What's happening in your fridge?

[Maggi Young]

Holy moly, Tony, if you think mice can be deterred by strong paper and sloping sides to a box you must  have a truly wimpish race of mice.... mine would just be laughing at you, from inside the box!

 Sounds like you had a great visit to Wisley...... no pictures to  share?

[SteveC2]

Strong paper and sloping sides might not deter mice, but my four cats certainly do.  Here's Toby and George standing guard.  The rule is if I'm inside then at least one of the four is on top, usually trying to get through the window. The downside is the occasional toppled pot and don't get me started about the herbicidal effects of cat urine.
Then again most of the local wood mice seem to spend the winter in my garage feasting on apples, potatoes and fishing nets.
All this is a bit off at a tangent I know, but it's very wet and utterly miserable here at the moment!  
To inject a serious note I've only had one Pleione bulb attacked by what I thought was a mouse.  A huge chunk taken out of a praecox which nevertheless survived.  Do they really like them?

[Maggi Young]

I'm not entirely sure that mice like pleiones to eat, what I do know is that they are liable to munch on pretty much anything you don't want chewed. 

Toby and George look serious mousers, for sure! 

[Darren]

I've never used a fridge for my Pleiones. I stick them under the bench in the frost-free greenhouse. They do get slight frosts now and then but are not harmed. I know for sure that they survived several consecutive nights below -4C the first winter after we moved and I had no heating available.

Some of mine are on the floor this year, in their pots, due to space issues and so far I've caught 7 mice this winter but no damage to the Pleione is evident. I think that it is because there is much more tempting fare on offer!  Most years the first obvious damage is chewed shoot tips from newly emerging tulips (in pots), or sometimes chunks bitten from assorted Mesembs.

[Maren]

I've only had one Pleione bulb attacked by what I thought was a mouse.  A huge chunk taken out of a praecox which nevertheless survived.  Do they really like them?

In can confirm that mice like pleiones:

1) For eating: Pleione aurita is their favourite. Because the bulbs are so large, they don't eat them in their pots but take them away into their larders. For that reason I cover all my aurita trays with see through seed cover lids until the plants are well rooted.

2) For playing with: any pleione in spring, when they knock them over and sometimes right out of their pots.

3) For being a ruddy nuisance: doing the harvest dance across pleione beds festooned with bulbils. The bulbils attach to their furs and are spread all over the place. That's why I no longer sell pleiones I haven't seen in flower. You never know what you are going to get after the pesky rodents have had their fun.

I catch about two a day, crunchy nutella is what they like - and potato chips.

PS this is going off topic a bit, but i was answering a question. do we need a mouse thread???

[Maggi Young]

  do we need a mouse thread???

 Probably don't need a "dedicated" mouse thread..... these digressions about assorted peats (and diseases) come up from time to time in all the pages 
Who'd be a grower? 

[Slug Killer]

I had a customer complain about the fact a mouse stole her Pleione forrestii, she did not think it was funny when I replied I'd been training it for years to bring them back

[Brian]

do we need a mouse thread???

I think the 'thread' I would have used would be spelled G A R R O T T E !!!!

On a serious note though I did start using an electric ultrasonic device in the garage where I store my pleiones over the winter.  I can't hear it  but I haven't seen signs of them for a few years now.

[angie]

do we need a mouse thread???

On a serious note though I did start using an electric ultrasonic device in the garage where I store my pleiones over the winter.  I can't hear it  but I haven't seen signs of them for a few years now.

Same here. I bought one after my last cat died of old age ( the last one of four ) I haven't had any mice in the garage since I plugged it in  I prefer having the cats but don't like the heartache when a pet dies.
I was thinking the other day when I read that a snowdrop bulb fetched £350 could you imagine a mouse coming along and eating that one little bulb.

Angie

Angie

[SteveC2]

Part of the reason that I contributed my catty comment in reply to the mice tangent was that I thought that the fridging time was pretty much coming to an end, at least in the UK, so perhaps the thread had run its course.  In the recent mild weather my Lincolnshire based pleione have pretty much gone crazy.  Forrestii have gone from total dormant to the verge of flowering in a matter of days, so have my Eiger.  Sure many are still dormant but given the growth spurt in the others I thought that I'd best pot the rest up.  Shame about next week's forecast of slightly colder weather.
So here's a question, other than delaying them for shows, when would you stop fridging and are there any that you would leave in the fridge longer than others?  (I'm thinking perhaps hookeriana.)

[Slug Killer]

As I don't use a fridge I can't comment but I know some people do advise giving hookeriana a longer cold spell. However I don't and had 22 flower for me last year.

[Tony Garthwaite]

Well Steve, Lincolnshire is a very long county. I can only assume you are in the South of the county where it is possibly warmer .....being nearer to the North East of the county, my Pleione are still in their winter hibernation .......... and still no sign of mice!

Now, Maggie, on a different tack ...... which forum would you like photos from the Wisley Alpine House?

Tony

[SteveC2]

To Tony,
I'm in Sleaford, (which is in the middle to those who don't know and why should you?)  My wife visited Market Rasen in the cold spell and reckoned it was 4-6 degrees colder up there, and we had far less snow, so yes it is warmer down here.

To David, I knew that you were going to say that, because I'd discussed it with you when I bought mine. (2 out of 5 flowered even though you said they were fs-1, many thanks)  But people still keep telling me that I've got to keep them very cold.

[Graham Catlow]

13 days from saying nothing is really happening in the fridge, I had to pot up forrestii, humilis, pleionoides and the 'Fuego' yesterday. They had made amazing growth. My hookeriana have started to show signs of growth so I won't be able to leave them much longer either. So much for them requiring longer rest!! So even if they are in a fridge it seems that they will grow when they are ready, even if the books and experience say they shouldn't.

It was late March/early April last year that forrestii flowered. I don't think it will be that late this year.

[Maggi Young]

Now, Maggie, on a different tack ...... which forum would you like photos from the Wisley Alpine House?

Tony

In the Alpine Section, please, Tony 
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?board=2.0

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