ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Tomatoes and mice!!!
I spent some years on a farm and we had a big garden, and I continued to garden for years at our homes, but my motivation dwindled due to fighting the pests (big and small and microscopic). But we've kept up with herbs, small space, long harvest season, little care, economically a big bang for the buck, and most pests leave them alone (though I scan the parsley and dill daily, caterpillars strip those in no time, but I just pick them off as I spot them).
But DW wanted tomatoes, I'm approaching it as a hobby. The place we moved to doesn't really have a good space for a garden, so we got a big container, and I told her start with cherry tomatoes, they are more reliable. I wrapped the entire thing in chicken wire 3 feet up, and fashioned a wire top for it to keep birds and squirrels out. Looks awful, but it is tucked away on the side of the house, and so far, so good.
Things were going OK, the first ones finally turning red, and the other morning I see one of them is 1/4 eaten! Arghhhh. Must be mice, they could easily get through the chicken wire. I suppose I could wrap that with a fine mesh, but I think mice would just chew through that?
I read all the typical tips - garlic, chili pepper, peppermint, blah-blah-blah. But, when you look for actual evidence that these work, it is generally "no proof", or an outright "no". The "Mouse Trap Monday" guy on youtube showed peppermint oil to work, but it was a LOT of oil in a small confined space - I doubt you could get that concentrated in an open room, let alone outside. And some say mice adapt quickly, and will learn to ignore that smell - I dunno.
Any suggestion on mesh? Other tips known to work (not just repeating echo chamber web comments)? I think I'll set out a bunch of traps, I don't want them trying to get into the house this fall anyhow, so that could help there too (I did find and seal an entry point between garage and basement after we moved in, cleaned up everything, keep traps out and no sign of mice in the basement since - but I have caught a few in the garage, but got them before they managed to find another way into the basement).
TIA - ERD50
I spent some years on a farm and we had a big garden, and I continued to garden for years at our homes, but my motivation dwindled due to fighting the pests (big and small and microscopic). But we've kept up with herbs, small space, long harvest season, little care, economically a big bang for the buck, and most pests leave them alone (though I scan the parsley and dill daily, caterpillars strip those in no time, but I just pick them off as I spot them).
But DW wanted tomatoes, I'm approaching it as a hobby. The place we moved to doesn't really have a good space for a garden, so we got a big container, and I told her start with cherry tomatoes, they are more reliable. I wrapped the entire thing in chicken wire 3 feet up, and fashioned a wire top for it to keep birds and squirrels out. Looks awful, but it is tucked away on the side of the house, and so far, so good.
Things were going OK, the first ones finally turning red, and the other morning I see one of them is 1/4 eaten! Arghhhh. Must be mice, they could easily get through the chicken wire. I suppose I could wrap that with a fine mesh, but I think mice would just chew through that?
I read all the typical tips - garlic, chili pepper, peppermint, blah-blah-blah. But, when you look for actual evidence that these work, it is generally "no proof", or an outright "no". The "Mouse Trap Monday" guy on youtube showed peppermint oil to work, but it was a LOT of oil in a small confined space - I doubt you could get that concentrated in an open room, let alone outside. And some say mice adapt quickly, and will learn to ignore that smell - I dunno.
Any suggestion on mesh? Other tips known to work (not just repeating echo chamber web comments)? I think I'll set out a bunch of traps, I don't want them trying to get into the house this fall anyhow, so that could help there too (I did find and seal an entry point between garage and basement after we moved in, cleaned up everything, keep traps out and no sign of mice in the basement since - but I have caught a few in the garage, but got them before they managed to find another way into the basement).
TIA - ERD50