Round Robin: Fight Mice with Filbert Nuts

NEWBERG, Oregon–In an earlier issue, I mentioned my trouble with mice eating my herb seed in the greenhouse, and I thought I’d bring you up to date on my progress. By chance, I discovered the fatal attraction, the final solution–filbert nuts. I had been complaining to my friend Joan about finding filbert shells brought in from the orchard and scattered under flats and between rows of potted herbs throughout the greenhouse. They were evidence that my cheese-baited traps weren’t working. She suggested that since filberts seemed to be the preference of our local mice, why not use the nutmeats as bait? I had tried so many other tactics that I was desperate. One day after baiting a trap with the nuts, I caught a mouse! For the next three weeks, I ­averaged one to three mice a day. I had had no idea that my mouse problem was that bad. Perhaps I was just luring them into the greenhouse with this new menu item.

It makes sense to use filberts as bait because the oils in the nutmeat last longer than cheese, but I am sorry that the traps also attracted a few hungry shrews, which pose no harm to my herbs and eat insects in the bargain. One day, a shrew no bigger than my thumb even came out from under a pot and nosed around my shoe.

Having dealt with my mouse problem, I cannot say enough about vigilance in greenhouse sanitation, especially constant weeding under the benches. I eliminate a lot of potential pest invasions by removing susceptible host plants of aphids, spider mites, and whitefly and possible winter homes for slugs. Sometimes I even recover the odd herb seedling that has sown itself under the bench from the stock plants above.

On the other hand, I intentionally use certain host plants to trap insect pests. I find that Nicotiana sylvestris and N. rustica, both members of the tobacco family and loaded with nicotine (a poisonous alkaloid), serve as particularly deadly attractants for aphids and fungus gnats. I situate them in pots strategically around the greenhouse.

In the herb garden, cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) is a good trap plant for black aphids. I would rather that the aphids congregated on it than my precious basil plants. There is nothing more satisfying on a hot summer night than a plump, sun-ripened tomato, sliced and topped with minced basil leaves in a dressing of oil and vinegar.

  • Published on Jan 22, 2010
Online Store Logo
Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368