Anything i can do about vole mice eating my seedlings?

[CannaZen]

Ive read people upset about slugs h
XD well I had like 6 seedlings sprout yesterday now they're all gone, somebody watered. I couldn't investigate. Well there's 2 there left now and 2 in a pot more might sprout. Idk bit late to plant more .I've got until Oct 15.

I just wanted to post about it and ask. Seedrun.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Ive read people upset about slugs h
XD well I had like 6 seedlings sprout yesterday now they're all gone, somebody watered. I couldn't investigate. Well there's 2 there left now and 2 in a pot more might sprout. Idk bit late to plant more .I've got until Oct 15.

I just wanted to post about it and ask. Seedrun.

Put them in plastic pots that they can't climb. They shouldn't bother them then. You can set up vole traps but they aren't super easy to catch or kill.

 

[Sub24ox7]

Unless you’re my cat who brings them up to the house everyday. Sorry to hear about the voles eating seedlings.

 

[CannaZen]

Put them in plastic pots that they can't climb. They shouldn't bother them then. You can set up vole traps but they aren't super easy to catch or kill.

Yeah I would except in pots they don't fully express their characteristics except maybe in minor amount but I will do indoors too.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Yeah I would except in pots they don't fully express their characteristics except maybe in minor amount but I will do indoors too.

What do you mean they don't express their full characteristics in pots? They just won't get as big as directly in the ground.

 

[CannaZen]

Unless you’re my cat who brings them up to the house everyday. Sorry to hear about the voles eating seedlings.

Cat was doing that but stopped, so many. But I'm not seeing them as much the trash problem the trash was taken to the dump. @PadawanWarrior OK. We catch and release indoors quite a lot, it's not My household but poison seems inethical you ever od. Mice gonna love the hemp seed It just occurred to me. A large field of Hemp just yards from the house. .. but ty may be ill consider option. I think the problem is so bad this year they grew hemp last year nearby.
I thought to start in pots then transplant.

Mice and deer are the main problem I face going into farming in my state. We've seen rattle snakes more than one occasion where I want to farm. Ecology

 

[goingrey]

Traps?

 

[CannaZen]

What do you mean they don't express their full characteristics in pots? They just won't get as big as directly in the ground.

The soil and plant sizes/rootbound and indoors artificial light/climate. Edit it's not that outdoor open climate is the culprits I just think it's magical the way the plants work their way with pollination in the open, I believe I witnessed a ghost shot and indoors leads to lame plants, big agri creates monstrosity.. tldr I can't explain.

 

[CannaZen]

Traps?

Yes

 

[CannaZen]

I just want to check in.

 

[Creeperpark]

Get a cat.

 

[Old Piney]

I've been growing outside for about 45 years I've never had any luck with direct seeding in the ground. Most of the time the cutworms get them but a few times I believe it was slugs or perhaps vole mice because they were gone . It's best to start in a high safe place in small pots, They only need one or two sets of true leaves and then can be planted and safe from being killed from these little critters. I'm with you ,there is nothing like a big happy outdoor plant growing in nature. Best of luck!

 

[mr.brunch]

^^ definitely starting in pots until established is the way to go … if I remember planting directly was called the seed intensive method, something like 100 seeds per square foot as most will get eaten

 

[Nannymouse]

We've trapped, we've poisoned. NOTHING did as good as when a weasel moved into the farmyard.

 

[CannaZen]

Thanks everyone. I'll just have to take measures next time. Seedlings haven't lasted past a day I have 2 left in a pot. I guess I'll work with this. I were able to successfully do direct sowing before, I think this has worked out for the best anyway. I can do repro indoors but I wish to avoid that ill settle for outdoor pots today.

Because Where I planted them was a creepy crawly/compost area with a big patch of long rooted catnip that's came back over 4 years.

 

[TanzanianMagic]

Ive read people upset about slugs h
XD well I had like 6 seedlings sprout yesterday now they're all gone, somebody watered. I couldn't investigate. Well there's 2 there left now and 2 in a pot more might sprout. Idk bit late to plant more .I've got until Oct 15.

I just wanted to post about it and ask. Seedrun.

Making a fermentation with plants that contain alkaloids that slugs specifically don't like may be a good choice.

"One of the leading chemical functions of alkaloids in plants is the defense against predators and herbivores.25" (1)

"One of the leading chemical functions of alkaloids in plants is the defense against predators and herbivores.25" (1)

"both slugs and snails prefer food that does not contain quinolizidine alkaloids (QAs) (Wink Citation1984; Aguiar & Wink Citation1999, Citation2005)." (2)

When given a choice between low and high alkaloid containing strains:

"Choice tests concerning feeding by Helix aspersa (O.F. Müller) on plants of Lupinus albus L. showed that the snails rejected plants of bitter cultivars with high-alkaloid content, preferring the low-alkaloid sweet cultivars (Chevalier et al. Citation2000)." (2)

QA sources listed.

Sources:

(1) Quinolizidine-Type Alkaloids: Chemodiversity, Occurrence, and Bioactivity
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10413377/

(2) (TANDFONLINE) The role of alkaloids in the feeding behaviour of slugs (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora) as pests of narrow-leafed lupin plants
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09064710.2016.1259423