Deer ate my tomatoes?

[Vicky]

I was away for vacation last week. I thought I was doing everything right, a big drink before I left (for the tomatoes), a friend to look after the garden and it rained several times while we were away.

Went out the night we got home and noticed NO TOMATOES! It was dark, and I did tell my friend to help themselves to any veggies that looked ready but I remember he does not like tomatoes! Next morning went out to see and found there were absolutely no tomatoes left on the vines. Later I noticed a pile of deer droppings nearby. I am so angry. Trying to figure out how a deer got into my 4 ft high, fenced-in yard.

Anyway, is it possible I may get more tomatoes at this point. There are some flowers on the plants, but he ate most of them too.

[rainbowgardener]

Yup, deer are an absolute menace and they love tomatoes, green or ripe, they don't care. Though when I lived where I had deer eating my tomatoes, they usually didn't eat the flowers. I would be watching the flowers develop into baby tomatoes and then the tomatoes would just disappear.

If you have groundhogs, raccoons, squirrels etc eating your tomatoes, they usually leave behind at least part of the outer rind. Squirrels often just take a bite or two of each tomato and leave all the rest. If the tomato is just gone, with nothing left but hoofprints in the ground, that's deer!

[Shoontok]

yep the deer across the river here in Garrison, NY like tomatoes too. This is the second time they made a night attack on them. They did a little damage and lost a few small tomatoes and some foliage but nothing as bad as the first time they came. I made a homemade deer repellent spray, hope it works to thwart them away and visit the neighbor's yards, lol.

Oh and a 4 foot fence is just a small hop for a hungry deer.

[TZ -OH6]

Deer usually nip off leaves and tops first and get some of the tomatoes second. They browse here and there so they might strip a single plant if that is all there is but if you have several plants that are stripped without any vegetative damage I would say that nefarious people got into your garden.

[garden5]

I've found that deer will rarely eat the tomatoes off my plants, at least not until late in the season . They mainly just nip the tops.....and then head straight for the peppers!

[Zapatay]

Not sure if it's the dogs or the noise of them barking that keeps the rodents and deer away ....

but I pick my poison as my dogs love fresh veggies too ...

I would like to see them jumping that 4ft high fence... are you sure the neighbors didnt leave the gate open?

[lake_tuna]

Oh my, that does sound like a pain in the neck. I feel lucky that aren't too many critters around where I live.. and definitely no large animals!

[joncro55]

A fence is not enough to keep a deer out of your yard.

I had a 5 foot fence for 25 years and they still managed to get through. UNTIL....I put some wire mesh under the fence and covering anything that would be considered an "opening". I used 2" wire mesh....



Good Luck. Trust me, this stuff is legit.

[microcollie]

Here in the Berkshires, 7-8 feet is the standard for deer fencing. And, hating to be the bearer of bad news, but they tend to remember where they've had a good meal, so you might want to consider ammending your fence. I've tried every "repellant" around, and the only thing I've found that works is a loudly barking dog or two.
I will say that over the years, I have changed my vegetable gardening strategy, and have mixed most of my solanums in with other plants that they like better. Give them a bed of daylilies, and they'll ignore your tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. (and daylilies grow like weeds here)

[TZ -OH6]

A 4-5 foot fence is nothing for a deer. Mine is standard height stock fence with two more strands of simple clothes line at 6 and 7 feet. If the top strands are down for any reason a deer is sure to jump in within a few days to nibble up the garden.

[gixxerific]

For sure a bigger fence will help. Deer can jump pretty high.

But here is a thought, deer raised on some tasty homegrown tomatoes would be in itself might tasty.

But the bigger fence would help too.

[soil]

4ft fence...lol ive seen with my own eyes a deer jump over our 7 ft fences. so I put some pole extensions and added another ft or two of string line to keep them from doing it again.

[Kisal]

Deer can jump high -- white tails max out at about 7', but mule deer can soar over a 10' fence -- so you have to have a high fence to stop them. Interestingly, they can also be stopped by a double fence -- two fences about 5' high spaced about 4' apart. Deer don't have very good depth perception, and the second fence confuses them.

I've heard that they can even be stopped with a string of fishing line, strung between bushes or trees, at about their shoulder height. They'll bump into it before they see it. (Personally, I would be concerned that I'd get hung up on something like that, myself. )

A 6' fence is said to keep them out, if it's placed at a angle to the ground -- 45º was recommended in one of the articles I read. Again, it seems to be a matter of them not being able to judge just how far away "the other side" of the fence is.