Strange Pea problem - predator or what?

11 years ago

Hi. Last year, for the first time, my healthy green peas, during or just before blooming, were being cut off at ground level. The stems were strong, everything was healthy. This doesn't sound like some kind of disease, where the stems are weakened where they meet the soil.

Would mice do this? There's no rabbits last year due to my, heh, heh, diligent, rabbit-proofing.

This year, I think that instead of seeding my peas in a row, I'll seed in little clusters here and there throughout the garden. I mean, why make it easy for whatever this is.

Tks.

Featured Answer

zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin

11 years ago

Yes, Blue_skink, I suspect that a heavy layer of mulch contributes to the vole problem, by offering a welcome habitat. In a normal year, I use between 20-25 bales of hay for mulch, plus whatever grass clippings I can gather. Plant spacing that results in a dense canopy doesn't help either... but the benefits of both outweigh the (admittedly aggravating) increase in voles.

Of course, it doesn't help having wild spaces - and in one place a wood pile! - near the gardens. Those wild spaces, too, have their benefits, by supporting a healthy population of beneficial insects & insectivorous birds. Oh, and that wood pile sometimes is a place for feral cats to raise their brood; those years, there is hardly a mouse to be found.

Then again, sometimes a wood chuck moves in... (sigh)... vegetable gardening is always a battle against the natural order. Fortunately, I win more battles than I lose.

I doubt those plastic sleeves would be much use against voles... they would either dig under, climb over, or just bite the plant off further up. One year, they were climbing my yardlong vines, harvesting the ripening seed 3-4 feet off the ground! The sleeves might help reduce the damage caused by cutworms, though. I seldom see those here, but when I lived in SoCal, I could dig around the base of my plants and find dozens. If they are a serious problem, periodic spraying with BT should keep their numbers down to something tolerable. Sprinkling diatomaceous earth (DE) around the base of the plants being damaged might be helpful too.

As for the new Houzz... I'm not crazy about the change, but considering that the alternative was shutting down the site, I'll deal with it. The company here, and the friendly atmosphere, are the things that matter. The site itself is just window dressing.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (11)

aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
11 years ago
Could be cutworms, this happened to me one year with pole beans, they were right up the pole and starting to flower, every plant had been cut off at soil level.

Annette
zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin
11 years ago
Sounds like voles. They have done that to some of my peas, sometimes destroying most of the row... but usually not until pods appear. I would suggest putting out a few mouse traps in your patch, that has been very effective for me in preventing vole damage. Place them under the foliage, where the voles make their runs (I mark trap locations with survey flags). My traps caught about 50 voles last summer, mostly under my tomato plants... hard to imagine how much damage they might have done had I not caught them early.
Related Professionals
Fort Myers Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Kissimmee Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Palm Bay Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Keene Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Georgetown Landscape Contractors · Saint Cloud Landscape Contractors · Hilo Landscape Contractors · Anchorage Landscape Contractors · Cowansville Landscape Contractors · Houma Home Additions · Westminster Home Additions · Oxford Home Additions · Danville Home Additions · Newport News Home Additions · Rutland Home Additions
blue_skink
11 years ago
Hi, Kids. Thanx for your replies! Aftermidnight - it's me, Bettie, in MB, who you gave some Little White Rice bean seeds to.

I was not aware that cutworms could possible chew their way into such tough, firm stalks. I am amazed that they did so with your pole beans - which are larger than my little pea plants. Will wonders never cease. So maybe it's cutworms with my peas, too.

Zeedman - it certainly could be voles, too. Lots of them around here! Thank you v. much for your information. 50 - that's lots and only the ones you caught. I think that the use of mulch could be one reason they are taking over my garden; any opinion? It gives them a cozy spot to reproduce and set up their nests.

You know those cylindrical plastic things they put around the base of newly planted little trees; I wonder if there's a smaller version available for garden plants. Anyone know? I use old zinc sealer rings for other crops, but they wouldn't be useful, I don't think, for voles though they would for cutworms.

What do y'all think of the new houzz version of gardenweb?
aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
11 years ago
Hi, back at you Bettie, glad to "see" you here :). Let me know how the Little White Rice do for you, I grew mine in hanging baskets due to lack of space for bush beans, needless to say didn't have enough to use in the dry state but they made tasty little snaps.
Annette
blue_skink
11 years ago
Hi, Zeed. Many thanks for all that info. DE - I'd forgotten about that stuff. Good suggestion.

Hi, Aftermidnight. We'll see how it goes with the little white rice beans! Tks. again!
blue_skink
10 years ago
Aftermidnight, the rice beans dried on the plants, so now I just have to do the labour of extracting them from their hard pods.
aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
10 years ago
LOL, have fun. I shell the dry bean pods sitting in front of the TV, in a container with high sides now. The cat is still chasing the odd bean from last year around the floor, most likely she fishes them out from under the bookcase. Some put hard to shell beans in a sack and stomp on them a few times.
blue_skink
10 years ago
Ha ha ha! These little beanlets are the hardest to shell. What do you do with your beans? Cook them or sprout them or what.
aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
10 years ago
Bettie, we eat them as green beans, tender and sweet :).
blue_skink
10 years ago
Hi. After trying to shell these hard as rock little buggers one by one, I decided to soak them pods & all, then just kind of knead them till the beanlets popped out. Worked good. Now, I am soaking the beans for soup, I guess. Will decide tomorrow!