I have a couple of tomato plants in large containers on the side of my driveway, not visible from the street. There was a big, beautiful tomato, about 3.5" in diameter, that looked like it was about to start ripening. This morning I went out, and it was gone. Someone/something made off with it, and left no evidence whatsoever. I don’t have a problem with kids in the yard, and the only animals I’ve seen are occasional cats, squirrels, rabbits and skunks. And there are no large birds around. What kind of animal could remove a fruit that size and make off with it . . . or eat the whole thing then and there . . . leaving nothing behind? I’ve had other tomatoes before this one, and never lost one this way.
My guess is that it was you all along, panache!!!
Any chance it could have been a deer? That’s who ate all the tomatoes off my vines.
I had a friend who told me that squirrels stole her tomatoes but I don’t know if she actually caught them red handed, no pun intended.
We had squirrels steal the heads of our sunflower plants, which were as big as squirrel, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t steal your tomatoes. My wife wanted to blame the elementary school kids who walk by the yard, but then we were out walking and saw a squirrel stealing somebody elses sunflower heads.
Raccoon? Just because you’ve never seen one, doesn’t mean they aren’t around.
We have squirrels, but I’ve never seen one go after a tomato.
Homeless person?
Squirrels will take tomatoes, as will woodchucks/groundhogs and raccoons. Rat bastards!
ETA: though woodchucks are more likely to eat the whole damn plant.
I was in the mountains, eating my lunch, which included a huge peach the size of a softball. I set it down beside me, and the next thing I knew, it was being carried off by a squirrel. The peach was considerably larger, and probably heavier, than he was.
J’accuse squirrel.
My dog keeps eating mine.
And I’ve seen squirrels stealing apples off of apple trees.
So far, the SDMB jury seems to lean toward indicting squirrel.
I used to plant some tomatoes specifically for my dog. She loved Sweet 100s, but she’d take one that was bigger if she could get to it.
Perhaps a swallow carried it off.
Hey…*somebody *had to say it!
Ah, but the tomatoes, that’s… that’s where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with… geometric logic… that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox DID exist, and I’d have produced that key if they hadn’t of pulled the Caine out of action.
I just moved into a neighborhood with a heavy squirrel population. I was advised not to bother planting any tomatoes, because I would never get a chance to eat them.
I had a similar thing happen many years ago, and after several thefts I saw a groundhog lollop across the yard, reach up over the wire fence, pick an almost-ripe tomato and go lollopping back into the woods carrying it in his/her mouth. “Hey, kids, tomato for lunch again today!”
They also went after our strawberries.
The dingo ate your tomato!
Or perhaps the trash collector needed a garnish for his sandwich?
Oh was that yours
Where I used to live I witnessed a neighbor helping herself to one of my tomatoes. I was shocked, but it didn’t really warrant wasting a bullet.
The next time I saw her I asked her if she had seen any dead squirrels or groundhogs around. Because I had applied a pesticide to my tomatoes that was very toxic and I really figured there would be bodies around.