in our garden too!!!  Did you see the one with the white wasp eggs attached?   Yuk!  Double Yuk!  we have one, maybe more, of those.  Creepy looking, for sure!

[Just Bling]

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@ciao_bella wrote:

@Just Bling  OMG...I just googled hornworm and that's exactly what we have in our garden too!!!  Did you see the one with the white wasp eggs attached?   Yuk!  Double Yuk!  we have one, maybe more, of those.  Creepy looking, for sure!

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I touched one and they are really soft and yukky....oh my gosh, it freaked me out!

[janeec]

My husband and I were baffled by the very same thing about 4 years ago.  We had deer that liked to take one bite/tomato.  We made raised beds and fenced them in,  It was the birds. They would fly in and peck at the tomatoes making them very unappetizing.  Nets over the plants really helped.  Good luck.

[nana59]

Just told my husband I'm tired of taking care of a garden just to have the critters enjoy it.....next year I'll support our local farmers' markets.......I'm done!!

[Sooner]

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@nana59 wrote:

Just told my husband I'm tired of taking care of a garden just to have the critters enjoy it.....next year I'll support our local farmers' markets.......I'm done!!

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It's a struggle.  You pretty much have to be willing to spray, dust and do lots of other things like netting to keep from feeding all the critters.  I'll leave it to the pros! LOL!!!

[candys mine]

I'm willing to share but i Hate NIBBLERS. If you're gonna eat my garden veggies, don't just take a bite out of the blossom end, eat the whole thing!  Tomatoes, zucchini, winter squash, corn, Blueberries,they all fell prey to the garden bandits. We have rabbits this year like we never have before. They like the cornflower plants that regrew from last year but so far the Garlic chives and Bee Balm plant have been passed over.  Nice to have SOMETHING growing.

[Mary Bailey]

I gave up on growing tomatoes.  I grew them in pots on my patio.

One day there was a squirrel sitting on the edge of the pot with a cherry tomato in each hand.

I'd rather spend money at the grocery store on heirloom tomatoes, than see some varmit eating my 'maters!

[CLEM]

It could be my cat.  Perhaps you have seen her in your neighborhood while casing your tomatoes?  You can't miss her.  She is a gray tabby.

[sunshine45]

my cousin has this problem and late one night we heard noises and saw raccoons. she said that this is her last year for growing tomatoes. she has not even had a single red tomato and the green ones are getting eaten by the raccoons.