Topic: Pea disaster

[Borderers1951]

After having my directly sowed peas annihilated by mice last year, I treated them with paraffin this year in the hope of deterring them.  None has germinated and there are holes where the seeds have been dug out.  Peas on the next plot, similarly treated with paraffin, have also been affected in the same way.  There must be mice out there with iron stomachs.

I am now germinating peas under glass but planting out is going to affect my knees quite badly so I would rather not do this next year.  I am considering planting under cloches with mouse-traps laid out, too.  I know the tip about laying out prickly leaves etc over the planted rows, but find that these blow away too easily.  One possibility to is buy some wooden strips and drive nails through them, rather like the gripper strips used in fitting carpets but with a higher nail density.

Does anyone have any other ideas?  I am sick of feeding pests!

[ancellsfarmer]

A fellow sufferer, both mice/voles & knees! Have sourced some (free from a skip) plastic square guttering, cut now to metre lengths and planted each with 60 peas. Also made up some end stops in plywood and screwed in place.
Planting by drawing out a drill with the swan necked hoe. Remove 1 end stop and, having well watered the compost, then place one end to the row and slip out the peas. By moving, its possible to space out to 2 metres. Return with hoe and correct alignment and lightly firm . Water in once. Any vertical irregularities soon grow away. Pre-place little nipper traps a day or two in advance, and maintain for the first week.
I tend to cover with (the aforementioned) cloches to establish, and shield traps from other wildlife. Did 'catch' a toad, who was not injured but hissing mad when released. He survived .

[galina]

I plant out and put a bottle cloche over each couple of plants.  The peas are protected inside and grow out through the neck of the bottle.  It is quite possible to sow say 3 peas for each station and put a bottle on top.  But this only works for slightly taller or tall peas not for really short varieties.   

Photo shows experimental pea crosses, which I have planted further apart than normal peas, but the principle is the same. 

[squeezyjohn]

I never used to believe that mice and voles could be such a problem with peas until I started growing on this plot - but I know just how bad it can be now ... they will eat every single one ... and if paraffin isn't working you'll have to think sideways.

I tried disguising the smell with chilli and garlic mash to soak the peas in and it only worked the first time.

Guttering, on the other hand, does work for me.  I just use the regular round normal sized guttering, tape the ends up with gaffer tape and sow thickly in compost at home.  Then I hang them up in the greenhouse - I have a tight line of rope going inside along the apex and suspend the guttering from loops tied around that.  Keeping them off the ground removes the chance that home grown rodents can get at them.  I tend to leave it longer than most until the peas are about 3" tall with tendrils to transplant for 2 reasons ... by then the roots will have begun to mat together and it holds the compost together nicely so I simply remove the tape, dig a shallow trench on the allotment and the peas simply slide in to place ... also having grown for longer, there is much less appetising pea left for rodents to investigate.  A few good deep waterings is all it takes for the peas to get their feet and all you have to do is keep the pigeons off until they've begun to climb up their supports 

Good luck!

[lezelle]

I have the same problem which has put me of growing peas. Using guttring is a good idea but I would need a lot for a twenty foot row. Do they not still attack the seed when you transplant? I was once told to knock the seed of the bottom of the plant as they will dig them out and leave the plant on the surface. Putting under cloches do they not get under them or do you bank up the sides. I love fresh peas so will try again after reading this. The other problem is downy mildew and preventing that. I don't want to use chemicals and have been told full milk mixed 50/50 with water is a good way to prevent . Any tips are appreciated to give me the gall to try again.

[squeezyjohn]

If you still want to try direct sowing, an old trick is to make a drill and then sow the peas along with cut gorse before covering and watering.  The theory is that any burrowing rodent will encounter a sharp spike in the nose and give up before it gets to the peas.  I haven't tried this method though.

[Borderers1951]

If you still want to try direct sowing, an old trick is to make a drill and then sow the peas along with cut gorse before covering and watering.  The theory is that any burrowing rodent will encounter a sharp spike in the nose and give up before it gets to the peas.  I haven't tried this method though.

Thanks.  If I can get some gorse, I will try this.

[lezelle]

Hi, I posted just after you squeezy, I will try again. I have been told that tea tree oil is another deterrent.

[squeezyjohn]

I have the same problem which has put me of growing peas. Using guttring is a good idea but I would need a lot for a twenty foot row.

My guttering is in 4 foot lengths (the width of my beds) - I sow 2 gutters at a time, and as soon as I've transplanted the first lot I will immediately sow another batch.  Getting them started in the greenhouse means you can begin earlier too.  By the end of the sowing period in June, I will have done 3 or 4 batches which equates to 24 or 32 foot of pea rows - and I get a succession of cropping to boot.

It's certainly more effort than direct sowing and leaving to do their thing ... but at least I still get some peas!

[brownthumb2]

 I had terrible  trouble with mice last year with mice eating all my peas   This year I was told to  put black pepper along the row  this I did last Friday and at the moment I've three peas just popping though and no signs of mice activity so ive got hopes of having peas this year

[picman]

My peas got regularly dug up by mice, now I plant them heavily covered in mag lime, and cover the drill with lime and then square plastic thick netting (20x20mm) ... seems to work...

[Borlotti]

One year I had some peas, fed them watered them and only had two handfuls, now I buy them from Birds Eye. Think I will stick with courgettes.

[lottie lou]

Bit sad. Last year planted the few winterkeefe seeds thinking I would have a few peas to try and fresh seeds.  They grew lovely however when I went to pick them upon maturity it was like Mother  Hubbard's cupboard.  Forgot to net em and pigeond got em.

[Vinlander]

Mice are more interested in food than its taste - I even tried white spirit and it also only works once - after that they use the smell of paraffin etc to help them find the peas.

You can try putting sheets of glass (at least 30cm wide)  over the drill so the mice can't get close enough to smell (untreated) peas - but you must watch the glass and remove it as soon as the shoots emerge or the slugs will take advantage. Then it is all down to how early you planted and how bad the weather has been (which decides how hungry the mice are) in a bad year they will still be hungry in May and follow the shoots down.

If you have expanded metal or anything else with holes smaller than a biro then you can use that instead of glass - only a few of the pea shoots will fail to get through it and the mesh stops the diggers, it's best to make it a shallow inverted U -  they are too dumb to dig under the edge and still carry on in. You can also bury it halfway to the seeds to but that needs a proper test - the extra despair is good but they might trash the shoots in the process. Using glass and mesh is worth a try.

You can use guttering or pots for tall peas so you don't need as many - then it becomes manageable - but pots are still a bit fiddly and guttering is too shallow to keep the peas growing vigorously until the seed has been drained. The happy medium is using the bottom halves of 6 pint milk containers - the cluster in each can be planted out whole and spacing the clusters gives you the right spacing to fully use the net.

4 of the 6 pinters will fit in a standard seed tray with plastic in the bottom to make watering easier (or the equivalent gravel tray) - you can even cut the bottoms off them and make them up in the tray - it makes planting out easier (put the whole thing in the trench and pull the bottomless surround off the cluster).

I feel a Top Tip coming on - there are a few refinements I can add to that.

Cheers.

[picman]

Not a mouse in sight... this year !

[lottie lou]

Wow another great tip from Vinlander. Got to get to the recycling bin and pull out my empty bottlesu

[brownthumb2]

Up date the pepper seemed to work so far ive peas popping up and no sign of a mouse yah

[Tiny Clanger]

After 3 disastrous seasons with peas I have decided on pea shoots.  Peas seem an AWFUL lot of work for the return.  The Old guy on the next plot told me that pea seed went as follows:
"One for the mouse, one for the crow, one to rot and one to grow"  Me knees wont stand it! Pity - we love fresh peas. 

[Plot22]

I have replied to similar post before. I only grow Hurst Greenshaft  peas now due to personal preference. I chit them for a week to 10 days  and the mice do not bother them. Before I adopted this method I lost 50% of my crop. I set some chited peas last weekend and they are through this weekend. Tomorrow I will chit another row. I believe that if I set early and try to get them all in the freezer by mid July at the latest I do not get bothered by pea moth as I would with August pickings