Any experience / thoughts / advice / ideas that could help us be able to grow our lettuce and avoid having these little critters eat it all?
I’ve succeeded by using bird (more specifically pond) netting in a low tunnel above the lettuce… but still, some mice/chipmunks find a way in. It is a bother to have it covered covered all the time.
Wish there was something I could do to protect it that would be practical and effective.
We have live and snap traps and we are catching both mice and chipmunks daily… sigh…
Would planting bigger quantities allow me to share? I suspect they would just eat it all…
You could try sprinkling cayenne pepper around the plants. Supposedly it can help deter rodents. I don’t know for sure if it really works, but you can get big tubs of it for fairly cheap so it’s worth a shot.
I do have three dogs Seems the little critters are smarter than them… No, to be fair, we put them away at night or they would bark all night. That’s when the damage happens…
I’ve considered this, but then I don’t want cayenne in my lettuce…
I wonder if using some king of bird netting around the area where the lettuce is planted - I’ve read that the little animals hate it because they can get tangled.
Also, have thought that planting lots and lots of it, may provide enough for them and us… but somehow I refuse to do it…
Well I think it is safe to say that cayenne would probably work. I moved some straw that had cayenne sprinkled on it a couple of day ago (trying to keep rodents out of our potato bed) and I can say that it was not pleasant when the wind picked it up and blew it into my face. I can’t imagine how bad it would be if you were crawling through it directly.
Seems the little critters are smarter than them… No, to be fair, we put them away at night or they would bark all night. That’s when the damage happens…