Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Cultivation => Cultivation Problems => Topic started by: John85 on February 14, 2012, 10:21:28 AM
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The plastic protections sold in garden centers are effective against rabbits but not against field mice.They just make a hole in it and eat the bark inderneath causing the tree to die.
Is there something toxic that i can paint on the bark that is toxic for rodents but not for the tree.Lime paint does't work.
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Maybe you could try chicken wire around the trunk, the fine-mesh variety. If you wrap a few turns, so they should not access the bark. If they eat the roots, I have no good suggestions.
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This is a good question, because mice can be even more persistant than rabbits in their attacks.
What about coating the plastic with something horrible tasting, to stop the mice chewing the plastic in the first place?
But what to use? Most things would be too easily washed off by rain, I suppose.
What about the "anti-vandal" paint you can get to stop grafitti ( and even climbing on things?) etc... is it not supposed to remain somewhat "wet" or tacky ... this would be distasteful to mice, would it not?
(I ask this from a position of ignorance since I do not know how available such paint is, or its ingredients)
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Red hot chilli pepper would stop the rascals. Suggest a coating of grease ( used to stop Winter Moths and the like ) and then a liberal coating of the hottest chilli you can find. They will eventually learn and find something more palatable to eat.
{I resisted my obvious answer to avoid all of the booing and hissing I got last time!}
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{I resisted my obvious answer to avoid all of the booing and hissing I got last time!}
You disappoint me, Ron... I was about to send you John's address so you could parcel up a couple of cats to help him out..... ;)
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Maybe a 'visiting' service could be of use. For a small donation of choice seed, NO MORE RODENTS!.
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A circular wrap of hardware cloth ( wire mesh) should do the trick. Must be placed two to three inches below the soil line. Has to be removed each year.
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Unfortunately wire mesh don't work:the devils use it like a ladder and eat the bark higher up.
Ron I think I need an army of cats working in shifts to assure a 24/7 guard.
Chilly pepper is organic but for once I prefer something that sends the field mice to mice paradise.There are plenty of oaks in the area and we had a bumper crop of acorns for three years and the population of small rodent rocketed!
Something more lethal than pepper please any suggestions?I have already put traps.
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John:
Anything with zinc phosphide in it. We get a product called "Revenge" which has corn kernels dusted with the stuff.
Works well, no secondary poisoning.
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Sorry John, I am afraid I must adhere somewhat to a novice Buddist approach. I believe if you can move them on then that is probably best ( i.e. out smart the rodents ). But if you feel the need to kill for revenge then I wish you well.
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John:
Anything with zinc phosphide in it. We get a product called "Revenge" which has corn kernels dusted with the stuff.
Works well, no secondary poisoning.
Sounds like what we need for a certain A. Lansley.
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Ron to kill for revenge:what a awful idea!!!certainly not !If there is a need for controlling the number of rodents it is because there are no more predators.Here it is not like in some suburbs where there are more cats per square mile than mice.Our resident owl has been killed by a vehicle on the road and the foxes ,martens and weasels are killed by the hunters(not my choice).Even in broad day light you see the rodents carrying acorns.That may be a nice sight when there are two or three but it becomes a nightmare when there are hundreds of them!
I would prefer a more ecological way of controlling them.But if nowadays you can buy lady birds to control your aphids it is still not possible to go to the pet shop and buy a hedgehog for controlling your slugs or a couple of owls for the mice. ;)
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Hi John, Seems I misunderstood. My deepest apologies. :-[ :-[ :-[. I do get very (some may say over- ) sensitive over people killing things for the sake of it or even for fun >:( >:( >:( in the name of sport. You are absolutely 'spot on' about the damage thats been caused to the food web, leading to various plagues at various times. It seems that this is your situation and it must be pretty bad. There are grain based baits which will take care of your problem rapidly without any harmful effects on scavengers etc. I think these are what Arnold T has mentioned. They dehydrate the mice, causing death and what looks like mummification. Hope you can convince them to leave.
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You could alway trap humanely and relocate.
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Arnold it worked for......a few days.Now they are too clever.I catch only shrews.Luckely I can release them unharmed.As I am afraid that those free helpers may go elsewhere now I trap only in the attic!
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Arnold it worked for......a few days.Now they are too clever.I catch only shrews.Luckely I can release them unharmed.As I am afraid that those free helpers may go elsewhere now I trap only in the attic!
Thats what I do. I have a trap that can catch a few at a time, one I caught seven in it. Then I drive down the road and let them off at the graveyard. The other day one had died and the others were having their breakfast. These cute little things aren't that cute :o
Angie :)
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That is interesting Angie!I can catch only one at a time.Can you tell us a bit more please?May be a brand name or a link so that we can see how it looks like?
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I will have a look tomorrow to see if there is a name on the trap. I just bought it from my hardware store, will take a picture for you to see what it looks like.
Angie :)
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Arnold it worked for......a few days.Now they are too clever.I catch only shrews.Luckely I can release them unharmed.As I am afraid that those free helpers may go elsewhere now I trap only in the attic!
Thats what I do. I have a trap that can catch a few at a time, one I caught seven in it. Then I drive down the road and let them off at the graveyard. The other day one had died and the others were having their breakfast. These cute little things aren't that cute :o
Angie :)
You need to drive at least a mile in order to avoid getting them back. They are like homing pigeons. Put a small dab of nail polish on the back before you relese them so that you can say "welcome back" ;D I have friends who got the same mouse back in the same trap four times. I assume the mouse believed it had educated the humans to feed it in a nice box. ;D
Personally I use traps the kill them immediately. Those are smaller, cheaper and more effective. A trap that catces small rodents alive must be attended to on a daily basis. They will starve and thirst to death in a couple of days and that is much worse than being killed by being hit over te head.
Tallyhooooo
Göte
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If you are using the spring loaded traps it is always worth baiting them with something sticky which prevents the mice from 'grabbing and running away'. This will hopefully prevent the mouse being injured or caught by a limb until such time as the trap is checked. Whilst no one likes having to kill them, when it becomes inevitable, ensuring a quick death is the best that can be done.
Peanut butter or pieces of mars bars are good bait for this reason.
Someone I know made me smile, rather than buying generic peanut butter for the trap, they selected the low salt organic brand as it was the healthier option.... ::)
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I use a trap with a lid over the bait. They have to lift the lid in order to get at the bait. There is no way they can grab and run but occasionally they get hit on the head without actually catching them. They do not survive that but the corpse will lie beside the trap. I use sunflower seeds. some under the lid and some in frontof the trap.
Göte
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I will try to get organically grown seed nexttime ;D
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I use chocolate in my mouse trap, I always have it on hand ::)
When I bought this trap I was so taken with it I went back to get another and told the shop owner how successful it was and the first thing he said was what are you doing with the mice. I replied letting them of at the bottom of the my drive, he laughed and said you are probably catching the same mouse time after time. I didn't believe him so I put a wee bit of nail varnish on the mouse and he was right two days later he was in my mouse trap.
I check my mouse trap everyday and first thing before breakfast. I once forgot about it and by lunchtime the mouse had pink paws and a pink nose he must have been trying to dig his way out of the trap. I would prefer to use poison but I would hate looking at the dead mouse. I would feel guilty.
No name on the trap not even MADE IN CHINA.
Angie :)
So far I have caught 62 mice, When I had cats I only caught one mouse every couple of months. See cats are useful.
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Sidney agrees ;) ;) ;)
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Peanut butter is also good. It sticks to the pad well and requires a bit of tugging by the rodent to get it off.
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As with most problems there often is not silver bullet. Often multiple approaches are needed to keep damage down. Another item to consider is why do you have mice in the garden? If you have lots of mice you have great mouse habitat. Modify the habitat and you have "less" mice. As a teen I worked in the orchards in Central Washington. The orchardist kept the grasses and weeds down around the trees and made sure the old fruit was picked off the ground. Reduce the habitat and food supply and have less damage from mice. I also am a believer in a good outdoor cat in controlling critters around my home. Our cat does a great job.
Bob
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Unfortunately, growing certain plants like bulbous corydalis and crocus creates a nice habitat or should i say Free restaurant ;D for mice.
Any mouse will say: "have teeth, will travel" ;D If there is a natural habitat within a few hundered meters they will find our crocuses in those years they are rising many youngs.
last year, I caught a vole in our town garden. It must have crossed a score of paved streets and there is no natural habitat within a kilometer. Just now we have problems with a hare that feeds on outr emerging tulips. A more hostile environment to rodents than a town center is difficult to find.
I stick to traps. Unfortunately I cannot take the hare in a trap.
Göte