Last year, I had a weird problem with my tomato plants: every single tomato disappeared just before they were ripe! They'd get nice and big, looking almost ready to pick, and then poof—gone without a single trace. At first, I thought it might be rats, but people told me that rats usually leave a mess behind with half-eaten fruits. My tomatoes just vanished! I even tried putting out mothballs and scattering onion pieces around to deter whatever it was, but nothing worked. I'm really hoping to figure out what's happening so I can protect my tomatoes this year! Any ideas?
3 Answers
Definitely consider deer and chipmunks! If there's no signs of mess, those could be your culprits. Plus, they're sneaky little creatures who can make your tomatoes disappear in no time!
You might want to set up a cheap security camera aimed at your tomato plants. There are several possibilities for the sneaky thief! It could be animals like chipmunks or even deer, depending on your area. You’ll get to see what’s actually happening!
Another option is to just pick your tomatoes while they're still green and let them ripen at home. But yeah, rats seem like a solid guess too!
I was thinking about that too! But honestly, even a cheap camera seems pretty expensive right now.