Holes in raised beds and greenhouse

Can't identify that mould? Got a great tip for keeping slugs at bay? Suggestions for organic weed control? Post them here...

Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic
HelenH
KG Regular
Posts: 61
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2006 8:19 am
Location: Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire

Raised bed hole.jpg
Raised bed hole.jpg (314.53 KiB) Viewed 3632 times


Can anyone give me advice as to what may be creating holes like the one shown in my attached photo. There are about three such holes in my veg raised beds in addition to a couple in my adjacent greenhouse. There has been a mole in the raised beds before now but not sure they create "hill-less" holes. Thanks!
Top
Monika
KG Regular
Posts: 4546
Joined: Thu Jul 06, 2006 8:13 pm
Location: Yorkshire Dales

Fieldmice or bank voles, Helen? They certainly dig similar holes in search for food, peas or beans for instance, though your crop looks like lettuce.
Top
User avatar
oldherbaceous
KG Regular
Posts: 13859
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2006 1:52 pm
Location: Beautiful Bedfordshire
Has thanked: 280 times
Been thanked: 315 times

Evening Helen, we have the same thing on our allotment, "something has taken over the old mole runs". I would say it is either mice or voles. They are a bit of a pain, as the keep nibbling the young pea shoots off.
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

There's no fool like an old fool.
Top
User avatar
Geoff
KG Regular
Posts: 5582
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 5:33 pm
Location: Forest of Bowland
Been thanked: 135 times

I agree voles. Hope you aren't growing strawberries, they love them. Found a big one stuck in a hole entrance one day that it hadn't managed to pull underground. If you start losing stuff you'll have to resort to careful trapping.
Top
User avatar
The Mouse
KG Regular
Posts: 702
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:47 am
Location: Northampton

I hate to tell you this, but those are exactly the type of holes that the moles leave in my garden! For years, based on everything I read, I thought it must be voles or something similar, but the 18 moles I caught last year and the 4 (or 5 - I'm losing track now) so far this year have well and truly destroyed that theory.

Mine don't leave hills either. I think it must be something to do with the soil type - we have very light, quite sandy but very stony soil, and they seem to be able to displace it to make their tunnels without having to resort to hills.
Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.
Mark Twain
Top
Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Return to “Weeds, Pests and Diseases”