Kitchen Garden Forum

I'm fortunate enought to be able to leave my carrots in the ground over winter. Apart from some slug damage and occasional carrot fly this has worked well up to now. But this year, and over the past week or so, many of my carrots have been pecked at or gnawed where the shoulder of the plant is just above the soil. The top part of the carrot is hollowed out and small pieces of carrot are scattered around the soil nearby. I'm hoping it is bird damage which I can combat using netting (I do this already against pheasants and wood pigeons that threaten my brassicas). But I fear it may be rodents. I don't have a rabbit problem and things like lettuces are not touched. Has anyone experienced this problem with carrots? Is it possible/likely to be birds? And if it is rats or mice how do you tackle them?

could be mice or rats, take your pick from , cat , traps, poison or shooting. traps are probably the best choice ,you are probably best off using the humane ones, the lethal spring type are only ok inside where you can be sure of keeping everything else out. good luck

richard p wrote:could be mice or rats, take your pick from , cat , traps, poison or shooting. traps are probably the best choice ,you are probably best off using the humane ones, the lethal spring type are only ok inside where you can be sure of keeping everything else out. good luck

Thanks. We lost our cat over the summer, so maybe there is a link. I have covered the raised carrot bed with fleece. This will not deter rodents so if the problem continues I will know that it is not birds, which of course would be easier to deal with. I would still be interested to know if anyone has experienced this problem from birds - pheasants or pigeons?