Allotments 4 All

SWEETCORN!!!!!!!

Went up the allotment today after a weeks holiday to find that something had finished off the last of my corn!

Whatever it was had peeled back the husk and ate the good stuff!

I've been told it maybe squirrels? any other suggestions?

Pigeons! :-\

I read somewhere on here that rats and mice will do that too  :-\

My neighbour had a beautiful stand of corn a few years ago, and overnight it was trashed - plants trampled, cobs torn apart and eaten. He said it was badgers. The same sort of thing happened to some of my broad beans occasionally over the years, with the same reason given.

Cheers Folks! will try and keep my eye out for next year

On our plot it was mice. They eated more of our cornz than we did  :( And they also went for the lower broadies.

Next year, we'll be putting almost everything in 4 ft squares so they stop at the outside stems and don't venture further into the block.

We've also got little dear which come and trample over everything, so the blocks will help dissuade them from running around the plot.

I caught a rat eating mine Mellor, the saucy barstard was shredding the cobs right in front of me, so someone on here recommended cut 2 litre bottles covering them and it seems to have worked.  ;D ;D ;D

hi there

def sounds like rats - our allotment in Exeter is on a riv er bank and we've had so many eaten - Rats ate mine - theyt are quite neat in their approach , they climb up the thick stems and nibble all the way around. The lady in the next allotment has hers in two litre bottles and their untouchedso i guess i'll be doing that next year .

Badgers adore sweetcorn- they peel them too first.

to be honest we do have a lot of rats on our allotments due to the chickens that people have, so would make sense.

mystery solved just been up the gardens and as it was getting dusky i saw four young rats climbing whats left of the corn and tucking in!

Handy things air rifles!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish I knew how to shoot and owned an air rifle.
Noisy seagulls come to mind. It's illegal to shoot them I know. Lord knows why they can't be culled, screaming filthy birds of no value to the world whats so ever ::)

need to be carefull with them.

My oh had an air rifle a couple of years ago and as he was keen to try it out (had just bought it legally that day) was assured by a close friend that it was OK to go onto the common land and shoot rabbits (culling, not so-called 'sport'). 

Someone called the police (it was someone with a grudge against the oh's friend) who came out with police marksmen and he and his mates were arrested.  OH now is the not-very-proud owner of a criminal record for firearms offences.  >:(

Moral of the story: by all means get one, but never take it onto common ground.

Badgers did for most of mine the first year I grew them - according to neighbouring lotties. I felt quite privileged really - it's the closest I've ever been to badgers   :)   After that though I built a sweet corn barrier!

Quote from: ellkebe on October 04, 2007, 19:33:15
After that though I built a sweet corn barrier!

Oh tell us what you did and what you made it out of please :)

Lauren

I used chicken wire attached to stout posts but others have glass panes or plastic of various sorts constructed in squares & rectangles.  I don't think it has to be anything fancy - just sturdy. Though I think if badgers want in, there's a good chance they're gonna get in  :) If mice, squirrels, pigeons etc are the culprits then other  methods might be better - ?