Tomato plants lost all leaves

[Eneas]

Hello everyone,

I have been lovingly nurturing a few cherry tomato plants from seed the last few months and have finally transplanted them to their final pot where they have been growing steadily and beautifully... until some bird ate all their leaves.

We have a small colony of blackbirds around here and I'm sure they are the culprits. Either way, the plants now have no leaves whatsoever. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

They are fairly young plants still (about 10-12 inches) and they have strong stems, but with no leaves... how can they photosinthesize?

My question is... should I keep hoping they grow new leaves or just discard them with all the pain in my heart?

 

[marlingardener]

Oh, what a shame! If the plants were mine, I'd put a fine netting over the stems if the blackbirds are the cause, and hope that leaves would grow back.
Tomato leaves are toxic, so they are usually left alone by birds and mammals. Did you notice any wilting, yellowing, or spots on the leaves before they disappeared? The culprit might be a disease, rather than something with feathers.
Losing leaves and then having to re-grow them is stressful for the plant, so when the new leaves start to appear (as they likely will) do a very gentle fertilizing, perhaps at half-strength, to help the recovery along.

 

[Chuck]

As @marlingardener said tomato leaves are toxic to warm bloodied animals. I would guess that if you take a close look around you will find a tomato hornworm or two. These things can strip a small plant in no time at all.