Mice or slugs?

[Scarlet]

Not been a great growing year for me. I seem to have jumped from one hiccup to the next.
But I've never had this my dwarf beans for seed saving are getting a hammering.

[Mr Bones]

Looking closely at the serrations along the edges of the damage and because the beans aren't there I'd point the finger at mice or rat (or squirrel)

[Small pumpkin]

I'd say fur not slime,
They've had some of my peas as well. Little expletive, expletive, expletive !!!

[Scarlet]

I did think rodent but wasn't 100%....grrrrr

[nickdub]

I use old tin cans with small hoes punched in to ensure ventilation, to protect stuff sometimes. It's labour intensive putting them on of course, and you have to be v careful not to damage the stems so that whatever can develop properly, but it does the trick most of the time.

[vixylix]

I know your pain Scarlet - I've had a pest hammering this year too, hopefully its just one of those years!

[Scarlet]

I use old tin cans with small hoes punched in to ensure ventilation, to protect stuff sometimes. It's labour intensive putting them on of course, and you have to be v careful not to damage the stems so that whatever can develop properly, but it does the trick most of the time.

I dont think tins are an option on dwarf beans . How do you do that? You can't suspend them?


....and as I rarely use tinned food the tins are a little scarce.

[nickdub]

Depends on the crop how you get them on - with something like dwarf beans I'd probably put a short stick in the ground first, then pop a few bean pods in to the tin, up end the lot over the slick for support, then carefully bend the lid up to close it off - the last part is the tricky bit, you have to be careful not to damage the stalks or cut your own fingers.

If you don't have any tins of your own to try I'd imagine a friend or neighbour might save you a couple.

I used this method on a few bunches of hazelnuts this year to keep the squirrels off some of them - tree looked a bit odd :-)

[Scarlet]

Hmm....I have about 60plants...they are only spaced about 6inches apart in a block I ain't doing that. Mice/Rat 1 -Scarlet 0

Squirrel has all my walnuts most years and my hazelnuts, although I have a plentiful supply of young walnut trees

[nickdub]

Don't blame you - really not worth it for low value crops. If anyone has a better idea I'd be extremely glad to hear it, as I have a real battle mostly to get any sort of share of stuff I grow.