What's eating the tomatoes off my plant, and how do I stop it?

Could it perhaps be slugs or snails? I know they love anything like that.
Try putting sand or grit around your pots.

@hannahsugs
I remember in Vermont there was a surly ground hog that loved to take one or two big bites from the bottom. Until I got out the 30–30 rifle( only one with ammo ), no neighbors for miles. No more tomatoes half eaten.

Can you put up a little fence or barbed wire around it?

I would guess that it’s a tomato worm. They’re large, caterpillar-looking things that are green. Kill them however you see fit; squish them, squash them, you can even severe there heads off like my dad does.

How large are the bites and what do the edges of the bites look like? Any teeth marks? If the edges off the tomato are smooth with no clear bite marks, I lean toward the tomato worm, but they’re large enough you should notice them on a container. How big was the tomato?

All manner of critters will help themselves to a ripe tomato, including deer and squirrels. It is NOT likely tomato hornworms however, as they prefer the leaves to the fruit. If it’s dry out, Birds will also peck at a tomato for water.Chicken wire or netting should solve your problem.

@GeorgeGee I’ve witnessed many tomato worms eating the fruit as well as the leaves.

Rabbits like to nibble in gardens.

In my neck of the woods (NC), the birds eat my ripe tomatoes.

How big are the pots and how far off the ground are the tomatos?

Shhhhhhh… Be vawy vawy kwyyet. I’m hunteene WABBITS!

I don’t think it’s a worm or a slug, because yesterday the tomato (about the size of an average apple) was intact, and today it was 70% gone. It was definitely something that ate it fast, and a lot. The pots are on a deck that’s about 2 feet off the ground. They are not huge pots, maybe like 2 gallon? I’m just estimating, they’re about a foot or so tall, if that helps.

Birds might be the problem, i know that a lot of them hang out behind my house. Could they do so much damage in just one day? Other than these pots, I really have NO garden, the rest of the backyard is just hard-packed sandy dirt (I live in the desert, afterall). I’m also in a very central area of the city, in a densely packed residential area, so I doubt it’s deer. I haven’t heard of rabbits being around here, but I suppose its possible. But again, I have NO other garden whatsoever. If it’s birds, could I appease them by putting out a bird feeder and birdbath? I’d rather not get into fencing or chicken wire if I don’t have to, that’s a bigger project than I have in mind.

Probably rabbits or some such. Birds generally feed during the day and raccoons will take the entire tomato. If I notice this happening in the vegetable patches, I start sitting out at night with a .22 rifle with night vision scope. The culprit is usually eliminated after one or two nights.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land: i didn’t go out to water the plants until around 10:30 AM, so could birds have gotten it during the morning hours? I definitely hear them chirping outside my window starting early, and it’s so hot here that I don’t think they stay active in the middle of the day. Also, sorry, but violence isn’t really my thing, I don’t have any weapons in the house, and I wouldn’t be likely to use them if I did, so I don’t think I’ll take that tactic.

@hannahsugs My crops are income to me. Eliminating pests is the same as correcting a soil mineral deficiency as far as I’m concerned. I’m an organic farmer, I’d rather the pests die from a clean rifle shot than poisons or traps.

You could try putting netting over the plants so birds can’t get to them. It won’t stop rabbits though. I don’t like shooting birds, since they are good insect eaters.

(Hi Hannah!) This happened to me last summer with my heirlooms and I am positive it was a squirrel. The same squirrel, in fact, who ate my first ripe strawberry this May. One time I even caught him at it. Arg. While violence isn’t my thing either, I have to admit that whenever I see that sucker I want to chuck things at him. This year I am planning to throw some nylon netting (the kind they sell at nurseries to throw over berry plants to protect them from birds) over the whole shebang and see if that works.

Interestingly, the squirrel(s) had no interest in my cherry tomatoes, only the big ones. Perhaps they thought cherries weren’t worth the effort? In any case, if you can’t stop your big ones from being eaten, it’s not too late to plant cherry tomatoes! I recommend Sweet 100.

if its insects eating your plants, put lady bugs in and around your plants, they kill the bad bugs

I’m going along with @partyparty

Well, after finding TWO MORE of my tomatoes eaten this evening (ARGH!) i ran out and bought some netting, instead of getting started on homework (one has to keep one’s priorities straight afterall ;) ). I’ve never actually seen a squirrel here in Tucson, although they could be sneaky little buggers. Birds though, we’ve got lots of birds. Hopefully the netting keeps whatever it is from eating anymore!

(Hi Sarah!) One of the pots is cherry tomatoes, and it’s actually the most robust at the moment, with the most little green tomatoes on it. No animals have gotten to it yet, so here’s hoping!

@Xilas, ladybugs won’t defend against anything big enough to take a bite out of a tomato! They’re great defense against aphids though.

I just asked exactly the same question and read all your answers. My cherry tomatoes are fine, too. But this year is the first year anything is eating exactly half of our huge tomatoes as soon as they’re nearly ripe. It is also the first year we have a woodchuck/groundhog in our yard. I’ve seen him eating the wild flowers in the yard, but we have raised beds and I haven’t seen him actually climb into the garden, yet! The squirrels generally only take a small bite and go. I’m watching to see if it’s a tomato worm monster of some sort or the woodchuck.

AMAZING!!! i have no clue or eles i would help!