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slimy_okra

Mice inside high tunnels

Slimy_Okra
9 years ago

Do any of you have issues with rodents digging up your plants? How do you deal with it? I found some of my spinach plants (planted underneath a row cover) dug up and even those that weren't dug up were chewed on. So I set out some live traps baited with PB. I found a deer mouse in each trap. I'm not sure if trapping is effective because there's probably thousands more outside.

Comments (5)

  • jrslick (North Central Kansas, Zone 5B)
    9 years ago

    I had a whole 4 foot by 45 foot bed of spinach mowed down by mice just as it was starting to germinated. I was very annoyed. I didn't trap any, but I tried to remove all the hiding places and sealed up any place that they looked like they were coming in (under the baseboard for example) I also remove the old dead grass on the outside of the tunnel. I guess they ate their fill because I transplanted a bunch of spinach and they ended up leaving that alone.

    I did notice that there were some volunteer onions coming up that had been chewed on. That tunnel needs to be cleaned out again!

    We do have 3 cats that live "around" the farm. They do a pretty good job of keeping the population down.

    Jay

  • randy41_1
    9 years ago

    i have a bigger problem with voles. my cat helps a lot with the mice.when it gets warmer out the mice will go away.

  • myfamilysfarm
    9 years ago

    My cats take care of the mice, and my dogs enjoy 'chasing' the voles thru the planted areas. Yes, they dig them up, but at least some of the plants survive.

  • Slimy_Okra
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Jay, I think you were on to something there. I inspected the baseboard and found that the freeze-thaw cycles had created several gaps through which the rodents were probably entering. I sealed them up and no more rodent issues.

  • jrslick (North Central Kansas, Zone 5B)
    9 years ago

    Well I am glad I could help!

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