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The Corroboree
Magicseven

Eaten again!

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a little while ago i made a post concerning my Salvia officinalis mysteriously having bites appear. slowly as the plants grew there seemed to be less chewing until none at all so i assumed they must of been tasty to some insect while still in their infancy. after surviving the chew fest i started only checking them out a few times a week until about once a week.

today i go down to visit my babys to find everything eaten except for some untouched stalks, save one that has fallen over. my guess is that some rodent, even a possum (i live in a very possum dense area, so much so it could be a national dish) took a fancy to my plants. my hope is to see if they can recurperate but for future protection does anyone know of some good alternatives to rodent control? ive read peppers and spices in a foliar spray can help but unfortunately such a method dosnt appear to be rain tolerant and would require respraying after each rainfall.

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plant catnip in strategic areas, nah kidding honestly no idea at all. surround the area with traps.......

assuming its a possum i have no idea, never seen one............if its a mouse or rat, baiting and trapping is obvious answer number one, getting a mean cat is option two...assuming you have already grown the catnip, the mousebecome educated to the fact of the cat having a nice plant it likes, so they tend to stay away. get two cats....mean ones so they can have 24 hour patrols.

im not a cat man myself but if i had a rat, i would get a cat..............assuming i couldnt eliminate the rat problem myself using traditional methods.

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i'm in melbs too and find when any plant leaves are being eaten, either from the edges or middle of leaf, and there's no giveaways (i.e slime trails, caterpillars, pests or their droppings),

I find it to generally be earwigs, with damage occurring to about 60cm high. or sometimes slaters if its <l0cm.

check under any mulch for them, or try to catch them in the act, normally in the early evening.

beer traps/ olive oil traps sometimes work, or my favourite is rolled up newspapers left lying around,

which you then can chuck/compost after a week or so.

i've seen them do it to all manner of vegies and herbs, incl various salvia sp.

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