We've grown potatoes for years at our summer place in Maine. This year, though, there was lots and lots of damage from some gnawing critter. Probably mice? Castor oil is what I use to protect flower tubers, but I don't want to fill up my potato bed with poison. Any suggestions?
TIA
LAS
Rodents and potatoes
Mouse traps.....a resident garter snake like I had!
Is there a chance that traps might attract more rodents to the potato patch than are already there???
Early in the year I had a problem with voles (field mice). I cut-up some garlic tops and spread them around, and the voles disappeared. When I dug up my sweet potatoes last month, many of them had been gnawed down to nubs. I still harvested more sweets than we can use.
My suggestion is that you plant many more potatoes than you can eat and hope for the best. Preditors such as owls and snakes will hopefully keep the mouse population in check. Running a garden hose with water turned on full force down their tunnels also seems to discourage them!