Tomato Damage

[Garf]

Is this damage from birds or insects?

[donworden]

First I am not an expert. Nor will I ever claim to be one.

Were I to hazzard a guess I would look directly at those nasty slugs.

[digitS']

I'm no expert either but,

"Slugs"

was my 1st thought as I looked at the picture.


Steve
edited to add: the fruit has healed quite well and, I think, the damage must have been some time ago.

[Garf]

The tomato is in a recycling tub about 21" above soil level. I would think a slug would have a hard time climbing that far.

[Kisal]

Oh, not at all! It isn't unusual for me to find slugs and snails as much as 6' up the outside walls of my house. They can easily get at plants that I've set on top of my patio table, simply by climbing up one of the legs. Nothing's safe from them, unless it's tightly covered or indoors!

[Garf]

SNAILS? Do snails attack tomato? I have some monster snails here. I see very few slugs.

[Kisal]

Absolutely! Snails are very much like slugs, except they have an external shell. Most slugs, OTOH, have only a very small remnant of a shell, which is internal.

It has been my experience that, when I fail to keep the snail population under control, the slug population decreases dramatically. When I keep the snail population under good control, I see more slugs around. I don't know whether that "balance" between the species occurs anywhere else, but it is what I've observed in my own yard over the past 30+ years.

Snails will eat just about anything that's green. I've even had them attack cacti that had really wicked thorns, so I'm sure they'd delight in dining on tomatoes.

[Garf]

Time to hunt snail.

[Kisal]

I broke my shoulder last fall and had to have a total shoulder replacement. I was incapacitated from the beginning of this year until September. I expect I'll have a bumper crop of snails next year!

I go out 2 or 3 times a night, hunting them with a flashlight. One year, I routinely would get 200 to 400 snails in one circuit of my back yard!

[TZ -OH6]

You might want to put a mouse trap out too. Slugs and snails tend to leave neat symmetrical divots, while rodents leave irregular wounds. The pictures look like either a mouse got to it or slugs/snails made multiple attacks on the same locations.


Chipmonks do that kind of damage too, but thay are difficult to trap, although I have got them with bird seed/oatmeal and a rat trap

[pondlady]

Grasshoppers

[Garf]

I need to figure out the guilty party, because I don't want to attack birds if they are not guilty.

[whodat]

You also could use beer to rid yourself of slugs/snails. They love the stuff. Dig a small hole around your plants and fill a cup full of beer. The slugs/snails will be attracted to the beer instead of the tomato plants and drown in it. Dispose as necessary.

[Kisal]

I guess the area where I live must be odd, or else the snails have become educated ...

During those times when I have decimated the snail population by hand-picking them, I can put a saucer of beer out at night and it will be filled with slugs in the morning. But when the place is teeming with snails and only a few slugs, there's never a snail or a slug in the saucer. I guess I have tee-totaler snails? Or maybe they're beer connoisseurs, as a result of the many micro-breweries in town?

[Garf]

There has been no more damage since the first tomato. I wonder how long that will be true?

[Kisal]

Was your area hit by the recent cold weather? A couple of friends of mine in FL actually lost some of their plants to freezing night temperatures. Snails and slugs don't come out in cold weather. I never see them active around here when the temperatures fall below the mid 40s. That might be why you haven't seen any new damage to your plants.

IMO, the best way to find out what is feeding on your plants is to go out at night with a flashlight. I'd suggest that you try to get out there around 1 or 2 a.m., but only if the temperature isn't too low. Look for the slime trails the snails/slugs leave wherever they travel. Look at the fruit and leaves, and your other plants, too, to see if you can catch the critters feeding.

[Garf]

I lost 1 plant and one other had some damage. I can't complain.

[NewGarden]

I used Slug Shields for the first time last season and they worked well. Copper solution and they last ALL SEASON. 100% eco-friendly. I got them online and will be ordering more soon.

[NewGarden]

I used Slug Shields for the first time last season and they worked well. Copper solution and they last ALL SEASON. 100% eco-friendly. I got them online and will be ordering more soon.

[Garf]

Never heard of Slug Shields, but I am interested.