Protecting young trees against rodents

[John85]

The plastic protections sold in garden centers are effective against rabbits but not against field mice.They just make a hole in it and eat the bark inderneath causing the tree to die.
Is there something toxic that i can paint on the bark that is toxic for rodents but not for the tree.Lime paint does't work.

[Ulla Hansson]

Maybe you could try chicken wire around the trunk, the fine-mesh variety. If you wrap a few turns, so they should not access the bark. If they eat the roots, I have no good suggestions.

[Maggi Young]

This is a good question, because mice can be even more persistant than rabbits in their attacks.
What about coating the plastic with something horrible tasting, to stop the mice chewing the plastic in the first place?

But what to use?  Most things would be too easily washed off by rain, I suppose.
What about the  "anti-vandal" paint you can get to stop grafitti ( and even climbing on things?) etc... is it not supposed to remain somewhat "wet" or tacky ... this would be distasteful to mice, would it not?
(I ask this from a position of ignorance since I do not know how available such paint is, or its ingredients)

[ronm]

Red hot chilli pepper would stop the rascals. Suggest a coating of grease ( used to stop Winter Moths and the like ) and then a liberal coating of the hottest chilli you can find. They will eventually learn and find something more palatable to eat.
{I resisted my obvious answer to avoid all of the booing and hissing I got last time!}

[Maggi Young]

{I resisted my obvious answer to avoid all of the booing and hissing I got last time!}

You disappoint me, Ron... I was about to send you John's address so you could parcel up a couple of cats to help him out.....

[ronm]

Maybe a 'visiting' service could be of use. For a small donation of choice seed, NO MORE RODENTS!.

[ArnoldT]

A circular wrap of hardware cloth ( wire mesh) should do the trick.  Must be placed two to three inches below the soil line.  Has to be removed each year.

[John85]

Unfortunately wire mesh don't work:the devils use it like a ladder and eat the bark higher up.
Ron I think I need an army of cats working in shifts to assure a 24/7 guard.
Chilly pepper is organic but for once I prefer something that sends the field mice to mice paradise.There are plenty of oaks in the area and we had a bumper crop of acorns for three years and the population of small rodent rocketed!
Something more lethal than pepper please any suggestions?I have already put traps.

[ArnoldT]

John:

Anything with zinc phosphide in it.  We get a product called "Revenge" which has  corn kernels dusted with the stuff.

Works well, no secondary poisoning.

[ronm]

Sorry John, I am afraid I must adhere somewhat to a  novice Buddist approach. I believe if you can move them on then that is probably best ( i.e. out smart the rodents ). But if you feel the need to kill for revenge then I wish you well.

[Gerry Webster]

John:

Anything with zinc phosphide in it.  We get a product called "Revenge" which has  corn kernels dusted with the stuff.

Works well, no secondary poisoning.

Sounds like what we need for a certain A. Lansley.

[John85]

Ron to kill for revenge:what a awful idea!!!certainly not !If there is a need for controlling the number of rodents it is because there are no more predators.Here it is not like in some suburbs where there are more cats per square mile than mice.Our resident owl has been killed by a vehicle on the road and the foxes ,martens and weasels are killed by the hunters(not my choice).Even in broad day light you see the rodents carrying acorns.That may be a nice sight when there are two or three but it becomes a nightmare when there are hundreds of them!
I would prefer a more ecological way of controlling them.But if nowadays you can buy lady birds to control your aphids it is still not possible to go to the pet shop and buy a hedgehog for controlling your slugs or a couple of owls for the mice.

[ronm]

Hi John, Seems I misunderstood. My deepest apologies. . I do get very (some may say over- ) sensitive over people killing things for the sake of it or even for fun in the name of sport. You are absolutely 'spot on' about the damage thats been caused to the food web, leading to various plagues at various times. It seems that this is your situation and it must be pretty bad. There are grain based baits which will take care of your problem rapidly without any harmful effects on scavengers etc. I think these are what Arnold T has mentioned. They dehydrate the mice, causing death and what looks like mummification. Hope you can convince them to leave.

[ArnoldT]

You could alway trap humanely and relocate.

[John85]

Arnold it worked for......a few days.Now they are too clever.I catch only shrews.Luckely I can release them unharmed.As I am afraid that those free helpers may go elsewhere now I trap only in the attic!