Hi country minded folks,

I go out to garden trying to get enought ripe tomatoes to can this year to restock our dwindling canned tomato stock. And I would find tomatoes with these big holes in them the diameter of a big fat night crawler! What's attacking them and how do you get ride of them??

Todd O <>< IA

-- Todd Osborn (tosborn@cccglobal.com), August 11, 2000

Answers

Do you have free range chickens? I had to pen the tomatoes (only took a 2' fence) and young early stuff like lettuce. Chickens love tomatoes, but the little fence is enough of a deterrent that they find other things to chow down on. Other birds are a possibility. Could be tomato hornworms, but doesn't sound like it. When you figure it out, please let us know. GL!

-- Brad (Homefixer@SacoRiver.net), August 11, 2000.

Snails will eat holes in the tomatoes if they are touching the ground. The snail-eaten holes will be about 1/4" around and up to 1/4" deep. That's aproximate size; could be bigger, too.

-- Peg (NW WI) (wildwoodfarms@hushmail.com), August 11, 2000.

I should have said slugs, not snails. I know nothing about snails...

-- Peg (NW WI) (wildwoodfarms@hushmail.com), August 11, 2000.

You can identify the culprits as slugs or snails by the irridescent slime trail. If there is no trail, suspect something else and look for droppings from bugs or birds. If it is not birds, pull back your mulch to see the critters responsible.

-- Laura (gsend@hotmail.com), August 12, 2000.

tomato worm. on another note, i just bit into one of our apples of the trees and it was so tart it just about made me cry. funny how i'm still sitting here eating it. what do they say about being glutten for punishment.

-- Amber (ambrosia75_@hotmail.com), August 12, 2000.

I'm thinking birds, maybe chickens but could also be wild birds, the red attracts them. You could try netting like some do for fruit trees. Just my .02 cents worth

-- Tina (clia88@newmexico.com), August 12, 2000.

Sounds like crows to me. They make pointed holes just the size of their bills. They will do it to dead chickens, other fowl too.

-- Barbara C.Fischer (cen12205@centurytel.net), August 15, 2000.

In our area big holes and usually only 1 or 2 mean turtles! But unless IA has a lot of turtles like MO-I would assume birds.

-- Sarah (heartsong85@juno.com), August 17, 2000.