Many of us pick the fruit at the first blush of color and let it finish ripening on the kitchen counter just to avoid this problem. Once a small bit of color shows on the blossom end of the fruit it will continue to ripen fine off the vine and out of reach of the bugs. ;)

Some have posted in the past that they enclose the fruit in fine mesh bags to block access.

Dave

Hi Dave,

Actually that is what I've been trying to do--they seem to beat me there even when there is only the slightest hint of color--at this point they've already gotten virtually all the fruits (it's seriously about 90%). Will any green ones ripen, and if so is there a way to spot them? I'm hoping to push the picking back by a day or two, if that's possible.

Where do people buy the bags, or is there a way to make them?

Are your tomatoes on the ground? I'm guessing they are. Is there a way of maybe sticking a few stakes (maybe bamboo), and tying the plant up some to get the fruit off of the soil?

I guess you could maybe wrap the tomatoes in a material like to a fine mesh nylon tulle (I think), and just secure it with a bread twistie tie.

Sue

I would use old nylons. Cut them down to size, knot one end, slip over the tomato, and knot the other end. They will stretch as the tomato grows.

If you have cherry tomatoes, you could try a clay spray product that protects the tomatoes and then you wash it off before eating. I've never tried it but it seems like a good idea, except that you probably have to reapply as the tomatoes grow.

Chemocurl,

Yes, you are right--they are on the ground. And it's actually much worse than that. This was a volunteer tomato that came right up in the middle of a giant pumpkin patch. I assumed at first that it would just get smothered by the pumpkins. The pumpkins get megadoses of water and fertilizer--the tomato plant apparently loves constant moisture and fertilizer and thrived--managing to keep on going in spite of the pumpkins. During this time though, it was pretty much inaccessible due to all of the vines. Now that the pumpkin has started dying back it's clear how big the tomato plant is and we're starting to get a good view of all the fruit.

However...there was a region where water actually flowed from one place to another--guess where. So the tomatoes were/are actually on the ground--ground that was frequently not only moist, but sopping wet.

The younger fruits tend to be farther out from the center and farther from the water channel. So there's more hope for them.

I'll look into staking some of the vines up. We certainly have more bamboo states we could ever possibly use (but they are the small kind0. Plus we also have tomato cages. It's unlikely we would use them in their intended purpose, but no doubt they can be used to lift fruit off the ground. For example, no doubt there are areas where one could simply lay the cages down and drape the vines over them