Can anyone tell me whether Jeyes fluid, meths or white spirit will be
any good to soak my peas in case it is mice eating them.
Thanks Sacha for the suggestion of sharing the paraffin but most
people have their peas up now, so maybe it was not mice at all.
However, I would like to try something.
Help please!

Pam in Bristol

In article ,
Pam Moore writes:
|
| Can anyone tell me whether Jeyes fluid, meths or white spirit will be
| any good to soak my peas in case it is mice eating them.
| Thanks Sacha for the suggestion of sharing the paraffin but most
| people have their peas up now, so maybe it was not mice at all.
| However, I would like to try something.
| Help please!

Well, not meths - that evaporates too fast.

Frankly, I would use none of those. My problem is that they often
rot before germination, and the problem is probably fungal and
possibly bacterial. This is far more common in the UK than most
people realise, because a cold, wet spell after they have started
to germinate is Bad News.

I soak them overnight (or overday), put them in a bleach solution
for a short while, and germinate them in shallow Pyrex dishes on
a couple of layers of kitchen roll moistened with the bleach
solution. I cover the whole thing with cling film. Once they
have started, I sow them as normal.

This year, by sugar pears have done OK, but my snap peas have
done rather badly. Still, it is better than the 90+% failure rate
I get if I sow them directly into the soil.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 3 Jun 2008 20:17:23 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:


In article ,
Pam Moore writes:
|
| Can anyone tell me whether Jeyes fluid, meths or white spirit will be
| any good to soak my peas in case it is mice eating them.
| Thanks Sacha for the suggestion of sharing the paraffin but most
| people have their peas up now, so maybe it was not mice at all.
| However, I would like to try something.
| Help please!

Well, not meths - that evaporates too fast.

Frankly, I would use none of those. My problem is that they often
rot before germination, and the problem is probably fungal and
possibly bacterial. This is far more common in the UK than most
people realise, because a cold, wet spell after they have started
to germinate is Bad News.

I soak them overnight (or overday), put them in a bleach solution
for a short while, and germinate them in shallow Pyrex dishes on
a couple of layers of kitchen roll moistened with the bleach
solution. I cover the whole thing with cling film. Once they
have started, I sow them as normal.

This year, by sugar pears have done OK, but my snap peas have
done rather badly. Still, it is better than the 90+% failure rate
I get if I sow them directly into the soil.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


Thanks Nick
That's even better advice than I was anticipating. I'll try that.


Pam in Bristol