Dealing with rodents in the orchard

[Tikay Musiiwa]

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that some of my fruit trees were looking a bit stressed, and I couldn’t figure out why. I didn’t see any signs of disease, but then I found some chewed branches and tiny teeth marks on the bark. Rats!
 

I have a small orchard with apple and pear trees, and the last thing I want is rats damaging them. I thought about using traps or poison, but I have pets and was worried about safety. Plus, I didn't want to harm any of the other wildlife that wanders through. I needed something that would keep the rodents away without causing harm.
 

That’s when I remembered seeing a mouse repellent spray on Amazon. I figured I’d give it a try since it's made from natural ingredients and wouldn’t harm my trees. It’s got peppermint oil as the main ingredient, which is supposed to repel rodents. I sprayed it around the base of the trees, focusing on the areas where I saw signs of chewing.
 

The scent is pretty strong at first, but it fades pretty quickly. The best part is that it worked. I haven't seen any more signs of rats, and the trees are looking healthier already. It's been a couple of weeks, and the damage seems to have stopped. The trees are starting to recover, and there's no more chewing.

Edited April 25 by Tikay Musiiwa

[Paul in the woods]

Did you see the rats? The damage sounds more like voles to me, I've had voles nibble the top layer of bark off of some of my apple trees and keeping the vegetation away from the base of the trees stopped the damage.

[Peasgood]

I've had apple orchards all my life and have never seen a rat damaged apple tree. Once had a colony of rats in one of the orchards, much to my surprise, but no damage.

As said, voles are most likely and especially on young trees.Also as said, keeping the vegetation away from the base of the trunk cures that but not with a strimmer.

Rabbits and hares will make a real mess of your trees, I have acres of orchards and every tree has a wire netting guard on the trunk to protect against rabbits.

[Vedhoggar]

Voles. There are live traps and enclosed traps available but the repellent seems to be working. 

[AHPP]

On 25/04/2024 at 20:12, Tikay Musiiwa said:

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that some of my fruit trees were looking a bit stressed, and I couldn’t figure out why. I didn’t see any signs of disease, but then I found some chewed branches and tiny teeth marks on the bark. Rats!
 

I have a small orchard with apple and pear trees, and the last thing I want is rats damaging them. I thought about using traps or poison, but I have pets and was worried about safety. Plus, I didn't want to harm any of the other wildlife that wanders through. I needed something that would keep the rodents away without causing harm.
 

That’s when I remembered seeing a mouse repellent spray on Amazon. I figured I’d give it a try since it's made from natural ingredients and wouldn’t harm my trees. It’s got peppermint oil as the main ingredient, which is supposed to repel rodents. I sprayed it around the base of the trees, focusing on the areas where I saw signs of chewing.
 

The scent is pretty strong at first, but it fades pretty quickly. The best part is that it worked. I haven't seen any more signs of rats, and the trees are looking healthier already. It's been a couple of weeks, and the damage seems to have stopped. The trees are starting to recover, and there's no more chewing.

Are you a robot?

[Dan Maynard]

With Amazon link......

[Doug Tait]

Wondered the same but didn't think a bot would edit posts.

[Dan Maynard]

I think the dodgy links get edited in after the post is approved.

[AHPP]

I need a better Asimov challenge. That one has never got a reply. You could argue the lack of reply is the proof but it doesn't feel conclusive enough. I want to force the thing into admitting it's a robot.

[manco]

"rodents in the orchard" 

arent we meant to call them travellers now?