A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Help mice killing my veggies.

I live in a condo. We plant all of our veggies in pots. This year we planted strawberries, tomatoes, green beans, lettuce, herbs, and a bunch of different kinds of hot peppers. This is the first year I have had problems with critters. The mice killed the strawberries, and have now killed the green beans. I have tried mouse traps. They are not catching them. I have tried sprinkling crushed red pepper on the dirt. Please if anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them.

I have never heard of this before. How do you know it's mice? Have you seen them?

One thing that comes to mind if it is indeed mice is that they must be seriously stressed (thirsty probably), and that might be because the population has exploded. And exterminator? A cat?

Good luck!

Yes I have seen them. They ate a bunch of plants that I started from seeds. If I leave the curtains open at night I will see them. I've tried to shoot them with a air soft gun. But as soon as I open my sliding glass door they take off.

This is just weird. And the more I think about it the weirder it gets.

Several things come to mind. First off, I'd call an exterminator. If there are so many mice that you can see them, and you live in a condo not out in the boonies, then you have too many mice. If an exterminator isn't an option, get some mice bait. Every five & dime (Family Dollar, etc.), WalMart, and hardware store sells it. Comes in a little cardboard box (maybe 2" x 3"). You open the box & the mice think it's food, but it's poison. Place these strategically around you deck or patio. (But IF there are cats in your neighborhood, you probably shouldn't do this, as it's poison for all mammals.)

Where are you located, generally speaking? Is it a very urban area? Have you had frequent rains recently? Or are you in a draught?

My thought is that you have a population explosion going on, and as I said, they are eating your plants to get the water in the plants. If you've had potted veggies & such before, and this is the first year you've had problems, that sort of supports my line of reasoning here.

Next thought: can you get some bird netting and wrap your plants in it? Bird netting has holes that are too small for even a mouse to scoot through. (I wouldn't use chicken wire. Too big.)

Yup, mouse traps or borrow a cat for a week or two.

It has not rained much the last few months. Their are many many wild cats around my neighbor hood. I live in the suburbs. Mouse traps have not worked. Last night I even put the traps in the planter box that the lettuce is in. I'm using peanut butter. The trap is not a regular snap trap. It is an enclosed snap trap. I do not think its a lot of mice just 1 or 2. At night if i leave my curtains open I can see them sometimes. I tried to get them with an airsoft gun but as soon as I went to open the sliding glass door they took off.