The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: Anke on March 17, 2014, 05:22:45 pm
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:rant:
Bl**dy voles have just nipped off more than half of my broad bean plants/seedlings (all about an inch tall) in the polytunnel and then just discarded the tops all over the bed. I am livid, only transplanted them at the weekend...
I am at my wits' end with them - we have tried poisoning, trapping, make sure all the holes are covered up... what else can I do to get rid of them in my p/tunnel?
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one of my cats sleeps in our greenhouse by choice, we just leave the door open a tad. is that an option? our cats always catch voles and usually dump them in the house.
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I've had the same problem in my polytunnel. Now I plant my broad beans in 4" pots, two seeds per pot, with plenty of FYM in the bottom. They stand in bakers trays which are suspended from the crop bars. Once they are about 8-9" tall I plant them out. It's a bit of a faff but the little devils can't get up there and they don't seem so interested once the plants are taller
There's also our two terriers of course which do their best at terrorising the voles but aren't very good at catching them.
Inside my greenhouse (the one inside my polytunnel) we found a nest under a seed tray on a bench. In it was a wood mouse (if those are the browny ones with pale bellies) and her youngsters. They are SO cute I can't bring myself to turf them out or set the dogs on them. When I lift the tray the mother mouse sits up and looks me in the eye 8) Hopefully they will move on before I sow stuff in there. I can be a right softy ;D
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I can top that fleece - when we lived in Edinburgh by the sea we had a rat problem - rat catcher set a cage and in it came. I felt so sorry for it, it was cute and was desperately trying to get out the bars, so in anticipation of its impending doom, I fed it Mr Kipplings Manor House cake until the rat catcher came to collect. ::) That was when I was a townie I have to say :D
Sorry Anke, that doesn't sort your problem. But they're SO cute. Maybe just grow things on benches in grow bags ??? or is their a sonic noise thingy that's battery operated?
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I once had a mouse/vole in the goat feed bin. It couldn't get out and I couldn't catch it. Can't remember what happened in the end.
Hanging the pots up seems like a good idea.
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As an aside, if you need to catch a live vole, mouse etc, use a Wellington - lie it down close to small creature, it sees a dark place to hide, runs into the wellie, you can then grab the top to stop the blighter escaping, and take it outside. They can be a bit reluctant to come out, but lying the wellie down in undergrowth will usually encourage an escape to freedom.we use this trick regularly as our cats often bring us live "presents!"
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Can you leave a couple of hens in the poly tunnel to catch them. Some of our hens are great mousers.
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Can you leave a couple of hens in the poly tunnel to catch them. Some of our hens are great mousers.
Yes but they'll scratch up the beans too :chook: or have a dust bath in them.
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You just can't win.
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Can you leave a couple of hens in the poly tunnel to catch them. Some of our hens are great mousers.
One of our hens caught a baby wren the other day. I took it off her but too late to save it. I had heard they ccatch mice, but small birds :o .
Sorry, off topic :innocent:
Get an outside cat and put a bed for it in the polytunnel :thumbsup:
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I LIKE voles ::) , cute little things, and shrews.
I've rescued a few from our cat, I wish he's catch mice.
I like the wood mouse as well, if I can I'll take them and lose them over the fields, others I'm 'happy' to use mouse traps on, but I wish I didn't have to.
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Well cats are really difficult for us, two of us are allergic to them, so no house cats possible. Have tried in the past to get some feral/farm cats - but just not been able to! You would think they are lots of them about, but no, most of the rescue cats are pets/house cats! Also issue with possible Toxo for goats and sheep, so shied away from kittens too. We may re-visit if the problem is getting worse. Don't cats then use the beds as toilet and scratch the polythene if they see a bird or something outside? I would have to put a cat flap into it.... ::)
I found another hole in the polythene too, so that's now blocked up. I have "caught" mice/voles/shrews in watering cans a few times... they then do the drowning bit for me in there and I only need to empty it on the compost bin.
I am afraid I have not much sympathy with these voles - they have acres of rough ground to live in round here, so my polytunnel is really too much of a luxury hotel for them. :rant:
Have now sown another batch and will leave on the table for a bit longer (which we have found is out of reach, unless someone leaves a spade leaning up against it.... :-[)
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Found this battery operated pest control on amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ultrasonic+mouse+repellent+battery&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aultrasonic+mouse+repellent+battery (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ultrasonic+mouse+repellent+battery&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aultrasonic+mouse+repellent+battery)
don't know if voles have different hearing though ???
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Found this battery operated pest control on amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ultrasonic+mouse+repellent+battery&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aultrasonic+mouse+repellent+battery (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ultrasonic+mouse+repellent+battery&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aultrasonic+mouse+repellent+battery)
don't know if voles have different hearing though ???
Doesn't work - we tried them ages ago in our garage - mice built a nest really near it...
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Owl?
Falcon?
Is there any birds of prey that can be kept in the UK?
They don't actually need to hunt them If they are in the poly-tunnel they will scare the rats away...
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There are owls about, keeping me awake at night with their towhit-towhoing right outside the window... and the buzzard hunts in the field, so I think that's why they've gone undercover...
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You can buy statue owls for the very purpose, life size, I've seen them in fields, on one occasion I saw about 6 in the one field, like an owl conference.
Maybe you get battery ones that screech (?) on occasions eyes moving, wings flapping. They'll be the expensive ones :D
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Your problem is almost certainly wood mice and not voles. They do not eat the plants -thats just collateral damage as a result of them digging them up to get at the seed cotyledons. If it was voles then they would have eaten the green material first . Once the plants are about 150mm high the mice loose interest because the cotyledons have shrivelled. Plant the seeds in pots or trays and keep them totally covered in a propagator type construction with no gaps and mesh breathers with 10mm diameter holes max.
If sowing direct to ground then I cover with 10mm weld mesh cloches held down with 5mm wire hoops and a piece of slate at each end and leave in position until the plants are about 150mm tall. Works for me every time.
Regen
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I planted two trenches of peas a few weeks ago and nothing. But I have seen the odd shoot that has been nipped off. They were covered in debris netting but I didn't seal around the edges with soil like I normally do. I suspect mice and the culprits
We are away this week so I might get a nice surprise when we get back but doubt it. Best plant some more and try again
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We have mice eating our peas in the raised beds at the allotment. We thought it was pigeons but OH found a neat wee pile of bits in a corner. Never had any bother at the last house and that was with a mouse living in the garden.
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I soaked my peas in paraffin for 10 seconds and resowed and this time they have emerged :fc:
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:thumbsup: