hi there,

i did a search on the site and looked through ever single post (at least the headers) and nothing is mentioned about deer eating tomatoes that i found.

i have 17 heirloom tomatoes (one each of 17 varieties) planted out and growing. they were doing just fine (although the weeding has been nearly non-exsistant :)

my husband told my about 2 days ago that one of my plants died, as if something had pulled it out of the ground. i chalked that up to bad luck and critters.

now, we went out this evening and at least half the pants have been chomped from the top (about 12-18 inches high). what ever ate them went for the stems, not just the leaves.

am i crazy, or aren't tomato plants poisonous (or is that just to people?)

i have a large hosta bed under a nearby sugar maple (30 feet away). the first hosta i planted there was attached by deer the first night. i bought a deer repelent spray (that i think is some sort of preditor urine - no ingredients are listed) that has worked wonders. it says to spreay the affected areas once a month, and it's been over a month since i sprayed, yet the hostas are fine (and they are deer ice cream). i have over 30 hostas there that aren't being bothered.

i'm just deflated over the tomato problem :( we ovly moved here in december, and i'm not used to dealing with deer.

oh, i planted various sunflowers aound two sides of the tomato patch and they were chomped down stem first, too.

is this the work of the evel deer? is there anything i can do for these plants?

thanks.

chandra