06-20-2020, 06:02 PM
(06-20-2020, 09:56 AM)Hotzcatz Wrote: Rats Eat Corn! Who knew? They don't wait for it to be ripe or even picked, they will CLIMB UP THE CORN STALKS and eat the corn! AAARRGH! So, if you're growing sweet corn, bribe your cat to live in the garden.
Unfortunately for us, it's called 'Jack's Garden' because our cat Jack - who even though he was a very elderly cat was still a good ratter - succumbed to old age right when we were getting ready to fill in the new raised bed garden. So now, it's 'Jack's Garden' and the rats are triumphantly romping about eating the corn since even though Jack is in the garden, he is no longer able to roust them out.
It seemed like there were two options, either put out rat bait or put out cat food and hope a new cat showed up. After due consideration, it was determined that rats would probably enjoy the catfood which would encourage even more rats so we put out rat baits and now the corn isn't being eaten by rats anymore.
What kind of corn are you growing, and other than the rats how is it doing? We're growing a type of corn we've never tried before (forget name) and it's a bust. The stalks themselves are doing GREAT but it's suffering from either early tassel or late silking and it looks like it's not going to pollinate. Will give it a few more days to confirm but it looks like it's going to be goat feed.