When we pulled back the frost cloth over the weekend there was a disgusting little surprise waiting to be discovered.
Rats had moved into a section of the greenhouse and begun to eat the fresh green Raunuculus tops down to the ground. Dang!
At least they haven’t discovered the corms and instead are focusing their attention on the part of the plant that can easily grow back.
Chris immediately dashed out and bought a case of traps. If we don’t get these guys under control now there’s no telling what kind of damage they'll do.
We got our first one last night. Boy are they big and healthy and … smart! 4 of the 5 traps were licked clean but not sprung. Hmmm?
I think it’s time to step up our game!
Eeew! I’m so glad Chris and Jasper enjoy this kind of adventure because the whole thing makes my skin crawl.
I had the same problem last year. I just put the smallest amount of peanut butter on the trap so they have to really touch the plate to get any off and when they do the trap gets them. Hope you get them all! : )
ReplyDeleteOh, good thinking! I think that may be my problem since we really loaded them with almond butter. The next round I'll try your approach. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI want to tour your farm and buy flowers from you!
ReplyDeleteMcKenzie, I'd love that!
ReplyDeleteOnce things get rolling you should come up.
A tip that really works for us is to glue a piece of dog food to the plate which makes it virtually impossible for them to remove without trapping them. We had a bad mouse infestation in our greenhouse a year ago, caught fourteen of them!!! Good luck, it's painful to see any ranunculus bite it.
ReplyDeleteooh, great idea.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to give this a shot. Thanks!!!