Moles / Voles
 

Will they eat seeds? It is so damn cold here this year I don't know if the seeds didn't germinate or if something ate them. I just replanted everything. Still haven't put the peppers in, they are better off in the greenhouse. Our frost date is April 15 yet I have never planted later than April 1. Is it cold everywhere?

Moles / Voles
 

said:
Will they eat seeds? It is so damn cold here this year I don't know if the
seeds didn't germinate or if something ate them. I just replanted
everything. Still haven't put the peppers in, they are better off in the
greenhouse. Our frost date is April 15 yet I have never planted later than
April 1. Is it cold everywhere?

Moles will not eat seeds, but can push up the soil and disturb the roots
enough to damage emerging seedlings.

Voles will eat some seeds but their main diet is vegetation (leaves, flowers,
fruits, shoots, roots, bulbs and tubers).

What often causes seeds to fail in cool, damp conditions are insects (seed
maggot, wireworms) and fungus. I've had problems myself with seed
maggots:

http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/444/444-231/444-231.html

And yes, large parts of US have had much colder than normal temperatures
this winter, compared to the recent past. On the other hand, some areas
of the US (and the world) have been *much warmer* than normal.

http://www.un-spider.org/about-us/ne...l-temperature-
anomalies-us-and-europe

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"Yes, swooping is bad."

email valid but not regularly monitored

Moles / Voles
 

On Friday, April 25, 2014 8:29:59 AM UTC-4, Pat Kiewicz wrote:
said:

Will they eat seeds? It is so damn cold here this year I don't know if the

seeds didn't germinate or if something ate them. I just replanted

everything. Still haven't put the peppers in, they are better off in the

greenhouse. Our frost date is April 15 yet I have never planted later than

April 1. Is it cold everywhere?



Moles will not eat seeds, but can push up the soil and disturb the roots

enough to damage emerging seedlings.



Voles will eat some seeds but their main diet is vegetation (leaves, flowers,

fruits, shoots, roots, bulbs and tubers).



What often causes seeds to fail in cool, damp conditions are insects (seed

maggot, wireworms) and fungus. I've had problems myself with seed

maggots:



http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/444/444-231/444-231.html



And yes, large parts of US have had much colder than normal temperatures

this winter, compared to the recent past. On the other hand, some areas

of the US (and the world) have been *much warmer* than normal.



http://www.un-spider.org/about-us/ne...l-temperature-

anomalies-us-and-europe



--

Pat in Plymouth MI



"Yes, swooping is bad."



email valid but not regularly monitored

What about Pepper plants? I planted 10 and they were gone. I planted another 1 yesterday as a test and this morning it is gone. I have never had anything eat pepper plants. I am so frustrated
MJ

Moles / Voles
 

Moles / Voles
 

On Tuesday, April 29, 2014 8:21:54 AM UTC-4, Pat Kiewicz wrote:
said:



What about Pepper plants? I planted 10 and they were gone. I planted

another 1 yesterday as a test

and this morning it is gone. I have never had anything eat pepper plants.. I

am so frustrated



Is there anything left, like a stump or bare stem? Did you plant into

a freshly cleared bed?



The pest that is most likely to take out new transplants (in my garden) is

the cutworm. Two tactics I use to limit the threat is to completely clear

a bed of weeds and litter one week before I set out transplants. The other

is (with larger transplants) to wrap the stems with a strip of newspaper

when I set them out. For smaller transplants, you could cut the bottom off

a yogurt tub and push it down into the soil to create a 'wall' around the

plant.



(For some reason my newsreader keeps claiming there are no unread

messages in this group, so I finally just asked for the dozen most recent

and found your post.)



--

Pat in Plymouth MI



"Yes, swooping is bad."



email valid but not regularly monitored

It is not cut worm. I talked to the extension office today. Apparently the black plastic I used to cover the gardens for the winter made these critters very happy. Also because the weeds were not as prevalent we didn't use the tiller this spring. So now with the plants they are fat, dumb and happy. We have built cages and have set out about 10 plants for now. We bought some traps and will use them as soon as these North Carolina storms are done with us. They were set last night and the rain tripped all of them. I was also told that Rat poison will work too.
Thanks for your insight. These newsgroups are on their way out so I am told.. I guess it is just us old die hard's hanging on.
MJ