Runner beans decimated !!!

[MuddyHell]

After letting the chooks out this morning, I did my usual "seed patrol" - mooching round the veg garden in dressing down, wellies & drinking coffee.
Yesterday my lovely strong runner bean seedlings were shooting up a good cm a day, this morning something has decimated them. All rooted up and shoots eaten. only the split white seeds left lying all over the raised bed like cashew nuts !
Am gutted ! any ideas what might have done this ? if I re-sow, how can I protect against this ? and is it too late to re-sow ?
My pea plants look ok, but will they be next ?
never had this happen before in 6 years of having a veg garden

[perchy]

Could be mice, I think Jannie had this problem some time ago,

[lancashire lass]

I caught the last few minutes of Gardeners World last night and Monty was saying now is the time to sow beans direct in soil to replace any that didn't come up - plant 3 beans per cane and weed out the weakest one.

If it is mice, then you'll need a physical barrier. I don't have problems with mice so not sure how effective it is, but how about a 2L pop bottle with top and bottom cut off and inserted deep enough in the soil so they can't dig down (you might have to slip it down the cane)

I've been having problems with pigeons on my site and they can do some serious damage to young tender plants. Again, a physical barrier is the only way until the plants are well ahead.

[jannie]

I have had my peas and bean seeds eaten by mice .. but no more.
I now soak them all in paraffin before I sow them .. it doesn't affect the seeds but the mice don't like them anymore

[Mo]

We had a lot of peas and broad beans destroyed this year. They had just shown through and something pulled them up, nipped off the shoot and left it on top, must have eaten th bean. OH has now got the replacements growing through the pouring hole and top few inches of a plastic milk bottle. He cut the bottles in half, used the lower bit as greenhouse, then swapped when they needed to pop through. Looks strange but is working so far.

[MuddyHell]

thanks for your reply - I forgot that I had hoarded about 20 plastic 4 pinters in my shed. I've covered any seedlings I coudl salvage and will re-sow with some plastic fruit punnets I had saved. I'm also going to start a batch in the greenhouse as my Plan D replacements in case any of the above fails.....

[Panteg Produce]

Does sound like mice to me!

[orangepeel]

If theyve been pulled up and scoffed then its mice or rats, if theyve had the green eaten and pulled up then it could be pigeons. You would see digging marks if it were rats/mice so the chances are itll be birds/pigeons if theyve just been pulled out the ground. Only netting will deter birds and if you have mice/rats then im afraid you will have to get tough and put traps down. Now is the best time to put beans or peas in and you have another month to sow aswell so dont be disheartened by a small set back and start allover again.

[Maggie1]

Could be crows. They went through my tubs of crocus like wildfire

[Mo]

My runners were doing very well. But the leaves have suddenly got big holes. Birds or slugs??
Only a couple of plants so far, but those 2 are bad.

[fishpond]

[quote="Mo"]My runners were doing very well. But the leaves have suddenly got big holes. Birds or slugs??
Only a couple of plants so far, but those 2 are bad.[/quote

Probably snails, could be slugs.
Not birds.
You need to find the culprit before they eat all of them, I blame the wet weather for the explosion in snails and slugs.