4 ways to combat rat problems in the garden
Controlling rats is as ambitious as understanding the meaning of life, and if some higher power gave me a call on Monday morning and offered me either, I know which one I’d take. That’s because we like a bit of mystery and until recently there was a fair bit of mystery in our veggie patch. Then we started finding rats.
To survive and indeed flourish (and then perhaps take over the world), rats need food, water and shelter. In a veggie patch, food and water are givens, but shelter – for a rat – can take a number of different forms. Buried in a sequence of tunnels throughout the soil, or nestled in the warm depths of your compost bin perhaps or, as was the case on our rooftop garden (Federation Square Pop Up Patch), within the polystyrene pods we used to reduce the loading on the car park.
The first sign was finding plants that had seemingly been pulled out and then thrown back on the soil, as if an act of vandals. Rats have an annoying habit of eating the stem base of mature plants – that of parsley, silverbeet (Swiss chard) and beetroot (beets) in particular – until they are felled to the ground, like a pine tree harvested for timber in a forest. The second sign was finding hundreds of dislodged polystyrene balls underneath that crate when we moved it, and the third and final giveaway was dropping it too swiftly with the pallet jack and dislodging three rats from underneath.
When you have a rat problem, it is a problem that requires action. So what are your options?
1. Hygiene
Keep your garden as hygienic as possible. Pick fruit regularly and don’t let it overripen. Don’t leave mess in the garden – need to make the place as neat as humanly possible. That includes cleaning the BBQ of all those delicious-smelling meaty oils (for a rat, that is). We know that keeping things clean is a real task for a lot of people, but the threat of a plague of rats (rather than the usual jibes by your partner) should be enough to send you into action.
2. Fortification
Next, fortify the patch. Simple netting will be a deterrent for the lazy rat, but those with a bit more determination will chew right through or burrow underneath - like the ones that tunnelled under concrete to find an entrance to our compost bin. For the netting to be truly effective, it will need to be wire mesh and will have to extend underground, too. It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it.
3. Scent bombs
You can try any number of scent bombs that will work with varying success, depending on the tastes of your rats (yes, yours). Try dipping cotton balls into a peppermint concentrate (like the one you use for desserts) and place them around their housing spots. Another more effective scent is ammonia. Mix 1 tablespoon of liquid detergent, ¼ glass of water and 1 glass of ammonia and place where they frequent.
4. Predators
Finally, enlist some hunters. We’ve always found that our rat problem has hinged on the amount of time our neighbourhood cat has spent around our property. When she’s hanging out and happy, the rats seem to go on vacation. However, when she finds a better place to reside – as is the case now – they quickly return. If you’re not a cat person, perhaps consider that they are the number one predator for rats. Cats can be a powerful ally.
This is an edited extract from Grow. Food. Anywhere. by Mat Pember & Dillon Seitchik-Reardon published by Hardie Grant Books RRP $45 and is available in stores nationally. Image credit: John Laurie