After what appeared to be a week free of rat activity in the greenhouse I got to work this morning to find a rat caught in the live trap. This is rat number six that I've caught and since the environmental pest control office came and put poison down there has been a terrible smell of rotting flesh in the hot house so goodness knows how many there were to start with. It's certainly not been a pleasant environment to be in this Autumn not to mention the damage done to plants both through what they have done and from neglect due to not being able to work in there properly. For the first time ever that I'm aware of we have had a proper company taking care of controlling these pests and this has turned out to be the worst time ever for them around the greenhouses. I think the trouble is that the company has been reactive rather than preventative. I told them when they came to look round where the rats go every year but instead of having precautions in place for when the rats arrive they showed up two months after the first ones were spotted which has enabled the rats to get established. But it's the same old story, being a stupid gardener what do I know.
Most of the rest of the day was spent in the potting shed potting up Sweet Pea and Scotts Pine seedlings. I wanted to get these done for the holidays so as to avoid any damping off problems should they arise. The Sweet Pea were ready for potting on anyway as their roots would soon have been tangling together.
6 comments:
I thought at first glance THAT rat was a large rabbit, but surprise :)
He's a big lad !
The tree looks splendid, I can only imagine what it will look like when it's fairy lights and baubles hang from each branch.
~Jo
That is a good sized rat. When my late husband and I were on our 6 acre property I did a bit of trapping, rats but mainly possums. We used a similar trap but then moved on to a "Timms" trap which was an instant kill. It was then just a matter of burying them. That tree will be magnificent when decorated. I assume from what you said that the property is just used "for holidays"
I will have to see if I can get a peek through the window when it's decorated Jo.
Hello Susan, Trapping is not something I enjoy and would go looking to trap anything but really it's impossible to work in the greenhouse with that lot in there. The gentleman stays here at some point most weeks but as a family it's mostly holidays and some weekends as they have interests in other places also.
that looks like an actual natural tree. can't get those here anymore since all christmas trees now come from farms that prune them into perfect conical shapes. very unnatural looking in my opinion. I planted two packages of sweet pea seeds a week or so ago that were about two years old and yesterday I noticed 7 had sprouted so far.
I have been told that everything has a purpose but I find them to be the most disgusting creatures and have trapped many in the years here.
Post a Comment