Many people don’t realize the importance of protecting your plants from field mice and other rodents but they will actually eat your plants and kill them.
Sometimes the damage they do is so subtle and inconspicuous that the damage itself goes unseen, yet the result of that damage can be devastating.
Of course, there are a lot of ways of protecting your plants from rodents in the garden and the nursery, but most nurseries opt to use a poisonous mouse and or rat bait just because it works. Yeah, I know. It’s poisonous and it’s dangerous to pets and children. So you have to use it responsibly.
This is one brand of mouse bait. Keep in mind, in an outdoor setting you need a bait that is weather resistant and will not absorb moisture as soon as you set it out. I’m not really endorsing this brand because I usually just buy whatever brand they have that is packaged the way that I need it. I really don’t know if one brand is better than another or not.
You have to get these weather-resistant rodent baits at a farm supply store.
Before we have a “Go off on Mike Party . . .”
Let me say this; You know me, I don’t like killing things. I love my little dog, you see her in all the videos, etc. and I also love the donkeys. I’m an animal lover. However, there comes a point when you just can’t afford to take the loss anymore because you are reluctant to use rodent bait.
What happens when you don’t put out mouse bait.
Years ago I had these cute little chipmunks in my yard. I wouldn’t put out mouse bait in My Backyard Nursery (photos here) because I didn’t want to kill the chipmunks. Come winter I had hundreds of Japanese maples that I grafted so I built a structure over them and covered it with white plastic. Not mouse bait. The mice got in there and made it their winter home.
They got up in the one-gallon containers and started chewing the bark off the Japanese maples. They would literally stand on their hind legs to chew up as high as they could reach. I know that because I could see exactly where they stopped chewing on the stem of the trees. Long, sad story, short. They killed them. They killed almost every single Japanese maple I had. I spent weeks pain painstakingly grafting them, then I grew them out for a full growing season, then I let the mice eat them.
They ate my rooted cuttings too!
Same winter they got under the plastic I used to cover my rooted cuttings. They ate those too. All the way down to the sand in the flats. The cuttings were gone! Completely gone.
About 40% of them came back from the roots and were actually multi-branched which is a lesson in pruning, but a bit drastic for all practical purposes. The only rooted cuttings they didn’t eat, I mean not at all, were the Red Twig Dogwoods. They must not taste good because they ate everything around them and never touched the dogwoods.
I learned my lesson about not using mouse bait in the winter.
So this winter I figured I’d show you the bait stations that I made just to give you an idea of what works and what I like to use.
I’m not sure but I think I was trained to think that mice will only go through an arched doorway into their house from the Tom & Jerry cartoons I watched as a kid.
I went a little nutso with these wooden bait stations. I only made two of them. I wanted them a little more secure because I was putting them where my dog Ally could get to them if she wanted to.
The dimension of these contraptions is about 6.25″ by 12″ in case you are wondering. They do not open up. I can just pick them up and tip to one end to get the old bait out and re-bait as needed.
And now for a much simpler model.
It doesn’t get simpler than this! This is 4″ PVC, solid drain pipe. All I do is cut the pipe in 12″ sections and each section serves as a bait station. The rodents can enter from either end and if you place these carefully so they are not where water is likely to stand, the bait inside will stay dry for a reasonable period of time.
See the bait station in this photo? That’s all there is to it.
I’m not exactly a mouse-ologist, I know, but we’ll just pretend it’s a word. As I understand it mice and other rodents don’t like traveling in the middle of the dance floor. They navigate more with their whiskers than they do their eyes so they like to travel along the edges of walls or other stationary objects. So place your bait stations in their path, along walls, etc. where they are most likely to travel.
Keep your bait and bait stations out of the reach of pets and children. Be careful to not allow your pets to discover rodents that have been poisoned. Dead rodents can make your pets sick or worse. Read the label on the bait package and use extreme caution!
Questions or comments? Post em below!
Thanks for offering practical advice on safeguarding plants from mice and other rodents during winter. How do different types of plants respond to rodent damage?
If mice or rabbits girdle a plant by just removing the bark and cambium layer it will die.
I recently saw on YouTube a recipe,
Equal parts baking soda and Jiffy corn bread mix. Mix it dry, set it out for rodents to eat. Kills them in 6 hours. Works on rodents because they can’t pass gas or throw up. It only bothers rodents, mice, rats, voles, moles,, squirrels. Not 100% sure on cats and dogs but video says it doesn’t hurt them.
The tin foil idea is great. I used to be an exterminator and we always used steel wool to temporarily fill any gaps around pipes and to fill small holes, until the homeowner could fix it permanently
An alternative bait holder that is easier and cheaper: Take 2″ ABS pipe, cut off ends at 45 degrees, alternating slopes.
Then drill small holes through the pipe with the pipe ends in the overhang position. You need to get bait blocks that are large and clunky enough that with nails through the holes, the blocks cannot come out of the pipe.
I lost a dog one year when I set out baits. Mice took the whole bait home, ate enough to die, and my lab found a couple the next spring. So putting a nail thorugh the pipe that allows mice to pass, but not the bait to come out, forces the mice to eat it on location, or at least chew it up.
Another method you can use requires that you cut tubes with 1 straight and 1 slant cut. Either cap the end with a real cap, or get some sheet ABS and glue a small square. Check that they are water tight.
Now use a liquid bait,
Dear Mike;
My problem is Moles and Voles.
I don’t have pets or small children in my house.
I want to set a mouse trap by there hole and cover it with a large bowl.
Question. What bait should I use on the mouse trap?
Richard,
I don’t know, probably have to research that.
Peanut butter as a bait.
I do need to caution you all on using bait that allows the creature to die outside the station. The body can then be eaten by eagles, owls, and other birds of prey, thus disturbing the life cycle in nature. Please don’t do it. I use traps or sticky pads very successfully. and dispose of the bodies.
Carol,
I agree with you, I prefer to use traps when I can and they truly are the most humane way to get rid of rodents.
I am very disappointed that you would recommend using rodent poisons rather than the more humane snap traps since the poison will not only kill the rodents but any animal that eat them!!! As one of your respondents stated about the subsequent killings of two owls!!!
Indoor rodents will go in search of water after consuming those granular poisons as they make them thirsty which activates the hemorrhaging that causes their painful deaths.
although snap traps are not 100% successful every time they are used they are more humane than poison or the even worse sticky traps, which impale anything that touches it and starves that creature to death. If you need to kill something at least have the courage to kill it swiftly and humanely.
Water buckets are only safe if no young child or other non-targeted creature could be in the vicinity.
Sue,
Your opinion is appreciated.
The voles last year really tock a toll on our bulbs and shrubs. So this year I built my own traps. I use 1 1/2” PVC . I bought the poison cubes with a hole in the middle. I got a length of PVC and Tees and caps, cut the PVC into a foot long pierces and stick a piece into each of the holes of the tee. Get a length of threaded rod size 8 10 or 12 and nuts and washers of the same size.. Drill a hole in the PVC cap and secure a length of the treaded rod long enough to go from the top of the cap to the bottom of the tee. I am able to stack six or so cubes of the poison on the rod. As the rodents eat a cube the next cube slides down the rod. I would send a picture but at this time all my traps are covered in snow.
Mike, All the rodent lovers out there must not realize that BUBONIC PLAGUE killed off one third of the population of Europe. Bubonic plagues is carried and spread by rats and mice. There are countries in the world right now that have bubonic plague epidemics because they have rat and mice problems. Also, prairie dogs in the United States carry bubonic plague. Varmint hunters are warned by the government not to go near the dead prairie dogs after they shoot them. Bubonic Plague is spread by rodents to people and pets. I’m going to dispatch all the rats and mice I can.
It’s the fleas they have that actually carry the disease. The fleas leave the host when it dies and seeks another, living host.
Just killing the rodents is not going to prevent the spread of Bubonic Plague, since it’s the fleas on the animal that are the carriers, not the animals themselves. If the animal dies, the fleas will move to whatever host they can find, which could be you or your pet. If you’re letting these rodents go off to die who-knows-where, you’re doing little to prevent the spread of disease..
Like Mike I have had to resort to poison bait. True I have several rat or squirrel size Hav-A-Heart traps going at all times too and catch them also. I shoot the rats once caught with a pellet gun. My Arizona property acreage look’s like swiss cheese as this year we have had a massive, biblical scale invasion and infestation of the Wood Rat, aka, Pack Rat. Many varieties of cactus have been chewed into and are dying.
Mike didn’t recommend a brand but Tomcat Rat Bait with Bromethian is the best above ground rodent bait I have used. Bromethian works faster than De-con bait. Lots of info on the internet about this poison. No more rat poop and urine stains decorating my patios.
I don’t have the skill to make his clever bait stations, but I buy this bait and the Tomcat bait boxes at Tractor Supply Store. The bait tub is on sale now for $20.00 until Dec 25th (it’s normally $29.00) and the boxes are large and secure for only $11.00. Plus these boxes are easy to lock and unlock without requiring a special tool. My arthritic hands can do it easily. I keep 8 boxes filled.
I am able to keep them controlled around my home and inside of sheds and garages.
I totally agree. Traps have worked for me. I just use peanut butter as bait. I just can’t bring myself to use any poisons which would kill something other than the targeted species.
George
Oh for the Love of Mike! (no pun intended.
Sue, you should feel free to bait your snaptraps with anything you like. I won’t judge you for it. And you should also feel free to mind your business about how I bait mine. Everything in life has a reason or reasons behind it. Mine my be entirely different than yours but no less valid. The man said “You have to be careful because of the dangers to children and pets.) What more could you want than that. Your way is not necessarily the right way. When you have acres of plants to protect, you too might find it difficult to devote 2 days a month to emptying and reloading 1000 snap traps.. Have some sense!!! Stop casting your holier than thou shadow on the rest of the world.
Thank you Dean!!!
I appreciate Sie’s commentrs; but ther aerf many areas with out raptors – like open cropland. nest to planted areas. I toallowed chipmonks tolive nedxt to my house. Long story short ;their borrows alowed water to see p into my house after casuing footing draiange systgem to brcome somewehat blocked. sand$ bef=ore selling my house Pleaseexcusetyping [ czn not see what4 I am typing& I am a bad typest..
Amen!
so, if they don’t die right away in the trap, its more humane to let them suffer until they die? why not just use humane traps and let them loose in a field somewhere?
Is it too much to actually want to see these rodents die as slow and painful death after seeing them destroy half my work over last season? I think not!
Your comment is troubling to say the least. You appear hell bent on revenge rather than simply doing what needs to be done and then moving on. Do you actually think that these rodents spent time planning how to destroy your work before proceeding? They’re simply attempting to survive, yet you’re making it sound as if they specifically targeted you due to some personal vendetta. It’s understandable that the destruction that these animals cause is extremely frustrating, It’s obviously necessary to limit their population, but to actually enjoy watching any living thing suffer a slow and painful death speaks volumes – I certainly hope you’re a better person than what your comment suggests.
When the chew through the wiring on your vehicle causing thousands of dollars of damage then you can talk about human
Yeah, chipmunks did $500 damage to the wiring on my truck and snow plow.
agreed!
I had a nursery in WA state for 25 years. We very successfully used tin foil wrapped around the plant bases for rodents and rabbits. It is easy to apply and waterproof. No one likes to bite into tin foil!!
Sharon,
Interesting, thank you!
Something has been eating all my bulbs for the 3rd year and I am fed up with it. Every year I imagine beautiful crocus and gladiolus blooming and nothing. Now, If I put the poison directly into the dirt, will it kill my bulbs and the rest of the flower plants when it dissolves when raining? Thank you.
Jessica,
Probably not, but directly in the soil the rodent bait won’t hold up. It really needs to be in traps so dogs or other pets can’t get to it.
why don’t you just do what the man has spent ages clearly explaining in the article,
Directly into the soil is money wasted. Here’s a suggestion that works especially if you clump your bulbs. Build a box out of 1 x 2’s… And another one the same size. Sit them one atop the other so you can see if they are the same size. You will join these with 2 hinges on the inside of one of the long edges. Then to the top and bottom staple on a fine wire or heavy plastic mesh. (Garden Centres sell both. You want the mesh openings just big enough to let the bulbs stem through the opening, but not so big to let the critters in. The bulbs will find their way out don’t worry. You close the box up with 2 small screws and a length of sturdy wire wrapped around them. you could also staple a couple of lengths of waterproof rope to the sides to form d handles. When you bury the box with the bulbs inside, let the ropes remain visible out of the ground or mulch. The when winter rears it’s ugly head again, its a simple matter of pulling up your boxes by the handles, shake them loose and stack up your bulbs in a cool dark place till plantin’ time. I discovered this online somewhere, after planting 2000.00 worth of tulip bulbs and losing all but 8 bulbs to the squirrels in one season! Little bastards.
We had rats and mice making nests in our fishing boat and tractor. They were chewing wires and causing expensive repairs. We found dryer sheets to be an effective deterrent. I had stopped using the sheets in favor of wool balls, so I didn’t. have to throw them out. Replace the sheets when the perfume smell is gone.
I’ve heard dryer sheets will keep mosquitos and gnats away, but wasn’t aware they repelled mice. Have a riding lawn mower repaired after the mice have gotten to the wiring and you’ll understand how expensive a problem it is.
Wouldn’t have ever thought about this until last year. We’re had a particularly wintry winter and mice apparently holed up in the base of one mature burning bush. Being completely covered in snow, they were free to go unnoticed even though directly under our huge picture window..
Anyhow…. come springtime the little bastards completely killed three knee-thick branches ady the base of the shrub. I thought they would come back but the bark removal was too great and those shoots/leaders just plain died.
Thanks to your post I’ll be looking for some all-weather rodent bait… didn’t even know it existed. THANK YOU Mike!
My neighbor put a poison station out and we had dead owls, 2 of them within a few weeks. Our local wildlife rehab says it is common. We do the water in a bucket with floating sunflower seeds on top and it is very efficient. The chain reaction of poison is too scary for me. Happy gardening!
Yes this is VERY BAD ADVICE Your killing all the creatures that feed on the poisoned mice.
I use this stuff in my horse barn, otherwise, the mice and rats eat and contaminate the grain. Never lost a barn cat. Most carnivorous animals sense when something isn’t okay to eat, including poisoned mice. The local pat control company confirmed this for us.
i agree! Stop the poison. No offense mike, i personally don’t like it and it does affect those higher in the food chain.
Can you explain the water and seed method more please
I had a bad problem with big rats living on the property, in the garage, eating my animal food, etc. but worse, inciting the dogs to dig and destroy the drywall in the garage. The rats would go in the walls and the dogs would try to dig them out. Here, we had vector control, so I called for help from the county agency. They came and put out stainless steel bait stations with cakes of dark green bait inside. They told me that the rats would eat it and if my pets ate the rats after, it would not hurt them, though I was not completely comfortable about that. But soon, rats were dying everywhere, mostly in secluded spaces. When I would find them, I would remove and dispose of them, but a stray dog that for awhile I thought belonged to the neighbors, hunted out ones I couldn’t find and then ate them. This went on most of December of that year, and by Christmas, I had realized that the dog was homeless and decided to keep her. She got on well with my other dog and never left my yard. At the end of January, she had 5 huge puppies, all healthy and well. The ones I kept and the one I gave to my brother were all good dogs and lived to be 14 years old. The mother dog lived to be 15. I guess I will try to find out what kind of bait that was….
Oh yes please If you could find out that would be extremely helpful.
I live in the country and never thought how helpful outdoor stations would be to keep the move from even entering the house.
Thank you Mike and Breanne
Happy Christmas
Mice*
Stupid auto correct
Of you can place stations outside you can use baking soda and corn starch or flour mix together and mice eat it and die because they are not able to pass gas and they blow up and die
Rabbits. Way too many in my garden. How do I poison them?
I’d trap them and relocate them. Or fence the garden.
I’m guessing you don’t have a dog in your yard, or probably wouldn’t have so many rabbits. Go to a dog grooming “salon” and bag up a bunch of hair (winter coat shedding time happens to be just around planting time in the spring) and make a trail of it all the way around the perimeter of your garden. Rabbits will not cross it. Has to be replenished every few months as the doggie smell will wear or rain off. Also plant a clover lawn, they like it so much they leave other stuff alone.
Thank you for the hair clipping idea!!! I HAVE a Pitti who chases everything small that moves in HER yard. The rabbits keep coming in under the fences. This past summer even chose our yard from the entire block without dogs to have her babies. I’m trying to save the rabbits life-Dont they get it???
Ridiculous !!
Oh Mike, have you forgotten that rabbits are notorious diggers? They’ll dig under a fence in no time! I’ve had to give up on my gardening plans. Being in an old forest I get every critter you can think of, rabbits, a herd of deer, armadillo, beaver, skunks, squirrels, several species of snakes, moles, gophers, black bears, foxes, and too many insects to name. The only method I’ve used that works on some of the small animal pests has been my crossbow!
Larry,
I too have rabbits, just have to deal with them, for me they don’t do a lot of damage.
Rabbits are yummy
Eat them.
After having my fruit trees girdled and killed for many years, I now spray the trunks with deer repellant mixed with wilt pruf. One application in December will last the entire winter. I spray the broad leaved evergreens with the same solution to keep the deer from eating them.
There is a mouse bait called Contrac that is much safer in terms of secondary poisoning. (your pet eating the dead mouse and getting sick.) The active ingredient that kills is metabolized and less likely to cause damage if your pet eats the dead mouse.
John, thank you. I trap. I needed a safter bait for the few mice that I don’t get in the mouse traps. Neighbor killed off a goshawk.and he wouldn’t let me trap for him. He now lets me use a tomahawk live trap to trap and kill. I go after the ground squirrels and they are not protected species. Mice and rats squeeze out of bars. of a live trap. For mice, I use old-fashioned mouse trap with long tacks installed needle end up coming up around the U shaped harp that comes down mouse. Drill a hold and wire the trap to a stake so the trap doesn’t go away. Learned it from a marjauna grower, he stated that the mice love weed over anything else. So I use the nails pointing up and always get any of who come to the trap. For rats, I use https://www.wildlifecontrolsupplies.com/animal/WCSTUBE.html Protected so no kids can get a hand in it. We also have coyotes, bobcats, a feral cat that hunt here. Considering this, I think I will wait before I bait. They seem to be doing a good job at this time.
I have 3 pear trees for many years and, sadly have not gotten 1 pear. We watch the squirrels scurry up and jump from my screen porch to the trees. Foil didn’t work on the trunk because they jump from the porch. What can I do??
Sarah,
I wish I knew, you can search squirrels on this website, we have an article and it’s a highly charged article in the comments section. That I know for sure.
I use this trap on the fence or where they run. It will kill squirrels. https://www.wildlifecontrolsupplies.com/animal/WCSTUBE.html
Just make sure they are not “protected by the law squirrels.” I refuse to serve time for
a felony for a squirrel. Eastern squirrel have run off the Western squirrel so we are
allowed to kill the Eastern Squirrels.
The problem with either killing or relocating rats is the old saw, “Nature abhors a vacuum.” If the site has good habitat, others will just move in to take the place of those killed or remove. This is the same problem encountered by people trying to abate populations of feral cats and why the current thinking is to neuter the cats and release them back to the same place. Now, I don’t think anyone wants to attempt neutering and releasing rat colonies!
The only effective method of protecting plants from rodents is to prevent the rodents from getting to the plants. I advocate 1/4″ hardware cloth caging. It’s expensive but effective as rodents can’t get through but insect pollinators can. I tried hardware cloth with a larger mesh first because it is cheaper, but saw mice and small rats crawl through everything down to 1/4″. As a rule of thumb, if a mouse or rat can get its head through an opening it can get its entire body through.
Great information, thanks!
Thank you! I won’t use poison for many reasons, one being that no one, not even a rat, should have to die barfing themselves to death.
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Voles wiped out my bulb plants and hostas. I will have to try the caster oil treatment, if I can find caster oil anywhere. I free range chickens so can’t do the poison. Rats and mice don’t just eat the poison in your safe containers. They stuff their mouth and take it elsewhere to store for later and to eat where they feel safe. These safe places can be found by your pets and consumed. Many poisons work in a way that after ingested, the animal craves water and once it drinks, the poison dissolves the intestinal walls and the bleed out inside. You will often find your rodents dead by their water supply like a ditch.
Cats are the BEST solution. I have seen cats lounging around numerous nurseries. With cats, there is no such thing as a rodent problem. At least this way, they EARN their keep.
I found it upsetting to read this article about killing, and all the people that jumped in with their own methods and some of the cruelty described was absolutely sickening. Some people on here described what would be a slow, painful death! I had to stop reading. Fortunately there was one kind person that said they were using an alternative – mint. There ARE other solutions. Alternate food sources. We can find solutions to almost all problems if we really want to, but when it comes to animals we don’t even bother putting ourselves in their place; our default action is violence. No wonder our planet is in the shape it is in when we can’t even show mercy to the most vulnerable.
Alex,
I won’t argue with you and at https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2011/07/mikes-new-nursery-from-the-beginning/ I don’t like killing anything. I have mice, lots of chipmunks, and they can do damage. If it gets out of control I will have to take action, but so far I have not. I worry about rats because of the donkeys and that I couldn’t tolerate and I would use humane traps to control them if I had to.
Hey Mike if you still using the plastic pipe, drill a hole on each side. Use a coat hanger to slide your bait on. You will have to cut to fit. You would have to use a soft pack bait like first strike or something like weatherblock or Maki that already has a hole through the rodenicide. It will also keep your bait out of water and keep the rodents from carrying it off.
Thanks Kendall great idea. But I have stopped using mouse bait around the nursery. At least for now. So far I’ve not needed it. If I covered with plastic I would have to use it.
i know this is an old post but this year i covered the garden with p[astic for winter and still have some beds under it. Could that be what has attracted voles and possibly rats to my garden? if so, i will have to find another way to rest the beds. Thanks!
Brenda,
A black cover certainly would heat up the soil which rodents might appreciate. Rats? I think that’s a different issue that has to be dealt with.
I have encountered the idea of chewing gum used as a rodent control .Rodents will eat it but can’t process it.Any though5s on that one?
There are so many myths floating around here. I wonder if anyone actually tries to scientifically verify them. Mice hate peppermint oil? I know for a fact that a hungry animal will ignore almost any odors to get to the food. I reckon ALL animals hate the smell of skunk but I’ve seen them walk right past concentrated skunk spray to get to bait.
I have a friend that has been a Wildlife Control Officer for most of his adult life, and a trapper his whole life and he’ll tell you the same thing. The only 100 percent effective method is to remove them, either lethally or by catch/release. Releasing animals is also not a good idea because you just move the problem. For example, I saw my neighbor release a mouse she caught, at the back of her yard (that borders several other properties). Gee, thanks.
I want to reiterate that non-target animals aren’t likely to die from anticoagulant poisons by ingesting killed target animals. Take a little time to learn and understand what lethal doses are and what it takes to get one. Apparently, everyone on here has internet so take a minute to research and learn something before spreading myths that have no basis in reality.
Also, take note of the number of bird feeders in your area. There is a direct correlation between bird feeders and rodent populations. Most people I know that feed the birds use crappy feeders that allow seed to spill, and exacerbate the problem by using cheap, millet-based seed mixes. Further exacerbation is by not cleaning up under the feeders every day (as is required by ordinance in our village but no one does it). Use spill-proof, squirrel-proof feeders. TARGET your animals by using only feed specifically for them, Take the bird feeders in for the night. Clean up spilled seed daily. Too much trouble, I suppose. Then don’t feed the animals. Truly, they don’t need your help.
Robin, well said. I made the mistake of throwing birdseed on top of the snow under my bird feeder next to my house. I loved watching all the birds the ground seed attracted in snow storms. I firmly believe this contributed to a rat problem I now have in my basement. I removed my feeder and now that spring is here can clean up the ground. I never realized the importance of keeping the ground clean under the feeder until I read it on other sites. I have to take my feeders in for the night because the bear is out of hibernation. You are correct, feeding the birds is high maintenance and that is what I need to do if I want a feeder. Regarding peppermint oil and mice. Mice droppings were right next to cotton balls soaked with essential oil of peppermint. I have mint growing in my gardens and it has never kept rodents away from my vegetables. The only thing that works is a hardware fence buried in the ground.
Agreed. Hungry animals will eat anything. Mint and red pepper are not effective. Rat poisons will poison everything that eats it in sufficient quantity. . .and who wants to be in charge of ensuring that desirable animals don’t accidentally get poisoned, too?
The bottom line is: it is not the animal(s) that form the problem; it is humans who plant things that attract animals and/or move into places where animals live and try to plant things. Just protect your plants with hardware cloth and stop worrying about the animals. If they can’t find something to eat, they’ll move on. If they eat the plants they naturally eat, your introduced plants will be safe.
I was concerned about using poison on mice and asked a vet about it and he said that the amount of poison that a mouse can ingest before dying won’t hard a predator. I imagine there are differing opinions of this so ask your vet. I have used castor oil granules and peppermint and both have helped. We have had deaths from hanta virus around here so I do use poison. But in places that other animals can’t get to it.
this poison in a shed set up the same way can protect your machinery from rodents
I used to manage a nursery and landscape near Dallas. During one summer drought, all of our nursery was invaded by hundreds of rats and snakes. Since nursery stock must be watered daily and all the surrounding area was dried up, any small animal needing food or water came. Rats completely destroyed 2 greenhouses worth of landscape 1 gallon containers in just one night. Action had to be taken or we would have gone out of business.
I had read that rats cannot burp so went out and got as many old pie tins as I could then filled them with carbonated soda from the dollar store. I probably put out 50 containers over 3 acres one evening.
Next morning my crew picked up hundreds of dead rats, It was not pleasant to kill them but we had no other choice.
Rae,
Interesting point. At some point you have to protect your livelihood if it comes to that.
Wow! Any particular flavor?
Wow. What a creative solution!
Baking soda with borax and sugar
Mike,
How do you control squirrels I have so many that you would think I had a squirrel farm. They get into everything. They eat up my flower bulbs you name it!
I’m with you. Squirrels everywhere. What do you do about the squirrels?
For gophers I attached a flexible metal tube to the lawn mower exhaust and put the other end in the gopher hole and packed mud around it. Run the mower about 20 minutes and it will wipe out the whole colony.
Yikes – Auschwitz for Gophers.
Here’s another interesting item. One year, gophers were reaping havoc in my rose garden. Nothing was working for me., so I got mad and opened up a hole. I poured 1/2 gallon (99 cents at the dollar store) of straight ammonia in one hole only and closed it up. I never saw the gophers again during the 8 years we lived there. They were at the neighbor’s houses, though. As an added bonus, my roses flourished that year and grew huge. I have never heard of anyone else doing this, but people were interested when I told them about it. At the house we live in now, I use it in mole holes in the lawn. My lawn is not affected at all by the ammonia.
One of the comments mentioned using mint. An easier option is to plant mint around the yard to encircle the area needed to be protected. Presto, no rodents! They hate mint.
Yes thank you Robert they do! I am making adaptive adjustments too, but the peppermint saved this crop so far. I lost a greenhouse full to them, but could not think about bait.
Live trapping and moving is what I always do, but last winter I left off and it cost months of growth, multiple herbs and flowers.
I still didn’t grudge them. I imagined living in a paradise with no winter, fresh water and the greatest buffet ever.
I have mint growing in my gardens and it has never deterred rats from eating my vegetables. I put essential oil mint where there were mouse droppings. It seemed to attract them. Mint was my biggest disappointment.
Same experience with mint, did absolutely no good. Am gonna try the carbonated soda.
Carbonated soda works but they need to consume it soon enough after you put it out that it hasn’t gone flat.
Mint is VERY invasive and you just cannot imagine ! It goes underground and under concrete under your house. And you cannot get rid of it without ripping everything up And….. I still have GREAT BIG RATS
I know … right?
Placed a mouse trap next to a package of commercial mint smelling mouse chaser. Caught a mouse. Moth balls in the closed up garden shed work. Sometimes. Guess it depends on the mouse.
I have used moth balls (that must be replaced annually) to chase out rodents (mostly squirrels) out of the insulation in the north wall of my greenhouse. I deposit them also in the narrow eaves of an attic by blow gun (electrical conduit tubing). The squirrels and rats seem to hate the smell and I don’t blame them. Buy it for a buck at dollar tree.
I have read that it is illegal to use moth balls. I read about one family who had to remove most of the topsoil around their house because they had put mothballs out!
Linda,
I have no idea whether that’s true or not, maybe somebody else has information.
Using bait kills everything. Dogs, cats, owls, hawks, foxes…anything that will eat a rat will be a secondary kill. Does no good as rats will just keep breeding. Poison should be made illegal. Try netting, red pepper anything, but don’t use poison. please.
I use live traps for the rats My colony of corn snakes and ball pythons are getting plumper. And I don’t have to worry over problems using poison bait.
Way to go Cj! Texas rat snakes (non-venomous) are also great rodent eradicators. Most people are so mindlessly afraid of snakes that they don’t even consider that alternative.
Hi Sharon,
You’re trepidation’s are not actually accurate at all. When done correctly a rodent control program using rodenticides is actually very safe. The problems come when people do not read the labels, miss-apply or just completely misuse the product. I have seen people take a couple of different stances on this. One being similar to yours where you believe it’s kryptonite and if you touch it it will kill you your children and all of the animals within 100 miles, And the second is people who think is the answer to all of their pest problems. They buy the cheapest poison they could possibly find , mix it with peanut butter hay or whatever they can find and throw it all over their property. This is obviously The primary source of nontargeted kill! Using a professional rodenticide with an approved bait station I have never seen a non-target animal be injured in 20 years of doing this ! The rodents simply cannot eat enough to become poison themselves , unless you are using something you buy at Home Depot or the grocery store! My advice go to Amazon or a do it yourself pest control store or site and buy a poison that cost more than $10
Read the label, follow the directions. And by all means please use a lockable state approved bait station.
Not controlling the rodents or live trapping them in relocating them in my opinion is just spreading the problem
Well said Dave, all I use now are locking bait stations. I don’t want the bait to get dragged into an area where the donkeys could get to it.
I use plastic containers, cut two upside down V at the top, leave the lid on , put the moth balls and some water in the container. It has worked for me. I use small water bottles for my hanging plants You have to add water occasionally . Use larger containers and place around where needed. I use two liter soda bottles or half gallon juice bottles. A sharp knife cuts the plastic and I remove the V to leave a hole. That keeps the moth balls out of the soil.
I wonder how mothballs will affect chickens….? That;s where my biggest mouse/rat problem is.
We had a lot of mice in our chicken coop. We built a covered feed station outside and took the food out of the coop and rarely see any more now
We have a brown rat as big as a squirrel eating the birdseed under our feeders during the daytime only. How in the world do I bait or trap it without killing the squirrels too? I know it’s a pregnant female so we’re going to be overrun pretty soon if I don’t take care of it now. Another smaller rat has recently joined her. We’ve put out a live trap with everything from sausage to apples to peanut butter in it – all of which they ignore. She’s so big she won’t fit in the smaller bait traps and the squirrels would fit into anything she can fit into, I think.
Laurie,
I’m not sure but I would certainly contact an expert as soon as possible.
A 22cal bullet will put the rascal to sleep, if it’s as big as you suggested then shooting it should be rather simple!
I agree Tom, but many folks hate firearms while others hate killing anything. Some have said they “Trap & Remove Them”! To where? Someone Else’s yard? Personally, they make great target practice. 22 too loud? Use a good B.B. gun. Or trap and shoot them in the trap. I do not believe in killing for fun. But we are at the top of the food chain. We kill to eat meat. We kill to survive. I kill Rats and other varmints so my Chickens can survive. So many need to “Man up” and get the job done.
Bud, I agree with you 100%. I kill rodents too, by any means necessary. I believe live trapping & relocating them is not a responsible way to handle the issue. Plus it just makes the rodent someone else problem. Thanks for telling it like it is!
I opted for the electric zapper*
It was expensive but it worked here and we still have plenty of squirrels
* it’s a tube shaped thing that you can bait with dog food or peanut butter the big rat can squeeze in and then it’s bigger and they go to the back comfortably and when they happily nibble the bait they are zapped… Electrocuted where they stand I hate Killing anything but they multiply so swiftly you will soon need an army if you don’t. This is swift, , permanent midnight
Too tiny for even my teacup Chihuahuas to get into
Between $30 -$ 65 reuse able required big batteries so maybe $100 for everything I use the same one with new batteries each winter/spring
Use .22 short, or rat shot, I have lots of cats, so not a problem at my house, ,but gun will end the rat.
I agree on cats. I have three and mice may come into my house but they never leave. do have to watch where i walk at night, may step on partial carcass.
A ‘Good’ air pellet gun. They aren’t cheap, typically $100+, but they’re excellent for dealing with all the varmints & even for hunting small game. I have both a .177 and a 22 air rifle. The .177 is sufficient for most varmints.
Use bacon as bait.
I would use a .22 if you are not in the city or a good pellet gun or bb gun if you are in the city. Just keep a low profile and don’t brag about it!
I agree!
Pellet gun
I made home made rat trap and have caught dozens! It works by drowning them.
And another questions is, do you have an option to catch rabbits? I already use chicken wire around the shrubs and trees but they are eating up everything else. We didn’t have snow so they didn’t make trouble but the snow is here and I can just imagine what I will find (or not find) once the snow melts.
Andrea,
some growers mix Louisiana hot sauce with a product called Vapor or Wilt Proof to make it stick the plants and just spray it on. How well does it work? I can’t honestly say.
I don’t know if anyone asked this so excuse me if it is a repeat. How do you dispose of the dead poisoned animals that you catch? I grow organic vegetables and fruits and I don’t want to put them into the ground to decompose. Can they go into the garbage? Is that safe?
Andrea,
I would think the best way to dispose of them would be to bury them deep in an area where you will not doing any growing. In the trash? I suppose you could, sealed in a plastic bag, but I’m not sure if that’s legal.
Hi, I live in Mass., one of my cats & one pet rabbit passed on and the animal control people told me to put it in a plastic bag (wrapped tightly) and put in in the trash.
Instead of killing off the little ones, how about giving them a food supply that they can use instead of nibbling on your seedlings or small trees. Putting bird seed or shelled corn a good distance away from your plants. would lead them to an easier food source.
.
Just be watchful of a population explosion. We want to defer the animals to another area, not cause them to multiply into hordes.
Other feedings,
Our house backs up to a large cemetery, with a wide green belt separating us, which holds many animal species.
We’ve been feeding a dozen squirrels, about 50-80 birds and 14 deer behind our house thru the horrid winter of 2014.
I learned something interesting.
.
When I ran out of apples ( bumper crop in 2013 ) and shelled corn. , I tried day old bread, etc., available from bakery outlets. For a few dollars for a full shopping cart, we were able to feed all the animals, including the 14 deer ( 6 bucks, 8 does, at least ). The deer took to eating bread, very quickly. …..after all, there was hardly any browse available due to the high levels of snow..
They consumed about a shopping cart full of bread, bagels, tortillas, donuts ( squirrels really loved the stale donuts )
.
We also inadvertently feed 2 coyotes, They love apples, but also took to eating bread, when that’s all there was. eating the bread Maybe it kept them from going after the other animals. ( bunnies, squirrels, deer, etc. )
……The deer became used to me, and even stayed behind our house ( a fence separating us ) when I came out around 4:00 pm to distribute their evening meal. Hunger overcomes fear, apparently, as I was able to talk to a few does and even a buck, at different times. all less than 30′ away from me.
.
Keep this in mind, in case the winder of 2015 turns out to be as horrid.
.
Thanks for caring about the animals.
.
Also….please take care of your PETS, not leaving them outside for any longer than they absolutely need to be.
Hank,
You make a lot of great points and in all honesty I’ve resorted to not using poison because of dogs and other desirable animals. Around the donkeys I’m careful to not spill their food so as to attract unwanted rodents.
full strength peppermint oil works inside and out. i sprinkle drops along the wall and around the bird seed container. extract is weaker but works too if you use more. as for mice in the ceiling [in between the attic floor and the first floor itself], it took me several months to drive mine away but every time i heard them scampering i banged on my ceiling with a broom handle and drove them away with the noise. kinda dinged my ceiling after a while but sure beats worrying about mice chewing my wires.
Hi Mike, A few years ago having a bad winter the mice ate 43 of my rose bushes. One was left.
I found now that if I put an original Bounce dryer sheet at the base of the roses and mound the soil over the sheet that the mice do not like the smell and I no longer have the problem. Not too costly and you don’t have to worry about pets. Thanks, Jan
Jan,
Thank you so much for this useful and safe tip!
Like this Dan?
https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2014/10/diy-squirrel-trap/
For mice and voles using a bait station , try an old zip-lock type container ( the kind you store leftovers in ) . Cut a small enough hole in it for the mouse to get in and put the bait inside , put the lid on tight and add enough weight to the top to keep pets and such from moving it around and possibly eating the bait.
In areas where the likely hood of carrion eaters like some birds or larger critters may eat the poisoned mice , try the old bucket trap. Take a 3 – 5 gallon plastic steep sided bucket with 4″ + of water in it , two notches or holes at the top and thread a section of wire coat hanger through it. To complete the trap , take either a soda / beer can or plastic water bottle and make holes on each end to thread onto the wire across the top of the bucket so that it spins freely. Peanut butter , honey , or what ever else the rodents prefer is smeared onto the can , a ramp for access to the wheel of death and wait. I’ve seen as many as 15 mice in one of these at a time when left for a month or so at a seasonal camp. Add salt or alcohol to lower the freezing temp if needed in the winter.
A Picture speaks a thousand words so please post one of your trap
Could you explain this a little better. I am very interested. Thank you
From one of our readers Nancy K:
I want to thank you for the cutting-stick instruction booklet I received yesterday. You article on mouse bait-traps was interesting too but brought back another article I read some years ago on mouse droppings.
A young Iowa farmer, husband and father of two young children was sweeping up and cleaning around his silo with a broom. Spillage from the silo had attracted mice. He was trying to get rid of the problem by getting rid of the food source. It was a dry spring and rodent droppings and urine were now dust, mixed with the grain spillage. Mice and rodents in general have no bladder to speak of. They pee in a trail were-ever they go. It is said they are making their own smell trail to travel in the dark. Now if you watch any big news, Ebola comes to mind. Ebola is a form of hemorrhagic fever. Hanta virus is a form of hemorrhagic fever and is what his mice were carrying. The young farmer lived about three weeks and died just like Ebola victims with bleeding. He had breathed in the dust from the mouse droppings. Please use good sanitation when checking your traps with this virus in mind. Use a good N95 mask and rubber gloves, turned inside out and burn mask and gloves when finished. Shower, wash your hair and wash your clothing separate from other clothing immediately. Bleach down rubber boots from the field as well and let them air dry in a plastic waterproof tray.
Excellent report. Thank You. Most never heard of Haunta Virus. As a resident of Az. we had several people in tribes die from this in the 4 corners region, many years ago. Here’s what I did to control mice. I used an old wooden ammo box. You can build one easily as well. Just a small wooden box with an entry hole and removable top. In the back, place a can of sardines. I stapled glue traps to the floor inside. It will fill up with dead and dying mice. When it’s full, burn it.
The only reason I am so active in getting rid of rodents is the diseases they carry. Cociddiosis attacks all mammals. Methods I use are in previous postings.
i have had success with copper screening and also with garlic. I found planting garlic and/or throwing garlic around the beds in my Calgary garden kept my bulbs from being eaten..
I’ve been using this technique for a couple of years to protect my Jap Maples, works like a charm. I use a smaller diameter pipe that’s 16 inches long to keep the squirrels out. As much as I hate squirrels, there are too many raptors in the neighborhood, inc., eagles. And squirrels are what they tend to eat
Hi Mike,
I tried some cuttings (small scale at first) and they got eaten by voles.
A lot of people mistake voles for mice, they have shorter tails, ears and smaller eyes, other than that they look just like a mouse. They are what people refer to as “field mice”, I was being devastated by the little varmints. To get rid of them I started by using snap traps set in my cutting box and it was working, however after killing off 17 voles I assumed that there were more than I could kill. My other option was a recipe I had found which was as follows:
1 tsp pure caster oil
1 tsp mild dish soap
1 US gallon of water
It did not work …
So I decided to go ballistic on the critters, I up the recipe to:
1 oz caster oil
1 oz soap
1 US Gallon of water
Have not seen a sign of a vole since, and my cuttings are doing just great! … the voles went elsewhere, perhaps to my neighbor, who knows.
The mixture shown is only for a watering can so some of the growers would definitely need more.
A 1x1x1 mix and a garden sprayer would also work fine.
Best to apply it just before the first hard freeze, not after. You want it to penetrate the growing medium
All the best
Wayne
What is the castor oil / soap / water mixture applied to?
Hi Folks, Because we have pastured poultry & small pets, we found that using a LARGE cottage cheese carton and cutting the hole in it along the bottom edge, then putting bait in and lid on top works VERY, Very well without endangering our critters .It’s quick & easy too!
I am surrounded by cane fields so rats and mice are a year round problem here. Last winter a rat chewed through the mesh insect screening at my back door. After hearing it running about in the house at night I started closing the back door itself – a wooden door. I heard scratching during the night and opened the back door in the morning only to find more holes in the screen, a huge hole in the vinyl floor covering in the small gap between the screen door and wooden back door, and several large concave chew marks that one could fit 2-3 fingers inside in the wooden door itself. We replaced the screening with a stronger aluminium mesh instead of fibreglass mesh from which insect screening is usually made. The rats haven’t gotten back into the house proper, but we still hear them running about under the house at night (our house is raised about 1 metre above the ground to allow air circulation and cooling for the tropics). We also hear them scurrying about in the ceiling – it’s the only part of the house that we hope the snakes do get into! (Yes, I’ve been confronted by a snake in the hallway!)
In a previous winter I trapped around 15 mice that got into the house by entering through a tiny opening in the kitchen wall where the cabling for the stove enters. It is most disconcerting to have a mouse pop up from under a stove hot plate!
Upon backing the car out of the drivewy it is not unusual to have a rat drop from the engine and scurry away. One friend’s car engine erupted in smoke while driving. A rat had nested in the engine and the nest caught fire. A rat nested in our car behind the battery and promptly starting chewing through the electrical cabling. They can be so destructive.
I’ve tried various baits, using different chemical compositions, but none were effective. I think we must have bred super rodents by now. They have become immune to the baits, indeed they eat the baits, box and all, and show no harmful effects whatsoever. I resort to the old trap. It’s messy but effective.
Yes, I’m afraid I have become a tiny-game hunter!
PS. I forgot to mention that I only use traps in the house where no wildlife can get to them.
Many years ago I owned a variety store once a month I received a magazine from one of my suppliers one of the storeys in the mag. was on rodents mice and rats especially. Mice when they have been poisoned and if they have enough time will return to their young and teach them about poisons and to avoid it. The article on rats stated that when the find poisons that they will simply relocate to a new location but not eat it. This will lead the person who it putting the bait out to get rid of them thinking that the rat problem is under control. But it is not. use a snap trap and be sure the target is dead.
John knowles
To keep Rodents from entering your home through small holes around plumbing and electrical, use steel wool. They will not chew through it.
I have one comment about using poison to kill mice. When the poisoned mice are eaten by our beautiful birds of pray, they are also eating the poison and do die. It may also be possible that the poison in the bodies of the birds that die are eaten by scavenger animals, and so on….. Just pointing out that that little cake of poison can do a huge amount of damage to the wildlife around you.
Just a heads up- be careful that your dog or cats or anything else do not eat the poisoned rodents, they can be as deadly as the poison itself. Barn cats and black snakes are good at keeping rodent population in control, snakes not so much in winter 🙂
Mike,
Have you ever tried the Predator urine to keep the mice and rats away instead of killing them,, (As reading about the owls and other raptors comment) I use the Predator coyote urine around my ponds to keep the raccoons away from getting to the fish, this has worked for many years… I now need to find something to keep the squirrels from digging up the bulbs in my garden.. Maybe just need to add more urine to my little jugs.. I took film canisters and when they were gone, pill bottles and drill 1/4″ holes around just below the lid.. then wire tie to a low branch.. put a cotton ball inside and add the urine just above the cotton ball.. This worked for about a 20×20 area and kept 2 ponds safe from everything that may disrupt my 2 fish ponds !!
I have a solution i found that works for me. i have a large number of apple trees and grapes and other various plants. Every fall i take irish spring soap bars and go around the outter trees and plants shaving the soap into pieces around and onto the plants and around them. It has worked to keep mice voles rabbits and deer at bay for me. I used to have allot of damage every year due to them.
For mice control use a empty 2 litre pop bottle. bait it with dry corn, grits and cement or what ever kind of bait that attracts mice. Place in uncapped bottle lay on its side Place bottle in garage or shop or whatever in a path that mice frequent. Mice will crawl in the hole, gorge themselves. Check frequently and when mice are caught, replace lid and throw bottle in garbage. I use this method in my house garage as well as the shop garage. The more you set out the more rodents caught. Pets can’t enter and this method works great. We raise wild waterfowl. Its safe around them.
“Be careful to not allow your pets to discover rodents that have been poisoned. ”
Just how do your propose I do this?
I have High tunnels. I really need to knock out the rodents from there and my orchard. I am afraid I don’t know how far that poison will travel, especially if my little girl’s kitty gets a hold of one of those miserable little squeaks.
Here is my choice: Catch all multiple catch traps $15 on ebay:
Thanks for the valuable information and for being so generous with your findings.
Peace
I have several safer suggestions. I am an old farm boy and here is what my grandpa taught me.
Use concrete mixed with corn meal. You want to keep it dry so when it hits the stomach it hardens. Yea I know this is crazy right? If anything bigger than a mouse eats it, they just pass it through their system. In a mouse it hardens and kills the little fellow. This sort of bait is safe for bigger animals to eat and still be effective in getting the mouse.
Second is the bait station, with a big pipe like that, rabbits can get to the poison, so I use a plastic ice cream carton. I cut a round hole about an inch in one end. The poison it put on the opposite end and away from the hole. Place against walls and the like. The mouse will go in to get the bait, but little else can get in to be poisoned.
Exactly right. Only thing is on our farm we used a 2 liter pop bottle. Mixed oats, corn or whatever with a little plaster or cement and viola—got them. also if pop bottle is placed on a slight slant, rodents will be able to enter through small neck opening but will be unable to climb out due to slippery plastic surface. It works.
a couple of cats will do the trick and no poison.
I heard of a Non Toxic way of getting rid of Gophers. I put out a clump of my cat’s urine in kitty litter, down their holes. Then covered the holes. I did it for the neighbor also & have been gopher free since. It needs to replaced about once a month or so. They smell their predator. Probably would work with mice & other rodents too.
Last summer I used urine soaked kitty litter under my garden shed to get rid of a gopher. Unfortunately I was using Swheatscoop made from wheat. I got rid of the gopher but something started eating the litter. The something then went through the gopher garden fence and ate my tomatoes. We put out traps and caught a rat! So the sweatscoop attracted the rats. I always had garden snakes in my shed that would go in my garden. All my snakes were gone after the rats arrived so I am sure the rats ate the snakes. The rats are now in my house basement. I think they were attracted by the bird feeder outside my crawl space. That’s how I found this site, researching ways to get rid of rats. Presently using traps but not catching as many as we did initially. I have ordered the hot pepper Detour and will see how that works. My house is 1930 with crawl spaces around all four sides of the basement that are difficult to get to. My next step is to seal all entries after I use the Detour, Don’t want to seal the rats in the house if the Detour chases them away, as claimed. Also am currently replacing my grain kitty litter because it is in the basement and Istopped feeding the birds next to my house. My cats are old and not good at catching rats. The electric zapper only caught a few rats months ago and they stopped going in the zapper. Anyone have any more suggestions?
Pat,
I would have different kinds of traps all over the place. Even repeating traps, there are a lot of them, then search youtube for more ideas. http://www.automatictrap.com/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwt6fHBRDtm9O8xPPHq4gBEiQAdxotvHY1bNydz05uAfEdcTVVNFnolIjRMtFjbIjWZYwlmtIaAl1z8P8HAQ
I heard on Garden radio program that using cat urine kitty litter clumps would get rid of gophers. Well it did & it is Non Toxic & free! I scoped up a clump of my Cat’s urine kitty litter (use rubber gloves) & put some down gopher holes which I covered with rocks. Also did it in neighbor’s yard so it would go up the street. No more gophers last 6 months. After several months re-do it.
Might work on other rodents since they can smell their predators.
RE: Mouse/rat bait. If you have a hoop-house or green house that can keep your pets out – i.e. it is sealed, mouse bait should be a good idea. If the mice are living in the shelter, they should die there, too. Re: gophers. I grew up with pocket gophers. Unlike a woodchuck or chipmunk, they don’t dig just an entrance and an exit. They dig up to a dozen holes, each with a big pile of earth around them. What one family of pocket gophers can do to a field of young oats shouldn’t happen to Sodom and Gomorrah! We used to use small metal or wood sticks, and poke around between the holes until we found the tunnel, then place the poisoned bait in the tunnels. That ensured that the gophers found the bait, and kept them under ground and away from the barn cats.It was the only thing that kept them under control. But you really DO have to be careful. We lost our good cattle dog to rat bait on a neighbor’s rock pile. We lived in a glaciated region, and rock-picking was an every year necessity to keep frost-heaved rocks from destroying farm implements. But those rock piles attracted all sorts of small wildlife into the small cracks between rocks.
Finally, I’m not on your board yet – I’m holding off on that until after my back surgery.I’m getting evaluated next month by a neurosurgeon for it. But I have over 1500 acer palmatum rubrum and several hundred acer palmatum atropurpureum seeds that I gathered on my hands and knees (I paid for that, too – my knees wouldn’t talk to me for weeks!). I planted about 75 seeds of each variety just before the weather got cold – made sure I did it just before a good rain, to settle the seeds well into the soil. But now I’d like to find someone who would like to either buy or swap for the remaining seeds. My email is .
Hey, Mike – I’m resubscribing. My computer disc started to die. I was able to recover my documents and pictures, but it didn’t occur to me to recover the folders I had made for my email. 🙁 SO I lost all this stuff you sent me. So, please send it again when you can. Thanks. Merry Christmas. Lynn
Hi Mike- thanks for your attention to this-last spring I lost a 5 year old dragon’s eye pine to voles-I loved that tree and I hadn’t started any from cuttings-I’ m still so sad at that loss. Those pesky varmints continued to attack my perennials and shrubs all last summer-I read that they are not like other rodents and live solely on plants-there doesn’t seem to be any homegrown advice on getting rid of them except for rat snakes or cats-I’m allegic to the latter and a little adverse to the snakes I was wondering I you ever had a problems with these kinds of rodents and if so. How’d you get rid of them? I just want to get a jump on them before spring gets here. Thanks again for all your great garden advice.
You would want barn cats, they wouldn’t be in your house to bother your allergies, and don’t feed them or they won’t hunt, cats will fend for themselves quite well, and you could make a little spot for them to get in out of the weather, or they will find one, under house or in greenhouse, somewhere.
I am very interested in the rodent information recently because I have a very old wooded lot which leaves some pondering for the backyard gardener. Hilly and very soggy, poorly drained due to a next door neighbor Church with acres of uncontrolled drain off. We live on an “unimproved street in SW Ohio and almost no sewer system for rain water, just furrows between the street and the sidewalk, with some form of culvert system that truly does not affect the need for storm water management. We have had no problems with the local rodents besides our cats bringing them to us expecting to bring them in for dinner, or praise/I am not sure of the need to share rodentcide by cats. I have over the years extracted many victims and taken the to rescue, but since moving here their hunting instincts have magnified. I am seriously concerned about using any poison for rodents since I am sure my cats, or dogs might prey on rodents inflicted with poison I might employ. Really just asking from one Mother Earth Lover to Another. Do you think my pets might stave off enough “ever growing toothed critter” to not loose so much product from their need to feed or devour the money crop. I have wanted your Complete Back Yard Gardener course for so long, because You speak to my in the entire tale you send in your e-mails and videos. You and your wonderful family are so real and like the great pioneers of this land. I fondly think of you and yours always, because I know I have a compatriot in you about my feelings about the simplicity and beauty of living with the beautiful gifts we have been bestowed of, on this miraculous bio-dome we can call home. I also know you are humble thankful people who use your labor and talent to reach out and invite and embrace like people in love respect and commonalty. Wow, I guess I just wrote my Holiday Greeting to your Family without it being the intention. But it did address the love I gain from you sharing your passion and hard work for the rest of us. I appreciate the time, thought, intellect and trial and error you always share with your enthusiastic followers. May you all be with us for years to commiserate, share, teach and appreciate. Love-J R
Mike,
This is my first year using peppermint oil ‘inside’ which I first applied to cotton balls and placed/threw them behind walls, crawl spaces, etc. in the beginning of October and last week was the 2nd ‘application’ and so far … no rodents, but …
Outside: I read that there was nothing like a good, chocolate laxative to either push down holes in the ground (I have them) or lie under overturned plastic milk crates (the square holes are just large enough to let in a rat but nothing bigger), which I’ve done the past two years. I saw this work two years ago so I can’t say it was the peppermint oil inside or laxative outside or a combination of both but I am enjoying a rodent-free winter even while feeding seed/suet to the birds; no more rodent tracks in the snow or dead rodent stink behind walls, etc.
Peter
That should have read after mouse enters replace lid and place in garbage can. We use then them on the farm. Elayne
Disposable Mouse Trap: ” Dry” corn grits or oats , Mix in ” Dry” grout or cement or plaster. Place in empty, ” DRY” 2 litre pop bottle. Place in traveled path of rodent. Replace lid and place in garbage can. PS Any thing a mouse will eat will do as bait. Just make sure you get inside of bottle. Put as many as possible in garden, or around plants. etc. Elayne
If you are protecting trees, aluminum foil wrapped around the base is very effective against rodents and bunnies. NO ONE likes to bite into aluminum.
Thank you Sharon for this alternative to poisons and killing. I will try it. Diane
Greetings Mike;
First thanks for all the information you so generously share.
Does your mice bait station work for gophers? They are the bane and torment of my garden in Arizona. And I have cats and dogs I do not want to poison. Suggestions?
Thanks, one of your faithful readers, 🙂 Marianna
Marianna,
I would say probably not since the bait stations are above ground and gophers mostly travel below ground. There are a lot of things on the market for gopher control. I really need to do an article about that.
If you use poison, and an owl eats that mouse, the owl will die. Why would you want to kill the poor owl? Come up with some other solution, please!
I don’t think any one wants to kill the owl or the eagle or the osprey or the cat as people are digesting ,it’s the mouse they’re after.
It’s not exactly true that animals that eat the poisoned animals will die. A hawk weights a hundred times that of a mouse (or more), and so it probably needs 100x the dose that killed the mouse. That means it must it 100 mice in a very short period of time, which is highly unlikely. The fact of the matter is, despite the “risk”, it is highly unlikely that any owl or hawk or other bird of prey or scavenger will be harmed by the dead animals. I’ve seen pictures of raccoon droppings that are green/blue from having consumed entire plats of d-con and survived. Sub-lethal doses are shrugged off.
http://www.jcehrlich.com/blog/myth-busting-natural-mice-repellents/
Do you have a solution for moles? I think it is now illegal to use traps here in Washington state. It is the winter and early spring that they are a problem. We just planted a large area in grass and then those little earth movers came in and made a real mess.
In Oregon years ago my Mom would put castor beans in the mole hole in her garden. She swore by it.
In the time it took you to write “I think ….” you could have used the internet to find the truth. Here it is:
http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/moles.html#legal
In my area (Mississippi) voles (a short tailed field rodent) are the problem . Have lost many dwarf fruit trees due to voles eating the dwarfing rootstocks. Can not grow hostas or lilies in the ground, have to grow these in pots above the ground. Even then they sometimes enter pot and destroy the plant. Your poisoned baits are probably the best long term answer. One thing you can do for a non poison answer is place a regular mouse trap baited with a pecan kernel, hulled acron etc. Place trap at the small holes where the voles emerge from the ground. Usually about the size of a quarter. Cover trap with a large nursery pot and place a brick on top to keep wind from blowing it away. Gives some rain and winter protection. Also protection from catching birds. I once caught a house wren before covering pot. Sure don’t want this happening. This will work as, I have caught many, many voles doing this. Voles can be a truly devastating problem. You have to take whatever means you have to control them.
Larry
Due to availability, I am trying a new control this year, mixing dry cement powder with cornmeal and leaving it on a margarine cover where mice can access. TomCat and similar controls are now available only to bonafide farmers in my area.
I grew up in an apricot orchard here in California. We would replace a tree or two every winter and wrap it with chicken wire to keep the rabbits from chewing the bark. Evidently apricots are as tasty as your maples, because the gophers raised big fat happy families on the roots! We were constantly trapping gophers. We used a Macabee trap with poisoned grain as bait.
Love you folks in Ohio! Thanks for lighting my plant growing fire once again. I find the loss of a plant very painful and a lot of work here in the North East … this snow is beating up my low-budget protection … one day I’ll build that hoop house and be “In- High Cotton!” thanks again, David
Snow is actually good protection for the plants, but it will bring down plastic covered structures that are not designed to handle the snow load.
thanks mike i dont have pets but the neighbors cats roam. ha they left one on my patio one day.i just wonder if they would eat the bait.thanks for the ingo.i will try it.Ruth
Mike, any suggestions for using the PVC around big, crazy, lab mix dogs? Any way to secure that bait in it so they don’t knock the tubes around and get the bait out? I use Tom Cat in my greenhouse and it smells like something my dogs would try. I too have chipmunks. I’ve watched them jump into a big tall pot with one leap! They dig up my potted plants outside – squirrels too. I’ve thought about smearing peanut butter on the bait to make it attractive to the squirrels but again – the dogs.
I’m not Mike but I might have an idea for you Kathy on the dog proof PVC pipe. Take the 4″ pipe and put a regular glued on cap on one end of it but cut a small hole into the edge of it so the mouse will have a way of getting in. On the other end put on a screw-on cap so that you can access the bait station and change it out.
I have never tried it but it sounds like it should work.
I have seen commercial bait stations tucked into the landscape near buildings. They are a heavy gauge black plastic with small mouse size holes. I would check your local Home Depot or Lowes store.
I have a friend that has the perfect solution to getting rid of Chipmunks! Use a 5 gallon bucket. Fill half full of water. Toss a handful of Sunflower seeds in the water, enough to cover the water. Place a board as a ramp from the ground to the top of the bucket. Put a trail of sunflower seeds on the board leading to the bucket.. When they see to seeds in the water, they jump in and drown. OK. Call me cruel, but I’m just trying to help my fellow humans solve a problem!
I have been using dry corn grits and oats— mixed with grout/cement/or plaster.
( again DRY ). I keep it under a porch ( away from birds ). Critters are eating it. How much cement can woodchuck-chuck … or rat…. and still live ??
They usually pass on the bait
also I sprinkle corn grits or oats over and around a snap trap instead of “baiting” w/PB……
thanks so much for such a fast, thorough response to my rodent solution plea!!! so very much appreciated. am off to the farm supply store. what about placing a bait next to one of their burrow entry holes, & setting a clay flower pot over it, upside-down? think that would work?
btw, finnegan & fergus are waaaaayyy too cute!
v
Thanks Mike. I know for sure that the poison will kill a pet. There was a feral cat in the neighborhood that died after eating the exact product you posted here. She ate it within an hour after I put it out for mice.
The cat was eating your mice!
I don’t like poison near the house so I use a cardboard box with two holes in either side and a rat trap . ( you can use a mouse trap too if it is for voles or mice, rat trap is for chippies) I set the trap with peanut butter slathered all over and cover it with the box and check it every day. In the early part of winter I get one each day then it tapers off. I lost a beautiful burning bush to the varmits on winter so I am persistent in this. I hate to kill anything but there is a lot of other stuff for them to eat so let it not be my shrubs!
Mike,
I have enjoyed reading about your plant ideas and your family. I even read your long story detailing the beginnings of your business. Very cool. This is not a “yelling” letter. But, I do want to remind you to please remind your readers that any poison that goes into a mouse or mice will often, depending upon where you live, end up in the belly of an owl or other raptor.
Some owls such as Barn Owls are having a hard time of it these days, what with everyone knocking down their old barns and selling the old wood to decorators. Rodent poisons kill owls. That is important to remember. Maybe where you are there are not owls nearby, but I will bet that some of your readers cannot say the same thing.
Please help. Thank you, Mike.
Penny
Penny,
Your advice is well taken and we do have to share the earth with others. I just hope we can find the balance for all.
Hi Mike,
I haven’t got to the growers group as yet (unemployed and no source of cash) but I will, just a matter of time!
I tried some cuttings (small scale at first) and they got eaten by voles.
A lot of people mistake voles for mice, they have shorter tails, ears and smaller eyes, other than that they look just like a mouse. They are what people refer to as “field mice”, I was being devastated by the little varmints. To get rid of them I started by using snap traps set in my cutting box and it was working, however after killing off 17 voles I assumed that there were more than I could kill. My other option was a recipe I had found which was as follows:
1 tsp pure caster oil
1 tsp mild dish soap
1 US gallon of water
It did not work …
So I decided to go ballistic on the critters, I up the recipe to:
1 oz caster oil
1 oz soap
1 US Gallon of water
Have not seen a sign of a vole since, and my cuttings are doing just great! … the voles went elsewhere, perhaps to my neighbor, who knows.
The mixture shown is only for a watering can so some of the growers would definitely need more.
A 1x1x1 mix and a garden sprayer would also work fine.
Best to apply it just before the first hard freeze, not after. You want it to penetrate the growing medium
All the best
Wayne
Thanks Wayne. I’ve seen this recipe before and people report excellent results using it.
A really safe anti-rodent plan: Buy some Essence of Peppermint Oil. Mice HATE the smell. Put drops of it all around the baseboards of your greenhouse, storage shed, kitchen (if you live in the country, they are always finding ways into the kitchen), and any other place where there are things for mice to eat. I even put drops of it in drawers where things you don’t use often are stored. Mice like to get in and make little homes there. When all these places smell like peppermint oil, they move out quickly. No more little “mousie droppings …. ever again”. You have to refresh these drops of oil every week of so. It is extremely inexpensive compared to mouse traps and poison, and after a while you can cut down to twice a month refreshing of the problem areas. The mice will remember your home is uninhabitable, and they will not be back. If one does return just blast him with a lot all at once and change his mind immediately.
It worked in the country house I bought that was reputed to be “over run” with the little rascals. I even had one that I called “Speedy Gonzalez”. He used to tear across my living room in full view of people. He has moved!
Safe for cats, dogs, birds and other wildlife.
Margueite,
Thank you for the safe and effective tips.
Will try essence of Peppermint oil. We live in the middle of nowhere and have 45 acres, lots of varmints. Have an investment in mousetraps, rat traps and peanut butter. Don’t want to make you ill, but we put the deceased varmints in a metal barrel behind the barn which is covered with an old bbq grate. Every week or so, we pour gasoline in the barrel and voila, the remains are gone. We don’t want to use poison, either, we have three old labs who are always curious.
Do you have a solution to the millions of wild rabbits eating the bark off our smaller Siberian elms, and eating down to the ground my one and only Pointinella bush?
Judy,
You can buy plastic tree guards at the garden center. They are easy to install and do the job.
I would think that my house cats who get outside would die too if they ate a poisoned mouse.
Donna,
You’re right, you have to be extremely careful when using rodent poisons.
Thanks for this info Mike. I was just thinking about whether I needed to worry about rodents or not. This is my first season of actually having any plants to worry about, and I certainly cannot afford to have the little rodents eating everything.
I learned at an early age how to make a simple non-toxic mouse, rat, chipmunk and squirrel bait. For every 8 ounces Cream Of Tartar, add 1 tablespoon of table salt and enough water to stir into a thick paste. Spread the paste into a bar 1/2″ thick, 1″ wide and as long as you have paste to reach.. Allow to air-dry or dehydrate until hard. Break the bar up into pieces and place in high traffic area.
The animals are drawn to the bait by the salt. One feeding will kill most small vermin as the bait will bind the bowels, but is NOT attractive to pets or children. It is safe if a domestic animal should find and eat the dead varmint,
im sorry, but knowing the suffering they will have to deal with by Binding up their bowels…… forget it…. and I am appauled….
And toxic poison is better than using a cooking ingredient?
“And toxic poison is better than using a cooking ingredient?”
Yes, and why not? I suppose the word “toxic” is better than “lethal”, much like “assault weapon” is scarier than “rifle”.
On a practical note, I’d rather die from bleeding out than from a bowel obstruction. I guarantee that the poison is more humane than your gut-blocking option. How can you not know this?
Also, I’m skeptical that any animal would identify this as food and take in enough to cause intestinal blockage. Animals won’t typically eat non-food items. Another myth ….
I like this idea and may try it in my basement and garage. Hate the idea of using man-made chemical poisons outdoors. Anybody from this website else try this?
What’s so scary about “man-made” poisons? Some of the scariest and most deadly poisons on the planet are not “man-made”, but natural.