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A Message from Margaret Roach

The Urgent Garden Question Forum is part of A Way to Garden, but there is a difference between it and the blog itself. Stated simply:

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Attracting Pests?

This topic contains 3 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by eaglewings 4 years, 7 months ago.

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

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Author	Posts
October 9, 2008 at 5:54 am #17724
eaglewings
October 9, 2008 at 5:54 am #17725
eaglewings	I would like to start a compost pile, but I’m afraid of attracting rats. We live right next to the woods and a drainage ditch and already have to deal with rats in the greenhouse and shed that are next to the fence along the ditch. I would like to put the pile next to the greenhouse. I’ve had so much trouble with these rats, though, I’m starting to think I would be better off just not composting. Any ideas or comments? Thanks!
October 9, 2008 at 2:17 pm #17726
margaret	I have been plagued with every pest imaginable, but been spared rats so far. Phew! Usually they love places where they can get stuff like animal feed (as in barns) or birdseed and so forth. Sounds like whether you compost or not, you need to tackle the rats by your greenhouse, and reduce the population and stay on top of it. I am currently on a major mole-trapping campaign (using mousetraps) outdoors and in my basement; ditto with mice. Nasty, but necessary. As for composting and rats, I guess you mean you’re worried about composting your food scraps; yard waste should be fine, and are more likely to invite nesting than eating by rats. To make the pile an unattractive nest, moisten it regularly so it’s damp (but not sodden). Dry ingredients don’t break down, anyhow, so moistening is good for the composting process as well and damp piles are inhospitable to nesting rats. Yard waste is where most of the compost resources come from anyway; food scraps are a minority. Food scraps could be composted in an enclosed device such as a tumbler or bin, or in a hardware-cloth pen, or even easier make them unpalatable or inaccessible by burying them in the heap or ground, or sprinkling each layer of food scraps with a shovel of soil, which actually inoculates the compost with good organisms anyway. Again, Step 1: Get rid of the rats.
October 13, 2008 at 4:52 pm #17727
eaglewings	Thanks! Yes, to clarify, we don’t have them living in there anymore. But they are around, in the woods. I think I will wait another year and see how it goes before starting my pile…I’ve waited this long already… :(

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