If one of the main tips to control rodents is remove food sources what can you do when growing food?

Doesn't this just give them a 24/7 all you can eat buffet?

This thought only just dawned on me as I already know there are lots of rodents on the field. I see them scampering in the daytime, which I have been told are likely short tailed voles as they are supposedly active day and night.

Also when I started a compost pile above ground when I would come and look at it in the morning I would see it disturbed with bits moved all about in different directions from the pile.

To deal with this, since I have the space, I have since taken to trench composting. Although it is said that rodents will have no issues digging I have not found them to have done so to get to the compost, even though I only put a couple of inches of soil on top to cover it.

Now I suddenly thought when I come to grow actual food crops this is going to be feast time for rodents isn't it? Also it is at the perfect height for them to tuck in, so delivered on a silver platter.

I read an article about it the other day, which I think rather naively, recommended to just make enough food to feed yourself and the rodents. I doubt the writer, if they were even human, had dealt with such issues as they say, don't they, that the more food they have the quicker they will reproduce?

I am not wanting to exterminate. As per my name, I wish to keep a gentle touch. I doubt I could exterminate all rodents on a 2 acre field anyway without serious industrial poisons, not that I want to.

So how to manage the issue? Or is it possibly putting the cart before the horse and might not be as bad as I am envisioning? I do have that previous experience above though so it is not merely pie in the sky philosophizing.

 

The advice to remove food sources for a few weeks is usually given to gardeners who have bird feeders and find they have a rat problem. Most Pest Controllers recommend this method initially.
Growing your own food is a slightly different kettle of fish and is up to you depending on what rodents you actually have , how you protect your crops and how much "damage" you are prepared to accept.

 

Well that is the question how one protects the crops. I read on I think the RHS site last night that they simply gave the resignatory statement 'there is not much you can do about them getting on your crops'. Not saying they are right though. I have had some glimpses that there are things like rodent proof mesh but I wonder how effective it would be. Even if it deterred them somewhat it would be better than nothing I suppose depending on how much it cost for the benefit.

I am not too bothered about a nibble here and there. My main concern, as per the recommendation to remove food sources, is the risk that an abundant food supply could encourage an infestation.

I don't think it is only bird feeders but I also read that advice from the farming fields. Of course they would have the same issue with crops but I suppose in regards to them being around farm buildings.

Would have to wait and see though I guess as to the scale of the problem once things are growing. I just know that they are here and active already! which is expected of a field that wildlife of various kinds will live in it.

 

Voles and shrews should be encouraged. Your compost heap could be being disturbed by badgers or foxes, just gather it back up keep it damp and covered. I presume it's some form of bin or cage. Do not put domestic food waste in it, take your half eaten sandwiches with you when you go.
Not a fan of trench composting as my grandfather used to do it and you never knew when you were going to put a foot in his latest hole. Foxes and badgers may disturb your compost trenches
Rats have never bothered any of my growing crops and I would expect them to be more of a problem with stored crops.
Rats and mice tend to stick to their own trails and tend to avoid open spaces and stick to edges where there is cover. Rats are neophobes and do not like new things and tend to avoid them until they become used to them, so regularly moving things around upsets them.
Even if you had two acres of ripe wheat you would unlikely to have a significant infestation.
Get yourself a couple of cats or a dog (proper terrier) and take it with you everytime you go up there.
I think you are may be overthinking things and would wait until you see how things go; if you start to see problems then you can take action, but until then live and let live would be my philosophy.
You could get a trail camera and place it near your compost heap to record visitors.
As for storage of your crops you might want to give some thought to that, in what, where and how.

 

I have seen the telltale sausage shaped rodent droppings. Not on the compost specifically but when I would cook in the same area and must have been food crumbs around.

Not exactly a hard thing to avoid. Anyway I fill in as I go since as I mentioned I don't dig deep so it is just level and you wouldn't know where it is unless I told you. As I have enough land I can just bury lightly below the surface and and move outward and by the time the first stuff is mature I can dig it out and start the circle again. That is my plan anyway.

I see it like urban planning. When there is lots of space buildings go outwards, but when there isn't like in cities, they go upwards. I can afford to go outward.

I much prefer it to having a big open pile. Let the worms deal with it discreetly. Even though it is said to be slower I prefer it out of sight out of mind. Your grandfather did it after all so I am in good company.

Indeed. Plenty of other stuff to be getting on with!

Well that is also a wait and see thing isn't it. Have to grow something to store first! Might not get any produce on my first attempts!

 

Sounds as if you are living there, but that is more likely to attract rats.
With trench composting, once broken down don't you just dig it that area and then plant rather than remove the compost, worms and other things will have incorporated a lot of soil into anhd pulled material further down into the soil, thats one of the advantages of a compost heap barrow loads of compost.

You'd have been welcome to him: teetotal, Methodist Lay Preacher who, before a congregation on a Sunday could talk for over an hour, on the imagined sins of the flesh.

 

I long ago gave up trying to grow “human” food as it was inevitably eaten or half eaten before it was ready for human consumption. I don’t believe in killing things (even a tiny fly gets let out of the window) so my garden is full of apple and other fruit trees and bushes that are a food source for everything from bullfinches to badgers. Root vegetables and so on are a stranger to my garden.

 

Hmm, in direct contradiction to @NigelJ 's account!

 

Are English cats lazy or too well fed? My two spend every waking moment on the field next door, keeping the rodent population down. They jib at rats, though.

 

Nature is best when balanced. The creatures you have sharing your space are part of a cycle. That is, each has a place in the food chain. You can maintain that balance by adjusting the circumstances, to make conditions more or less favourable, without elimination.
For small rodents, reduce the amount of shelter; no junk, no hiding places, short vegetation, roosting places for avian predators and control food supply.
Rats need to be discouraged* completely. Mice can be a pain and field voles cause frustrations but are 'different' in so far as that they show little fear of you,;in fact will sit and watch your activities from a short distance. However they have no hesitation in chewing off stems and do so just to pass through a space, bit like small machete -wielding adventurers.
*lethal humane methods are available according to your expertise.....

 

Not really you asked about rodents, I replied about rodents.
However if you incude Rabbits, Badgers, Foxes, Pigeons, Peacocks, a variety of aphids, weevils, caterpillars, molluscs etc then @Tidemark is quite right and you cannot grow food without killing things.
Come winter my brassicas are holier than my paternal grandfather. A peacock makes a bit of a mess of a gooseberry bush when they jump on it and can easily wreck the entire strawberry patch in one go. Pigeons eat pea seedlings in fact any seedling that you want to grow any that are left are devoured by molluscs, blackfly will swarm over your broadbeans. A badger trying to climb a small apple tree is quite amusing until the tree snaps, fortunately I've never had rabbits.
To get a crop you either need high security fencing, electrified if badgers, rabbits or deer are a problem or simple netting to keep most birds of. Other things you generally have to exterminate with extreme prejudice using your chosen approach either organic or non organic.

 

You need to reinforce their gene-pool !

 

I included rats when I said that I don’t believe in killing things.

 

Our allotment has rats. They are currently living in our neighbours compost pile but there are 50 or so other plots where they can lurk. I don't find them a problem to be honest. We have more issues with muntjac, pigeons and molluscs.

The biggest issue with rodents is if you plant seeds directly into the soil. They love peas, radish and bean seeds, any largish seed really but once they are growing, apart from the early shoots, they don't do much damage.

Rats can be a pain with sweetcorn and the old boys down the allotment pee around their corn stands to deter them (you can also put an old sock over the ear of corn) and it seems to work. You have to be a male though and be bold enough to ask one.

 

Don’t pee on your socks though.