Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Tomato plants disappearing?

We have had tomato plants (about 2 ft high) disappear from our garden twice now this year, and once last year, and it happened overnight. There were no deer tracks, people tracks, or any other kinds of tracks, and no signs of what happened. These things were nice, busy, beautiful plants when we went to bed. When we got up the next morning they were COMPLETELY gone, root and all, and no indication as to what happened. Any clue as to what might cause this? At first we thought deer, but they would leave tracks. They hadn't produced any tomatoes yet, so I doubt rodents/racoons/etc would be interested. I sincerely doubt bugs could do that overnight. So what could it be??????????

Tomato plants disappearing?
Maybe squirrels would do that without leaving tracks. However tomato plants have such a bitter taste I am not sure why they would want to.





Are you sure they did not just wilt from overwatering or been cutdown by cutworms?
Reply:My guess would be gophers. I have actually seen my bean plants being pulled down inch by inch - in the middle of the day! They work 24 hours non-stop sometimes and can devastate a garden in a week.





They are not easy to get rid of for a number of reasons:


1. Using gopher pelets (poison) is problematic in a vegetable garden;


2. Spring traps are hard to set and only get the gopher if it stupidly runs through that particular run;


3. Gas cartidges probably won't get to all of the air space in the run - gophers can simply go away until the gas dissipates and the return later.


4. Flooding doesn't work because the gopher already knows how to stay dry underground in a downpour.


5. Bubble gum or other type of chewing gum doesn't work - it's a myth.





There is a trap called the "Black Hole" and it worked for me. I caught four gophers in a week with it. It's a spring trap and fairly easy to set. It doesn't require bait or poisons, but it does rely on the gopher to stumble into it. The lure is a hole for light at the end of the trap. It is believed that gophers will go to the light to try and cover up the end of the run and when they do, they trip the spring-loaded trap. But, it's not fool proof.





The only way to assure that a gopher won't eat your veggies is to plant your individual plants in "gopher baskets". You can buy them for about $4-$6 a piece, or make them yourself from chicken wire (much cheaper and works just as well). You take the gopher basket and "plant" it in the soil, with only the top 1" - 2" of the top part of the basket above the soil level.





IF what you have are gophers. Hope this helps.





By the way, if you have moles or voles, leave them be. They don't eat plants - they mostly eat soil insects and the aeriate the soil.
Reply:Crazy. Please repost to let us all know what conclusion you come to. Weird.
Reply:or stolen by the neighbors..
Reply:well if you take care your plants like I do your tomato


should be there I suggest to install a surveillance camera


like this one http://www.homesecuritystore.com/ezStore...





in order to catch the tomato thief:-P
Reply:gophers under ground..they are truly a menace!!!
Reply:This is WER30SNFUN, the poster of this thread. I couldn't find anyway to reply to the answers , so I logged in under my other screen name.





First and foremost, let me thank everyone for their generous help.





Now then, to answer some of the replies.....





I work for a large GC with several branches, one of which is Security. Therefore, my house is surrounded with surveilance cameras, although one is not directly pointed at the garden. That combined with the fact that we live in a remote area, with our nearest neighbors being several 1000 feet away, and the fact that you could clearly tell the ground had not been tampered with, we have ruled out human theft.





For a 2 ft plant, including the root system, to disappear, overnight, by wilting, I just don't see that. I don't even think the wicked witch of OZ could make that one happen.





I agree that bugs, worms, insects, etc., are a highly unlikely culprit. THat degree of damage by pests could only happen in the movies.





Deer, again unlikely just because there were no tracks.





Moles and voles.... have never ever had a problem with them on this property. We have about 7 outdoor cats, just for the very purpose of keeping us rid of rodents, since we live on an acreage. In 12 years of living here, I have seen like 1 mouse alive way out in the field since we got the cats.





Gophers.... now that IS a conclusion that crossed my mind. Growing up, my parent's place was infested with the buggers, so I became quite adept at catching them. My remedy... a Yamaha 80 motorbike, with oil mixed into the gas to make it 'smokey', then with a vac hose strapped to the exhaust pipe running down in to their hole. Stick in the hose, fire up the bike, rev it up to about 4000 rpm and leave it there for about 10 minutes. Then, shut off the bike, pull out the hose, insert trap, and go have lunch. After lunch, watch 30 min of tv. Then, head out to the yard to remove the caught gophers. Never failed. I always knew when their was a gopher in the yard... mom would come in and say "Go get your motorbike".... Anyway, back to the point, I've never seen any sign of them any where near my garden. onions, carrots, potatoes, radishes, etc, never disappeared. Strange that they would 'steal' a tomato plant. Is such a thing part of their diet? Moreover, there were no signs of the theft coming from underground. I mulled around and there simply wasn't any signs that the plant had been pulled under.





Now, the strangest part of all of this, is the particular tomato plants that were 'stolen'. Each time, it has been a rare or heirloom variety. The 'usual' varieties that we grow have never disappeared.... and the 'unusual' varieties are staggered throughout the others. So basically, to get to the unusual varieties, you have to pass all the 'normal' varieties. So the fact that they were 'unusual' plants, in the middle (pretty much) of the garden, and the fact that the 'usual' varieties have NEVER been hit, just adds to the mystery. Does this gopher (if that is what it is) have champagne taste or what? LOL!





Oh, also, the tomato cages were completely undisturbed, which makes it that much more odd. With the branches hanging out of it, you'd think that even if a deer tried to get to the plants, they'd knock over the cages, disturb the cages, uproot the cages, or something.... Not to mention, there are no broken branches on the ground, nor even a single leaf. There is simply no clue as to what happened.





Although I found no evidence to support, it, I'm leaning towards gophers with champagne taste (which is still very odd). But I would appreciate any more insight that you have to offer.





If Fox Mulder is out there, I could use your input for sure! LMAO!





Thanks again!


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