[crh75]

Hi,
I went down to the plot yesterday to pick, amongst other things, some beetroot.  I was surprised to find about 50cm of the row were all hollowed out.  The beetroot looked perfectly normal on top but all but the skin was completely gone.  Does this seem like a rodents work?
Chris

[Goosegirl]

Naughty slugs???

[crh75]

It didn't seem like slugs work to me.

[Kleftiwallah]

I don't think they work either, they just slither around eating my veggies.      Cheers,    Tony.

[shoozie]

Voles are the main culprits here - hollowed out our beetroot better than any stonemason, leaving the tops and tails, and a few perfect hollow carcasses.  they moved over to the autumn kings and perfected their chisel skills some more 

[Salmo]

Voles or long tailed field mice are almost certainly to blame. You should be able to see their tooth marks. They will also hollow out carrots and parsnips. Often start underground so you do not notice until you dig them. Fieldmice are the ones that also steal broad beans and peas.

[rowlandwells]

have you thought about lifting your beetroot before the winter sets in we always take our crop off the Lottie we freeze most of it and use as required

or you could store them in sand till needed

[Willie_Eckerslike]

I still have a row of about 20 in the ground. Must lift them tomorrow.

[crh75]

Thanks for all you replies.

Someone else on the plot mentioned we had voles a while a go, so that seems likely.  I better harvest them and the parsnips soon.

I've never had this problem before and been on the plot for six or seven years now.