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  • Mice eating my peas?

    I sowed my peas a week ago and went to check if they were growing today and found that there loads of very small hoes dug in the bed and 90% of the peas are gone!
    Was it mice?
    What do I do to stop the little sods doing it again?

  • #2
    Yep sounds like mice to me.

    I used to have the problem but following 2Sheds advice started to chit mine before planting and it seems to have done the trick for the last two years.

    Potty
    Potty by name Potty by nature.

    By appointment of VeggieChicken Member of the Nutters club.


    We hang petty thieves and appoint great ones to public office.

    Aesop 620BC-560BC

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    • #3
      One of our plotholders at the allotments soak them in paraffin before planting them it is supposed to stop the mice eating them

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      • #4
        Chit them indoors before planting them.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Potstubsdustbins View Post
          following 2Sheds advice started to chit mine before planting and it seems to have done the trick
          I still chit mine, but lost a lot last year to pea weevils (who eat the leaves & roots). This year I'm starting them all in modules or 3" pots before planting out under mesh (to keep the sparrows off the leaves)

          There're a lot of critters that like to eat peas
          All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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          • #6
            I'm experimenting with starting them off in guttering, in the cold frame. Last year I didn't have problems with nibblers, but they were very very slow to germinate and get growing when sown direct. I shudder to think what this year would be like... (that would be my face blue with cold!)
            March is the new winter.

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            • #7
              I'm growing mine for the first time in guttering they were pre-chitted so they only took a couple of days to show above the compost.
              Last edited by Bren In Pots; 18-04-2013, 11:31 AM.
              Location....East Midlands.

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              • #8
                I tend to use guttering for my short peas (kelvedon wonder) and plant them out relatively quickly,but start off my tall peas (collosal climbing) in deep rootrainers or bog rolls.If you want to sow direct then a layer of holly leaves over the row has been suggested,but I wouldn't fancy hand weeding afterwards
                don't be afraid to innovate and try new things
                remember.........only the dead fish go with the flow

                Another certified member of the Nutters club

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                • #9
                  Just in case you're confused by the term 'chitted' or 'pre-chitted', it means starting the seeds off on damp kitchen towel, and planting them once you can see a root. Lots of people also do that with parsnip seeds and sweetcorn seeds too

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                  • #10
                    Gorse clippings in the drill before you cover the peas. Mice don't like their noses pricked!
                    Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

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                    • #11
                      How about a cat?

                      They are clever little gits aint they! I have a load of flower seeds sown in pots on the greenhouse bench. One of these was sunflowers...................I say WAS, cos Micky or Minnie have unearthed and eaten them. Never even touched the other pots. How did they know when the seeds were under the compost?

                      I hates them meeces to pieces!!!!!!!!
                      My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
                      to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

                      Diversify & prosper


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                      • #12
                        Thanks Everyone!

                        I will chit a new batch this weekend and try again. I went back for another look yesterday and there is a single seedling growing out of about 200!

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by VegiDales View Post
                          I sowed my peas a week ago and went to check if they were growing today and found that there loads of very small hoes dug in the bed and 90% of the peas are gone!
                          Was it mice?
                          What do I do to stop the little sods doing it again?
                          Yup the job done looks like mice did. You can grow again but with special care. Use mouse traps round it and spread some mouse killer pills round your peas. They will try to eat those first. and then all gone.
                          Last edited by veggiechicken; 15-10-2015, 09:55 AM. Reason: Advertising link removed

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                          • #14
                            UPDATE: -

                            So I chitted my peas and replanted them on Saturday. By Sunday the "mice" had been back and dug them all up and eaten them - all that is left are lots of little white roots that they obviously don't like.

                            Would fencing the bed off with a v fine chicken mesh fence help at all?
                            I really do not want to use poison if I can help it.

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                            • #15
                              So I spoke to the old owner of the house today and they said the mice used to be a nightmare and they used traps and would catch up to 20 at a time!!!!!!

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