Peas and mice

[Borderers1951]

Although I have been gardening for many years, I have just moved house and taken over a new allotment.  I have encountered a problem I never had before now - mice eating my seed peas.  I have been told that using a watering can of water plus a cupful of paraffin will prevent this.  How effective is this and does it flavour the crops?

[Borderers1951]

[Plot 18]

The old boys on our plots soak the seeds in paraffin before sowing them. It works for them and doesn't affect the taste.

[johhnyco15]

boom boom boom  boom Esso  Blue

[Tee Gee]

does it flavour the crops?

Think of it in this way:

It is the seed pea that is soaked in paraffin and this rots away after it has produced the root system and seed leaves, so basically you have an unaffected plant.

[brownthumb2]

 this topic was interesting to read ... I've been having this problem  this year with mice First time since in taking the plot over  5  x years ago  Having to re sort to planting again in a gutter  plus some in pots to fill in existing rows so i will use the paraffin method  when planning out  just in case 

[ed dibbles]

The problem we have on our site with direct sown peas and beans is not mice so much as birds, crows particularly. They peck up the plants leaving the tops on the surface.

At first glance the damage looks like mice but it is not. They also peck out the pods near to harvest.

Sowing in gutters for later transplant gets the plant past the mice stage (I do this for autumn/early sowings) but the peas still need to be netted against bird attack right trough to harvest. I have bought a large heavy duty net for my peas and bean patch especially.

Welcome to A4A by the way.

[Borderers1951]

Thanks to everyone for the advice.  I know it is fully or very largely a problem with mice - I planted the seeds under cloches, so birds can't get in.  I put beer traps in for slugs which caught a few, although I resent wasting my good home-brew in the slimy little devils.  Porridge oats also burst a few of them but may have been attractive to the mice, too.  I also put a  mouse trap under each cloche and every time I checked, each one had killed a mouse.  I am assuming that for every unlucky mouse, several got through to the seeds.  Now that I'm reassured about using the paraffin I will try it.  My previous allotment was largely rodent free and in the centre of the site so perhaps they had easier pickings closer to the edges.  On this plot I am close to the edge and also close to some old buildings.

Thanks again

[Vinlander]

I resent wasting my good home-brew in the slimy little devils.

If you brew you have leftovers in the bottom of the bin - just strain it - the slugs don't mind the yeasty taste.

BTW. The paraffin works but the mice learn to follow the paraffin - when they are really hungry they don't care.

I moved on to white spirit which is more pungent but I only gained two years at most before they learned.

If you grow tall peas you can use guttering to grow the row to 100mm tall where the seed is withered and less attractive. I'd prefer 200mm but you need a better, deeper method - more on this later.

For dwarf peas you'd need an absurd amount of gutter - it's easier to just plant them later when the mice have other targets. This spring is so late I'm planting now - it feels unsafe -  another planting may be needed.

For early plantings it's worth covering the rows with a flat piece of expanded metal - the mesh is big enough to let the peas through while keeping the mice out (a hole smaller than a biro).

They will always dig under a sheet because it's shelter. They could dig under the mesh, but so far they haven't shown the nous.

Cheers