Keeping birds off peas
I’ve got a theme going here: Vegetables Under Tunnels. Seems a shame to stop just when I’m getting into the swing of it.
These peas are getting a head start under nets because birds always eat my young seedlings. Which is very odd, because I’ve yet to read a gardening book that mentions this problem.
Slugs and snails? Yup – known issue. Pea and bean weevil? Definitely. Mice eating seeds? Absolutely.
Birds eating seedlings? Say, what?
Apparently this a problem only suffered by Soilman. And yet it’s a serious, regular, annual issue – not a one-off freak event. Birds scoff my young peas if I don’t cover them. ALL THE TIME.
Does this make me an utter weirdo/freak/sadster/born victim?
Nope… This is a well documented phenomenonomenon…
It’s mostly pigeons, and country folk, (well my dad & grandad anyway!) will tell that just as a yellowhammer sings “a little bit of bread and no cheese” the pigeon’s characteristic “Coo-coo, Coo-coo-Coo” call actually translates to “More peas you fool, Sow more peas you fool”
….. and I like to think that my shot guns sings “Fuck Off!”
May 7th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
My plot is practically covered in various bits of ramshakle netting. The pigeons in these parts are big eaters. Today I saw 25 cabbage whites in an hour so I will be mainly recovering the brassicas tommorrow (small cauliflowers).
May 7th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Greenmantle and Allot of veg: Thanks for reassurance. I have been getting pretty paranoid about this, because any time I mention bird predation on peas, other gardeners look at me as if I’m mad.
May 8th, 2009 at 6:49 am
yesterday i got to the allotment and my largest pea plant had done. It had flowers on it!!! i can’t be certain but i reckon it was a pigeon. They certainly eat the tops off them.
May 8th, 2009 at 7:23 am
My peas are netted too. Having just taken on my allotment I don’t know if they would get eaten or not, but reading other blogs it does seem to be a common problem so I thought I would err on the side of caution.
Another problem which I have read about is the pea moth, but people don’t seem to cover against this pest. Is this not a big problem?
May 8th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Jo hi
Pea moth is very difficult to protect against. The moths are very small, so your netting would have to be very fine. You can spray, but it’s not something I for one like to do. The good news is that it’s not a disaster. In a bad year (hot, dry summers), you get small maggots in 1 in 3 pea pods – but you can easily remove the affected peas when you shell them. In a good year (wet ones, like the last two), there are very few affected pods, so it’s barely an issue.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:05 am
I have peas outside hardening off at the moment (it’s a long story, but chitting/sowing in pots is the only way I can get any pea crop at all) and the pigeons are gathering like vultures around the garden.
May 10th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Thanks for the advice. I really don’t fancy finding maggots in the peas so I’m going to try netting with a very fine mesh.
May 10th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Yep, I have trouble with pigeons when the peas are just germinating although they’ve always been alright once it’s time for the support to go up
May 11th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
that was really nice tip…. i will go for bird net ..it will really works…
December 17th, 2009 at 10:43 am
You’re a cheeky sod, petersteel, but I’m not going to delete you. Can’t help admiring the brazenly opportunistic nature of that commercial comment. Plus my US readers may find your site useful.
December 17th, 2009 at 10:58 am