Allotments 4 All

Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: worldor on February 05, 2008, 08:16:55

Title: Rats eating my seed potatoes
Post by: worldor on February 05, 2008, 08:16:55
Last year I chitted all my seed potatoes at home but as they took up a lot of space we decided to put them in the lean to at the allotment. When we checked on them yesterday some were missing. On looking into the nearest compost bin we found what was left of them after they had been enjoyed by what we assume to be rats. At least they put their left overs in the compost bin. I spent a bit of time last night wishing we had brought them all home. All we did was stopped up the holes.
Title: Re: Rats eating my seed potatoes
Post by: OllieC on February 05, 2008, 08:37:21
Oh dear... looks like you need to get poisoning worldor, if you can bring yourself to... once they find a food source they don't genrally give it up. I hate poisoning but don't really have much choice...
Title: Re: Rats eating my seed potatoes
Post by: glosterwomble on February 05, 2008, 08:47:48
They found mine too in the shed, I haven't actually lost a complete potato yet but they have chewed the top of a couple of them. I bought some poison and left some trays of it in the shed which they have found so hopefully I've sorted it!!
Title: Re: Rats eating my seed potatoes
Post by: morton on February 05, 2008, 09:04:42
Not necessarilly glosterwomble. They are cunning and will take the stuff thats easy to carry i.e. the poison and store it for later. They will then come back and continue eating the seed potatoes. I would move the seed potatoes and then keep renewing the poison as it disappears. Then after a while it will stop disappearing because they have started to eat it with the required consequences.
Title: Re: Rats eating my seed potatoes
Post by: saddad on February 05, 2008, 16:21:25
If the tubers are only being nibbled and not moved it is probably only mice. The small snap trap works, I'm on number 33 at the moment!
:-X

Make that 34, just been out to check!
:'(
Title: Re: Rats eating my seed potatoes
Post by: paulinems on February 05, 2008, 16:42:47
they chewed some of  the peas that we were given trouble was they had this pink coating on peas some leftovers we were given from the farmer that had field near us we found bits off this stuff in our cp plantpots that we had in pollytunnel, and the dead rat outside,hubby still shot it incase it wasnt dead
Pauline