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Peas, Paraffin and Mice

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  • #1

    Peas, Paraffin and Mice

    I want to discourage mice from eating my pea and broad bean seeds and several people have recommended the old fashioned expedient of soaking the seed in paraffin. I have three questions that I should be grateful for any help with:

    (1) how long should I soak them for? The prevailing opinion seems to be 24 hours.

    (2) will this have any adverse effect on germination?

    (2) will the peas that I eventually pick taste of paraffin?

    Forgive me if these are stupid questions. Does anyone have any other methods pf dealing with mice that doesn't involve killing them?
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  • #2
    Sorry I can't answer your question as I always sow mine in pots or guttering so they're already growing before I plant out in the open ground. Can sow earlier then too as I don't have to wait for the ground to warm up as much. Have you had a lot of problems with mice?

    Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

    Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

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    • #3
      A good few years back I had my peas ravaged by mice. Someone on here suggested that I grow them in 3 inch pots and then plant out, never had any trouble since they seem totally uninterested in plants. And of course you don't get any gaps.
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      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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      • #4
        Plant the peas in rows and cover them with gorse snippings before the soil. It's worked for me!!
        Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Alison View Post
          Sorry I can't answer your question as I always sow mine in pots or guttering so they're already growing before I plant out in the open ground.
          Mice eat my beans planted in guttering/pots in the GH! Or does your OH allow the guttering inside?

          The only way I can stop mice eating my beans is sow indoors in pots, wSit for germination and then put in the GH to grow on before planting out.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Scarlet View Post
            Mice eat my beans planted in guttering/pots in the GH! Or does your OH allow the guttering inside?

            The only way I can stop mice eating my beans is sow indoors in pots, wSit for germination and then put in the GH to grow on before planting out.
            Don't think me and OH "allow" things at all, it's our home equally so nobody has overall authority but obviously we both try to be considerate, me with my seedlings and him with his bikes . At this time of year I start some early ones off in the conservatory to plant out in the polytunnel but my main ones are started in the greenhouse. If you've got a big mouse problem in there then I'd suggest some traps.

            Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

            Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

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            • #7
              I grow peas in my friend's greenhouse, which gets mice, rats and squirrels as frequent visitors. I put them in 9cm pots (4-5 seeds to a pot) and grow them in seed trays with plastic propagator covers over. This seems to deter the mice and I have never had any problems with seeds being eaten. You can remove the covers once the seedlings are showing above the compost.
              A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP. - Leonard Nimoy

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              • #8
                I chit peas in water, a bit like you do with parsnips, that is supposed to make them taste bad to the mice. I have no evidence that this does or doesn't work but I haven't lost any seeds. Now though, I sow them in guttering the same way Alison does and that works really well too.

                Don't know if this helps at all?
                http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...as-mice-2.html
                A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot! (Thomas Edward Brown)

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                • #9
                  ^^^^^^^^^Funny you should say that Scarey. It was 2 Sheds I think who advised me on preplanting,
                  she advised chitting as well. I now do both so have no way of telling what works, but work it does.
                  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

                  sigpic

                  Comment

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