Hi Everyone,
I've been growing grapes for 11 seasons now and harvesting for 5. Every year it's a new existential crisis. 3 years ago it was bird damage, so I invested in bird netting. Last year Hurricane Hillary came through California in early September as a tropical storm and drenched my almost ripe grapes, splitting the berries and causing a ton of rot, not much I could do about that, but the birds were at least under control. This year, it's been a dry summer (knock on wood) and the birds are under control, but now something has been coming in the middle of the night every night, tearing into my Zinfandel which is only at 20 brix right now. Not only is it destroying the berries, but it's also chewing through the bird netting leaving huge holes.
After some trial and error with various traps, I've caught a variety of at least 2 species of mice and one large rat who was responsible for the net damage as the mice fit right through it. Currently I'm utilizing glue traps and snap traps with fresh zinfandel berries on them each night. I'm only catching on average one or two rodents per night, and the rest just head right up on the vine and start eating away. While I'd like to use poison as it's supposed to be the most effective, that is clearly not an option as they will poop and pee poison all over my grapes.
At this point I'm losing a couple of lbs of berries per night with an estimated yield of maybe 50 lbs as of today. Given that brix won't likely reach the target for zin for another 3 or 4 weeks, it's probably going to be a total loss at this rate unless I can get this under control.
Here's what I have tried:
- snap traps with zin berries as bait, of the 10 traps I have set only catched one or two mice per night
- glue traps, typically catches one rodent per night, sadly also catches lizards which is a bummer
Here's what I have not tried:
- Solar Ultrasonic Animal Repeller - not convinced this is going to do anything
https://www.amazon.com/Ultrasonic-R...591334&ref_=pd_hp_d_atf_ci_mcx_mr_ca_hp_atf_d
- Mouse Rodent Repellent, 24Pcs - peppermint balls - I'm concerned this may leave a peppermint taste on my grapes if you hang these off the trunk at the base of the vine
https://www.amazon.com/EverField-RO...-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1
- Tomcat Repellents Rodent Repellent Ready-to-Use, For Indoor and Outdoor Mouse and Rat Prevention - not sure if this is effective at all
https://www.amazon.com/Tomcat-Repel...utdoor&qid=1725646833&sprefix=,aps,138&sr=8-6
Here's what is not an option:
- buying a cat, dog or snake and expecting it to live in vineyard
- poison, as it will end on my grapes and therefore in my wine
So with that, I'd love to hear what others have done to effectively combat this problem and salvage their grapes. Thanks in advance!
I've been growing grapes for 11 seasons now and harvesting for 5. Every year it's a new existential crisis. 3 years ago it was bird damage, so I invested in bird netting. Last year Hurricane Hillary came through California in early September as a tropical storm and drenched my almost ripe grapes, splitting the berries and causing a ton of rot, not much I could do about that, but the birds were at least under control. This year, it's been a dry summer (knock on wood) and the birds are under control, but now something has been coming in the middle of the night every night, tearing into my Zinfandel which is only at 20 brix right now. Not only is it destroying the berries, but it's also chewing through the bird netting leaving huge holes.
After some trial and error with various traps, I've caught a variety of at least 2 species of mice and one large rat who was responsible for the net damage as the mice fit right through it. Currently I'm utilizing glue traps and snap traps with fresh zinfandel berries on them each night. I'm only catching on average one or two rodents per night, and the rest just head right up on the vine and start eating away. While I'd like to use poison as it's supposed to be the most effective, that is clearly not an option as they will poop and pee poison all over my grapes.
At this point I'm losing a couple of lbs of berries per night with an estimated yield of maybe 50 lbs as of today. Given that brix won't likely reach the target for zin for another 3 or 4 weeks, it's probably going to be a total loss at this rate unless I can get this under control.
Here's what I have tried:
- snap traps with zin berries as bait, of the 10 traps I have set only catched one or two mice per night
- glue traps, typically catches one rodent per night, sadly also catches lizards which is a bummer
Here's what I have not tried:
- Solar Ultrasonic Animal Repeller - not convinced this is going to do anything
https://www.amazon.com/Ultrasonic-R...591334&ref_=pd_hp_d_atf_ci_mcx_mr_ca_hp_atf_d
- Mouse Rodent Repellent, 24Pcs - peppermint balls - I'm concerned this may leave a peppermint taste on my grapes if you hang these off the trunk at the base of the vine
https://www.amazon.com/EverField-RO...-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1
- Tomcat Repellents Rodent Repellent Ready-to-Use, For Indoor and Outdoor Mouse and Rat Prevention - not sure if this is effective at all
https://www.amazon.com/Tomcat-Repel...utdoor&qid=1725646833&sprefix=,aps,138&sr=8-6
Here's what is not an option:
- buying a cat, dog or snake and expecting it to live in vineyard
- poison, as it will end on my grapes and therefore in my wine
So with that, I'd love to hear what others have done to effectively combat this problem and salvage their grapes. Thanks in advance!
mzn1.symc.ebdd2303-2907-45b9-b343-3896226c508a&pf_rd_p=2ada0ca8-c08f-4dd3-bf6e-06e1e651bb29&pf_rd_r=VRG2BNFGT8XFS1KF5FJW&pd_rd_wg=NTMbH&pd_rd_r=e27e9e19-6280-4ee0-814e-48ff2a591334&ref_=pd_hp_d_atf_ci_mcx_mr_ca_hp_atf_d
