It's amazing to me that a rodent can cause so much damage in such a short period. This is not something they usually advertise in your photo-shopped gardening magazine.
This is what my mache and minutina looked like not too long ago.
And this is what it looked like yesterday. I guess I won't be eating any wild greens this spring. As you can see, not only did my nemesis help itself to some salad, but by the looks of things, it made itself at home too...
...as evidenced by this nest of chewed up straw that it built inside this pot. GROSS!
And did I mention that one bed was not enough for this dastardly thief! All of my hoops showed evidence of forced entry. This rodent made off with most of my Tango lettuce and left no trace of Rouge D'Hiver lettuce.
I must have spotted at least a half dozen of these little tunnels all around the garden. This would have been impossible a few weeks ago, but now that the hoops are warming up, the soil around them has thawed. So I did the only thing I could do.
I cleaned up this mess. At first, I felt completely deflated. (It's tough when something comes along and sh*ts all over your hard work.) But now, I'm just plain PISSED OFF!
I want this thing DEAD! And when I say "DEAD", I mean a Lord of the Flies kind of DEAD! I'm sorry if this offends some of you, but I don't intend to show any shred of mercy to this mouse. How do I know a mouse caused all of this mess? Because it decided to show its face and say "hello" as I said "goodbye" to my winter greens. THIS! IS! WAR!
(Question: when a mouse reaches 4 inches long, is it still a mouse or a rat?)
Uh-oh !
ReplyDeletelooks and sounds more like moles and yes they are destructive critters. We have had a heck of a time with ours in the greenhouse. Large, beautiful greens one day and the next morening nothing but remnants, tunnels holes and one really mad me.. I have used traps to crazy home remedies to (eep) poison to rid them here and am still battling the monsters. good luck to you in ridding yourself of them
ReplyDeleteOoooh, nooo! I'm so sorry this happened to your garden. It's completely understandable how you feel about your unwanted visitor(s). I have my pitch fork ready to fight with you--even if it is only virtually. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThomas,
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to see this. I understand the pain you feel when rodents destroy all of your hard work. I don't have small pests since we have two farm cats. But last year, I had troubles with raccoons killing my broiler chickens. I came down in the morning and found 4 chickens with their legs chewed off. I declared war on the raccoons. We are surrounded by hundreds of acres of woods. They could have free range of any of that. But when they stepped foot in my fields, I defended my home. Needless to say, I spent many sleepless nights watching for them and collected a couple of dozen skins that summer.
Good luck with ridding your garden of these pests. You might have to consider keeping traps around your beds for the mice. I hope you keep gardening and not let this setback deflate you too much.
Oh, wow. that would be so disappointing. How do you know if it is mouse or mole? I recently read a suggestion for catching moles in hoophhouses. I can't find it at the moment but it seems like it is a common problem
ReplyDeleteWell that royally sucks! Those holes look pretty big for a mouse though, maybe some other critter. I'd set spring traps inside along the edges.
ReplyDeleteFunny thing I was just think about mice getting in my polytunnel the other day. We have lots of mice around. Thankfully not in the house but I do see them running around outside and kill them in the shed often enough. They are always looking for a warm home and a meal, kind of like use :-)
Awwwww, I'm sorry, it really sucks when some critters destroy your hard work. I hope you can get rid of them soon, maybe set some traps or poison them? (I know I know, it's politically incorrect to use the word "poison").
ReplyDeleteMoles don't eat vegetables, they eat worms and other soil creatures - more than likely if it isn't a regular mouse, it will be a vole.
ReplyDeleteSorry to note about the damage in your garden. Its strange as there are huge rats come & goes in my garden area but never damaged my garden except for the evidence (litter) it leaves behind.
ReplyDeleteThe good thing to do is really wage war with this creature - set a trap or poison it. They are really notorious pest and they don't leave very easily.
Bummer. Sorry that happened to you - I would be furious too. We get a variety of things - but voles, mice, rats, squirrels, possums, rabbits, and moles all have done damage in one form or another in my garden. I expect my varmint problems to start increasing since our dog passed away on New Year's eve day. She was a deterent to steady and frequent pest visitors - but now that she is gone... they may come to stay.
ReplyDeleteDirty rats!...or moles....or whatever....that would seriously tick me off. I had cabbage loopers destroy much of my cabbage crop last year :( ....I feel your pain...hang in there.
ReplyDeleteWell, crap! I'd be mad too, Thomas. Go get 'em, tiger!
ReplyDeleteUgh! Ugly lil' things! I never knew rats or mouses could do damage to veggies. I thought only rabbits, squirrels and the like were the villains. Dang! You have a reason to be furious, Thomas. Get them soon! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThis is truly bad luck! I would think that everything is safe under hoops, but they find their way.
ReplyDeleteI’m not a fan of having poison all around your garden, as I might get mixed up with food, also having traps is, well... ugly job to clean them...
My recipe for a garden without mice is to regularly feed neighbors cat. No chance that mice will show up when there is a cat around.
I am going to try and plant catnip and hope to figure out a way for the cats to enjoy it but not destroy it because of rabbits. Do you guys have Skunks? I read another garden blog in California where a Skunk destroyed their veggie bed. At least it looks like you have no snow! That's a good thing! Maybe dig down a few feet and place chicken wire around the outside of your beds? Did they gnaw the plastic or just travel underground into the beds?
ReplyDeleteWoohoo! Game on. It's you and me against our Nefarious Seedling Eaters.
ReplyDeleteThomas! That truly sucks!! I don't blame you for wanting to bring out the nuclear warheads for this battle! I was so jealous of your winter greens, but looking forward to you getting to enjoy them. I have never had a critter (other than my own dogs) in my veggie beds, but then they stand about 3 feet off the ground. Maybe that makes a difference??
ReplyDeleteOhh, that is so disappointing. I have been there many, many times, like when the groundhog/woodchuck ate all the flowers I had planted for my wedding.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, I'm with Trapper, I suspect voles are the problem. Eliot Coleman recommends a trap inside a small lidded wooden box with a vole-sized hole in it. In the box, place a spring trap, and voila, voles-be-gone.
You can read more about it in an article at Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners here: http://www.mofga.org/Default.aspx?tabid=833
Good luck!!
Sympathy! I second Throw Back at Trapper Creek, it sounds more like a vole than a mouse. Whatever it is, good luck getting rid of it.
ReplyDeleteOh Thomas! How disappointing! Go get him!!
ReplyDeleteI am lucky that I have a few of the neighbor's cats that patrol the yard every day. The rodents and small critters are kept to a minimum. Although I did have chipmunks in the garden last year. They tunneled holes right to the beans and had a few snacks. Luckily they didn't cause too much damage.
Wow, that sucks! I understand your need to eradicate. When I first started my garden, I had "something" dig holes that looked just like that and ate all kinds of stuff. My husband and his buddy happened to be enjoying a brew around the campfire talking hunting and such when I discovered it. They started dreaming up all these ideas of how they were going to put on face paint and guillie suits and lay in wait with .22 rifles that night - it was pretty amusing after an hour and they were still talking about it. Turns out I put my then-puppy (who is half Australian Shep, half Jack Russell Terrier) in there for about 30 minutes - the Jack Russell in her kicked some a$$ and she nailed 2 voles! Gotta admit they were pretty cute with their little paddle-feet, but whatever LOL. You said you got a visual on it and it was a mouse? Set traps... all over the place... and keep us updated! This is war!
ReplyDeleteUgh what a mess. You may have lost this battle, but I have faith you'll win the war :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support everyone! I will admit I got a good laugh reading your comments. I am 95 percent sure that what I saw was a large mouse. I've set traps under all of my hoops. Hopefully it will take the bait.
ReplyDeleteA mouse huh? That was a a lot of eaten', must of had a party for all of it's friends. And the nerve of the creature to be picky about which lettuce it would eat, lol!!!
ReplyDeleteThe hole looked way too big for a mouse from my very slight rodent experience, I am wondering if you have mice nesting in the straw/hay, but something else eating all your greens.
I feel your pain. In my garden it's groundhogs and bunnies. Dastardly beasts.
ReplyDeleteTime to install mouse traps in each house!
ReplyDeleteOh crapola, I know how you feel. I've never had the urge to KILL until critters started destroying my vegetables. All that hard work, poof, gone! I've got 2 types of rat traps and 3 types of gopher traps and I use them all regularly. I never did figure out how to lure rabbits into the trap that I got for them, one of my cats took care of that, but not before all the edamame got munched. Gardening seems to be able to bring out the best and the worst in us.
ReplyDeleteOh no, looks like the mouse went on a buffet rampage! I had a mouse problem before and I found that the best solution is to use sticky traps. Little buggers can never get out of those unlike spring traps that they always managed to evade (yet steal the PB or cheese; I'm still not sure how they pulled that off). The ultrasonic repellers also worked, but the range might not be large enough for your gianormous garden. Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteHow do you and yours feel about cats? We can't let our cats out where we are (teenage drivers in the neighborhood!) but when I had indoor/outdoor kitties, I never had a varmint problem in the garden.
ReplyDeletePlus you have kitties to pet.
I feel your pain! We have vole and mole problems over here, and I've yet to find a solution. I'd likely strangle them if I could catch them, but so far no luck.
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, Thomas! That sux!!!! I think what you have is a vole problem, and some wire mesh attached to the bottom side of the beds will keep them out. I know....kinda too late for putting it down! Man, I really feel bad for you...
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry Thomas. I remember hearing the Coleman advises to put a box with mouse traps in it. He says they love hoop tunnels in the winter because it is such a nice environment for them - and food. Good luck with your mouse problem. I get voles in my garden every year, but I've never had them be much of a problem in the summer. I think then they tend to eat my slugs and other insects and they don't eat my crops - or at least that is what I choose to believe.
ReplyDeleteAwful. Do you know how it got in? Did it tunnel under or squeeze through the woodwork from above? We have gopher something fierce and chicken wire under the bed keeps them at bay. I don't know if that will help in this case.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for your sympathies. I'm still convinced that what I saw was a large pregnant mouse. I don't think any kind of wire fencing will keep mice at bay. I guess I'll have to invest in some mighty traps.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about feeling deflated. Last season I was about to lose my mind due to the BILLIONS of earwigs that demolished much of my little garden. Seriously...I was almost in tears. And SO DONE with this whole gardening/self-sufficiency thing. Then I learned about diatomaceous earth...and it was all over for those nasty little bugs. I wish you good luck fighting off the critter...big mouse...little rat...whatever it is! It needs to GO!
ReplyDeleteThat stinks, but at least they're not in your house! I second the comments about the cats. . . preferably 2 to keep each other company. Females are generally better mousers than males. We had problems w/ rodents, mainly mice and voles, when we first moved here 5 yrs ago, but now we hardly ever have any thanks to Clem and Georgia, our outdoor cats. I was never a big cat person and really had to be talked into the idea, but they were well worth the investment. As a bonus, they ended up being super friendly cats who love all the visitors who stop by the lodge. Good luck.
ReplyDeletePifft to cats. You need a Jack Russell . They are leathal little beggers to tiny furry hole diggers
ReplyDeleteAhhhhh, Thomas, you have the blood of a true gardener. "Lord of the Flies kind of DEAD" indeed. Amazing how one species (i.e. lettuce) can enlist us to kill another species (i.e. rodent). Wait until the coons find your corn in August ... you have not begun to fight. Carry on BRAVE HEART !!!
ReplyDelete:-)
Oh, such a sad sight to see the destruction of your beautiful winter garden. Dang rodents! I'll bet it's a gopher though, not a mouse, if it was four inches long. Mice don't get that big. I wish you luck in getting rid of the dang thing before it reproduces. I'm being plagued with a night visitor to my newly planted raised beds. The thing is raising havoc with my parsnip, carrot, and lettuce seedlings and wrecked my garlic with its infernal digging. I suspect a small opossum and if it doesn't move on in a day or two, I'm setting the live trap.
ReplyDelete