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I am sad to report that rats seem to have infiltrated my polytunnel, pretty gutted to be honest. First time since I built it 12 years ago but there seems to have been a lot about at our site this year.
They got in at the far end where the plastic is shaded by rhubard leaves so presumably felt safe sitting there gnawing the plastic cover to make a hole. I have since blocked it with bricks but they have dug a tunnel under it. So I lined their entrance with bricks and a patio slab overhead to funnel them onto a snap trap. I have however not caught any and they obvioulsly got suspicious and made a new entrance on the other side of the tunnel that is concealed by celery plants. They have clearly been climbing up my tomatoes as there are teeth marks in tomatoes at the top of the vines, and they are now starting on the remaining peppers and aubergines.
So that's my winter project, to ratproof the tunnel.
I will need a new polytunnel skin first. The current one has been on for 12 years now and has lots of patches, so with the blimmin great holes the rats have gnawed, it's really time for a new one.
So here's the plan.
My tunnel skin is trenched, so I plan to dig said trench about 2 feet deep this time. As well as the plastic, the trench will also contain fine wire mesh. This will be fixed to posts at each corner of the poly to form a continuous barrier that goes 2 feet deep and as high as possible above ground, depends on the height of mesh I can get (i have seen 1.5m of 13mm2 gauge). The trench will be filled with coarse drainage stone that they will not be able to burrow through easily and may actually injure themselves in trying. There is a huge bay of this at the lottie for track repairs, they won't miss a few barrow loads. Thin layer of soil on top of the stone in order to allow me to lay slabs on top to help pin in both the cover and the mesh. The internal path will be raised to fit flush to the doors (no gap) and the purple slate chips on the path topped up. All door panels will have mesh fitted. So that's the outside.
On the inside, it's time to replace the soil borders. The soil gets pretty tired when you've grown the same things in there year after year no matter what you do to pep it up. I replace it all to a depth of about 2 feet every 4 or 5 years. However this time I am also going to lay a sheet of wire mesh before I re-fill with soil. It will be pinned to the wooden boards that surround the beds either side of the path. If the rats manage to dig deeper than 2 feet and get under the stone/mesh barrier and the cover, they will then be blocked by more mesh when they come up the other side.
Going to need a lot of wire mesh!
So in this plan I have identified just one particularly vulnerable spot so am putting it out to the Vine hive mind to consider. The rats could climb over the mesh fence that is above ground and drop down between the mesh and the skin to chew through it. Short of enclosing the entire tunnel in a continuous mesh barrier I can't think of anything. Fixing the mesh to the skin could be precarious as spiky metal and taut polythene are not the best of friends. So any bright ideas welcomed.
They got in at the far end where the plastic is shaded by rhubard leaves so presumably felt safe sitting there gnawing the plastic cover to make a hole. I have since blocked it with bricks but they have dug a tunnel under it. So I lined their entrance with bricks and a patio slab overhead to funnel them onto a snap trap. I have however not caught any and they obvioulsly got suspicious and made a new entrance on the other side of the tunnel that is concealed by celery plants. They have clearly been climbing up my tomatoes as there are teeth marks in tomatoes at the top of the vines, and they are now starting on the remaining peppers and aubergines.
So that's my winter project, to ratproof the tunnel.
I will need a new polytunnel skin first. The current one has been on for 12 years now and has lots of patches, so with the blimmin great holes the rats have gnawed, it's really time for a new one.
So here's the plan.
My tunnel skin is trenched, so I plan to dig said trench about 2 feet deep this time. As well as the plastic, the trench will also contain fine wire mesh. This will be fixed to posts at each corner of the poly to form a continuous barrier that goes 2 feet deep and as high as possible above ground, depends on the height of mesh I can get (i have seen 1.5m of 13mm2 gauge). The trench will be filled with coarse drainage stone that they will not be able to burrow through easily and may actually injure themselves in trying. There is a huge bay of this at the lottie for track repairs, they won't miss a few barrow loads. Thin layer of soil on top of the stone in order to allow me to lay slabs on top to help pin in both the cover and the mesh. The internal path will be raised to fit flush to the doors (no gap) and the purple slate chips on the path topped up. All door panels will have mesh fitted. So that's the outside.
On the inside, it's time to replace the soil borders. The soil gets pretty tired when you've grown the same things in there year after year no matter what you do to pep it up. I replace it all to a depth of about 2 feet every 4 or 5 years. However this time I am also going to lay a sheet of wire mesh before I re-fill with soil. It will be pinned to the wooden boards that surround the beds either side of the path. If the rats manage to dig deeper than 2 feet and get under the stone/mesh barrier and the cover, they will then be blocked by more mesh when they come up the other side.
Going to need a lot of wire mesh!
So in this plan I have identified just one particularly vulnerable spot so am putting it out to the Vine hive mind to consider. The rats could climb over the mesh fence that is above ground and drop down between the mesh and the skin to chew through it. Short of enclosing the entire tunnel in a continuous mesh barrier I can't think of anything. Fixing the mesh to the skin could be precarious as spiky metal and taut polythene are not the best of friends. So any bright ideas welcomed.
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