"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"Cerumen" wrote after
"Bob Hobden" moaned...
Planted two rows of early peas and only one single plant has come up,
not
a sign of any others and I soaked them in White Spirit before planting.
Anyone got any good anti-mice advice that has worked for them?

Tiny little land mines? I am not sure white spirit would leave the seeds
viable anyway would it? I have never had a mouse/pea seed problem but
would think a less drastic cover up smell such as maybe a spray of air
freshener along the drill before covering the seeds might work.

The White Spirit seemed to work last year for the second sowing after the
little blighters did for the first sowing but it's had no effect this
year.
We haven't had a problem like this until we moved to this site where there
are no cats in the area, a neighbour on our last site had 27 some of which
were always to be seen mousing on the site so certainly no mice or rabbit
problem there.
As someone else suggests, I think we may try fine wire netting over the
seeds and see how it goes.

I don't think white spirit will work, since it evaporates quite quickly,
leaving not much trace. Wire netting prolly won't work because the varmints
mine from underground.

We always use paraffin for our peas, and our allotment has all the varmints
one would not want: mice, voles, fieldmice, moles, rats, and rabbits.

Soaking the peas in paraffin for a day before planting doesn't seem to harm
their germination rate but it does discourage the varmints. Paraffin costs
about £4 for 3 litres, so you need to find some friends to share it with,
since you'll only need a half cup to soak your peas and broad beans in.

s.