Can Rats destroy a crop?

I was just thinking about this that if I were a rat, that is what I'd go for. What better munchies??? I've been putting out rat traps in my garden to try to catch the buggers.

I have seen an indoor grow get eaten pretty bad. All so big illegal cartel grows leave a lot of rat poison around, or at least that's what the campaign commercials show.

Leave some food so they wont bother

JackandJill said:

I was just thinking about this that if I were a rat, that is what I'd go for. What better munchies??? I've been putting out rat traps in my garden to try to catch the buggers.

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Rats sure as hell can and will eat your plants. They will chew off branches, and chew down the base of the stalk. Rat traps better than poison, but rat bait works. Put it out first thing in spring, before any plants are moved in if possible. Rats will turn a cold frame into a salad bar. I have found them to be the worst in spring eating your stuff and in the fall eating it or cutting it all down to use as bedding. Rabbits can be terrible, one rabbit can take down multiple six footers. I had a rabbit jump into all the totes and eat four totes worth of starts

Rats eat dry wall and electric wiring, plants are the desert

with no evidence other than experience i'd say rats don't pose a huge threat to a pot garden. My old house, outside, had thousands of field mice and field rats around, and I grew outside for 6 years with never a problem. The problem I had, was with rabbits, catterpillars and SNAILS! Damn snails... I think rats would have to be really hungry... I'm not a fan of leaving poison out for WHATEVER eats it, seems kinda cruel to me.

never had issues with rats but have had field mice eat around the base of the stalk. they did it in such a small area all around the base of the plant. totally taking off the outer part of the stems and it ended in a slow death.

I saved a couple by putting tree wound repair on them and then went to war with the mice. before catching/killing several I was stumped as to what was doing it. it was low to the base where it meets the soil and was hard to find the problem.

this has happened only once in many years outdoors.

Dam this is scary now. I wanna put my Elmer Fudd hat on and go hunt some Wabbits!

I did get some rat traps. My friend suggest that I bait them and don't set the traps for 3 or 4 days... Just get them comfortable and at ease around them and enjoying their snacks... Then BoOOOM Set the traps and nab them all in one night.

I once galvanized my guerrilla grow in the canyons of San Diego, months in all was well, but one random day, ALL my plants where chewed to the very stalk, bastard rats orchestrated that attack

petroleum products attract rats, that's why they like wire insulation and automotive parts (vacuum lines, wires, etc) Not to mention a car's engine is a nice and warm area to live (briefy

JackandJill said:

I did get some rat traps. My friend suggest that I bait them and don't set the traps for 3 or 4 days... Just get them comfortable and at ease around them and enjoying their snacks... Then BoOOOM Set the traps and nab them all in one night.

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well c'mon, you're gonna eradicate all the outside rats in one night? You do know that rats multiple, like um, well rats. I don't think this is all needed, you're going to poison some poor cat, or squirrel or something...

foreverflyhi said:

I once galvanized my guerrilla grow in the canyons of San Diego, months in all was well, but one random day, ALL my plants where chewed to the very stalk, bastard rats orchestrated that attack

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did you SEE the rats? I'd bet on rabbits as the source. Rats prefer different food, they are scavengers, omnivores, not complete herbivores, like rabbits.
Maybe i'm just too peace loving, why kill without direction? Arbitrarily setting traps....
I won't say anything else, go ahead and flame me if you want to.

I did not see the rats, and i agree with u, i would never set traps on their land.
Rabbits could b the source however, can rabbits really go thru galvinzed steel? And to top it off orchistrate it in one night? If soo, NICE

JackandJill said:

I was just thinking about this that if I were a rat, that is what I'd go for. What better munchies??? I've been putting out rat traps in my garden to try to catch the buggers.

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Faultless reasoning...

foreverflyhi said:

I did not see the rats, and i agree with u, i would never set traps on their land.
Rabbits could b the source however, can rabbits really go thru galvinzed steel? And to top it off orchistrate it in one night? If soo, NICE

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oh hell yeah, rabbits can chew like tweekers can steal.

hahahahah damn tweakers

Buy some of that 4" corrugated plastic pipe stuff. It comes in like 8' pieces. Saw it down to 8" pieces, then use scissors to cut down the seam, and then put them around the base of every plant. This works best and you won't get all the bye catch kills with traps incl lizards, birds, snakes...

does human or dog urine work on these like other pests?

rabbits are the worse problem here. when hungry they eat small rose bushes, and several other plants with small sharp thorns. i can never figure out how they do that.

Talk to our member "mygirls" in the Oregon MMJ subforum - as I recall he had a rat problem several years ago in his greenhouse.
I don't remember how he solved it, but he lost several mature plants to them/it.