[diggin@diggle]

Hello
Someone on our allotments says that he soaks his peas in parafin before sowing them.
Has anyone heard of this and what does it do to them, or is he just winding me up

Thanks

John

[sunshineband]

Some people do this to deter mice from eating the peas 

[NigelB]

It's a genuine thing. No wind-up.
Personally I would prefer pouring the paraffin straight on to the mice and chasing them with a naked flame... But hey, I'm sure someone will think it cruel....

[Jamie Butterworth]

Would this be an organic way of detering mice, and do the mice even need detering, sorry if ive hijacked your thred

[sunshineband]

Would this be an organic way of detering mice, and do the mice even need detering, sorry if ive hijacked your thred

Which one, flaming them or poisoning them? 

[Jamie Butterworth]

Soaking the peas in the parafin before hand 

[sunshineband]

Probably not really organic as parafin isn't 

[Jamie Butterworth]

Probably not really organic as parafin isn't 

Thought so, thanks anyway 

[sunshineband]

Better to germinate peas in guttering and transfer to ground after ward if there are big problems with mice IMHO 

Each to their own though 

[NigelB]

Which is exactly what I do. 
Then I just slide them off into a pre-prepared trench to grow away...

Mine, in the greenhouse, are just starting to show through the compost.

[Jamie Butterworth]

Sorry but anouther newbie question, are peas like sweet peas then when it comes to the roots, that they dont realy like root disturbance?

[Cazzy]

I soaked my peas in parafin today, we have a mice problem, they love sprouting peas.  Germinating them in the greenhouse isn't an option as they get in there too.

It is my understanding that the parafin doesn't poison the mice, it just disguises the smell of the fresh sprouting peas and they don't realise they are there.

[diggin@diggle]

Thanks everyone
If its only for deterring mice I won't bother as they don't eat my peas.
My sweetcorn though is a different matter, they enjoyed  that

Any tips for corn?

[mumofstig]

I find it's just easier to cover everything with fleece or enviromesh, just laid over the soil and weighted down, seems to stop them getting eaten by anything Once they are up I take the covering off as they're ok then.

[bigben]

last year was my first growing peas - I did the guttering method and put it into a cold frame but came back a couple of days later to a row of perfect little holes where the mice had dug up all the peas. There must have been a tiny hole for them to get into the coldframe.
The mice seem to not bother with the peas once they are growing (until they can steal from the pods of course) I found soaking them in water overnight helped to get them germinating and reduced the window between sowing and them starting to grow during which the mice seem to be most destructive.