SWEET POTATO HARVEST UK - Deterring Rats With Companion Planting - Natural Solution Observed

We are Dan & Laurie and our land is called Freedom Forest - Its 3 acres in the South of England where we are creating an edible oasis and trying to provide as much for ourselves, from our land as possible, where we are completely off grid.
Our food growing journey began together in 2017 when we created our first No dig lasagne bed. Every year we grow more and more and now we are currently around 60-70% self sufficient in our food needs.
Our style and methods are inspired by permaculture and we try to be thoughtful about how and what we do, to be as gentle on the planet as possible.
In our videos you can follow our journey as we share our experiences and what we get up to at Freedom Forest. We have just had our WORST Sweet Potato harvest in 5 year - A possible pretty AWESOME OBSERVATION has come from the experience though and we may have noticed a natural way to help deter Rats from our Sweet Potatoes in the future with companion planting, check out the video right to the end to see our 2023 harvest and see what we noticed 💚
We are MASSIVELY grateful that you choose to watch our Videos and support us in this way, however, If you appreciate and get value from what we share and would like to help us a little more, you can become a Freedom Forest Patreon (link below).
It takes us about a day to film some video and another few evenings to edit it, Patreon provides a way you can support what we do with any size donation you wish, it could simply be the value of a packet of seeds! We have many projects coming up, as well as wanting to improve our videos with better camera equipment... maybe even a drone one day to make our videos even more detailed and better quality for you to enjoy! You can help make it viable for us to keep putting the time into making these videos by becoming a Patreon. In return your name will appear in the end credits of our videos and we'll message you a password for the 'members area' of our website where we share more of our favourite recipes exclusively for our Patreon's 💚
/ freedomforestlife
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Enjoy & Thanks for Watching
✌️🌿 Peace and Plants
#sweetpotatoes #growingsweetpotatoes #nodig

[@sarah_farm]

You work so hard to build your dreams!

[@meltemfahliogullari]

I enjoyed the video thanks for sharing your knowledge !✨🌿

[@freedomforestlife]

So glad you enjoyed it 🙏 thank you for letting us know - really appreciate it 💚✌️🌿

[@willrussell1322]

Great video, I had never really thought sweet potatoes would grow in this country but I now need to source some sweet potato slips for next year. You'll obviously now need to do a video about growing Taro!!

[@freedomforestlife]

We got our original slips from Highland Horticulture 😃 Yes - hoping to get some taro harvesting filming very soon. Glad you enjoyed the video 🙏✌️🌿

[@michaelmcaulay8765]

Bloody well done guys all the best from Corymbia Cottage Organic Gardening and Lifestyle in Australian

[@freedomforestlife]

🙏🙏🙏

[@oteyzawagsi296]

When we plant sweet potatoes or any root crops here in Philippines, make sure we have cats nearby, and no need for poison. Actually I have 5 cats in my home, because I also do gardening...

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi, we do have one cat around that we see sometimes, not sure where it actually lives or if its wild, in the past my dogs did too good a job at chasing them away unfortunately. Hopefully they will come back now that we only have 1 slower dogs! Cats are useful when gardening for sure 💚 Thanks for watching ✌️🌿

[@christiegrows2022]

Grow in tubs with wire mess over the tip to stop them getting in?

[@freedomforestlife]

Great idea Christie - thank you for sharing and thanks for watching 💚✌️🌿

[@christinaward161]

Laurie, one of our neighbours gave us a tip when we had rats in the springtime, She said to collect wine bottle corks,soak them in beef dripping, allow to dry and dot around the plot. The rats gorge but cant digedt the cork. We havent tried it ourselves yet but she swears by it. Just keep an eye on the dogs! Thankyou for your video, we are going to be pulling our sweet potatoes next month, fingers crossed. x

[@freedomforestlife]

Thanks Christina - Lots of good ideas being shared here - its really helpful hearing all these ideas and possible things to try to see what works best - which will no doubt be different for many of us and even from year to year - getting lots of ideas to try in mind though - super helpful. Appreciate this - hope your harvest goes well - let is know - thanks for watching 🙏✌️🌿

[@zedzed5276]

Sweet potato greens are pretty tasty and almost as nutritious as spinach. Harvesting a lot of leaves will stunt the growth of your potatoes though. But if you aren't getting any potatoes, hey why not?

[@freedomforestlife]

Thanks for sharing - great idea 🙏✌️🌿

[@lynnerobinson6425]

Rats and mice don't like mint, allegedly. Although it can be invasive, is it worth giving it a try in one area next year? ✌️🌿

[@freedomforestlife]

Good idea Lynne - THank you - We do have quite a bit of mint around - but not directly around these beds - getting lots of ideas - which is great, really appreciate everyone sharing - lots of good stuff to try 🙏 Thanks for watching and messaging too 💚✌️🌿

[@DebRoo11]

If you plant mint in the ground. Be prepared that the following year and forever after it will be a mint bed 😅

[@Nnif75]

Thanks for your video. I’m growing T65 this year after learning about them from a previous video of yours. A solution for your rat situation is to put down small mounds of cornmeal (course or fine) mixed with baking powder around your site. They’ll eat it but cannot digest it. My parents used this in a 1 part baking powder to 4 parts cornmeal, when they had a rodent problem after the train lines near them cut down a load of trees. It worked a treat.

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi, really happy to hear your trying t65 😍 and thanks for the info about the rats, I have tried baking soda before (and still do use it) crumbled up into a some cheap cake or something, but maybe I will try it with cornmeal, as I’m finding they aren’t even touching it, once they have got a taste for our crops!!! Hopefully cornmeal will be more appealing 🙏💚✌️🌿

[@MiniLifeCrisis]

Can I ask if this would be harmful to dogs?

[@DebRoo11]

Do you mean baking soda? Instead of baking powder?

[@devasamvado6230]

Thanks, timely video, as about to harvest my first crop, in a poly tunnel. They have gone rampant with vines, spread meters across the paths to the raised beds on either side, at least 2 metres around their bed. Can I eat these vines? As leaves? Or stems as well? I would blanch and freeze as per spinach… since they have drowned out my Chard/spinach bed. Is it worth keeping a few going over winter for next years slips? I notice they grow roots if earthed over…

[@freedomforestlife]

Yes the vines root layer - one of the reasons the plants don't die back and look sick, even when rats have tunnel under and eaten the main stem! 🫣 The younger leaves are the ones that will be good for eating. The vines in one of our tunnels have effected our aubergines this year for sure ... suprisingly though I still have Peppers that have been ripening, even though they are swamped by sweet potato vines. We will adjust our lay out again slightly for next year think - improving and learning every year - good fun 💚 thanks for watching & commenting 🙏✌️🌿

[@angelaobrien7698]

Interesting video. Would be keen to know the recipes for your natural for natural poison.

[@freedomforestlife]

Here’s the video I made earlier this year with the recipe Angela 💚✌️🌿 the voles take it a lot more than the rAts I think … soon as the rats have a taste for something better …!!! They are clever little blighter!!! Controlling Rats Mice & Voles Naturally - Homemade Rat Bait Recipe - Simple Effective No Chemicals kzbin.info/www/bejne/mXPRg4aqgNKZbNE

[@jeanettefrancis6473]

I got a good harvest from about 6 plants and put them on the concrete in the sun outside the barn to dry off. The next day nearly all of them were gone. I found the rat nest under the compost heap. I will be drying them in wire cages nest time.

[@freedomforestlife]

Oh no Jeanette - thats such a shame!!! good idea for next year though ... learning every year hey!! 💚✌️🌿

[@Terra_Perma]

I’m sorry to see that you’ve got such a big rat issue, ever considered placing some traps or cages? No rat damage in your Yacon plants?

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi, We do use/try a variety of traps/bait etc - trouble is the rats get clever - I had 3 traps and 2 bait stations in the polytunnel when I first noticed things being disturbed and even saw a Rat in there - they just were not touching any of it 🤔 We are hoping they leave the Yacon alone, that and the Jerusalem Artichokes have only had minimal damage in the past, so 🤞🙏🤞 all we can do is hope, as we have never seemingly had them this bad before. The plants are still looking nice and strong and we have our homemade bait out, which is all we can really do right now - I'd get a cat here, but Murphy would chase it away!! 🫣 Thanks for watching & taking time to message 🙏✌️🌿

[@Songer80]

Do your dogs get along with cats? Most farmers have cats for that. This morning my dog killed a mouse. I always worry if the mice and rats have fleas. 22:27 I would like to get some stray cats but my dogs would probably kill them, so I use baited cage traps. Peanut butter works really well, and I release them in the mountains.

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi, Unfortunately, any cats would be chased away for sure 🫣😆 we have used peanut butter on our water buckets and in one of the baits I make up - they take in only if there is nothing better on offer for them - soon as they get the taste for something else they don’t touch whatever we’ve baited 😬🤔 it’s very frustrating 🤪 a few semi wild cats would be great and defo something to think about for the future for sure, Murphy is defo not a cat lover though 🤣🤣🤣 thanks for watch and for you comment/suggestion - much appreciated 🙏✌️

[@shalizalacombe6330]

You need to plant other resistant plants within and around your actual crops that are pest deterrents...research and see all what's eating/damaging the crops then look online to see what chases those things away & plant those in between... make a mixture of water and neem oil and spray the leaves Neem is extremely bitter and unpleasant🙂

[@freedomforestlife]

Thank you - you have reminded us of something we have similar to been that we can start watering the slips with a couple weeks before planting out and onwards that makes them taste bitter to critters etc!!! We’d completely forgotten - hopefully we will remember In May when it comes to planting time 🙏 thanks for watching and for you helpful message and info 💚✌️🌿

[@janwilky]

I think your 'poor' harvest of sweet potatoes is going to be better than my 'good' one! Will you eat some of the sweet potato leaves or is it too late in the season for them - do they get tough? I haven't dared try because I'm still holding out on harvesting mine (first year of growing them). For the rats, Murphy needs a terrier friend! Having said that, our border terrier Tarka doesn't appear to have inherited the killing gene, which I'm quite happy about, but we used to get rats in the haystore where I keep my horses' hay. I refuse to use rat poison so we tried all sorts of methods to deter or catch the rats as it's really not nice having rat droppings and urine on their food supply (horses can catch leptopirosis from rat urine, same as for humans). Since we've had Tarka, I haven't seen a single rat dropping in there and he's over two now. So I think just the smell of terrier in the haystore is enough to put them off, as he likes to hang out in there whenever it's raining. I also no longer have rats in the compost heap or in the polytunnel, so again I think just him being around there so much is enough to deter them. When we do have to deal with rats, we prefer to use those sprung rat traps that looks like a giant mousetrap - they kill quickly and effectively which I feel is much more humane than any sort of poison, natural or otherwise. If we're not sure "who" the pest is, we'll use a live trap (baited cage trap) and then if it's a rat my hubby will dispatch it quickly and humanely with his air rifle. And if it isn't a rat we can release it safely. I confess that I like rats and hate killing them, but sometimes you do get an infestation and you really need to grapple with controlling them if you grow your own food or have animals. I love the idea of taro as a deterrent, but I suspect it might not like our soggy Shropshire clay!

[@freedomforestlife]

Wow Jan - thank you for your lovely message and all the info 🙏 its great to hear lots of ideas and work out which ones we can maybe get to work for us ... We did have 5 different traps in the tunnel when i actually saw a rat in there (sprung, humanem, bait everything) the issue we had, is that he/she wasn't touching any of it ... I guess where there was a better food source on offer!!! The are clever littel things thats for sure. Even if the Taro doesnt grow enough to gicve us a harvest .. just having it there to deter (and look beautiful) is still good with us. ... We will have to see next year 🙌 The leaves should still be good on the younger ends of your vines - maybe not the older leaves 😊 💚✌️🌿

[@mikeross4]

A simple question from a first time grower of sweet potatoes. I live in south west Hertfordshire on the edge of the Chilterns which is probably a little cooler than your location, so how do you decide when to harvest your sweet potatoes. I am asking this on 16th October and we have just had our first frost so I guess I should get on either it?

[@freedomforestlife]

Great question Mike - They can take a very light frost - so now would be the latest time you would probably want to do them - we are still trialing this and in other years we have harvested a bit later (usually just through not getting to it sooner) however, if it has been overly wet/cold, we feel this can damage the harvest. So we now aim for end sept - about now being the idea - hope that helps 💚✌️

[@mikeross4]

Thank you, they will be harvested this afternoon.

[@mikeross4]

An update. The good news is that this afternoon I harvested 18kg of Sweet Potatoes from a no dig bed approximately 2.5Mt x 1.5 Mt with the largest one weighing 1.4kg. They were a mixture of sweet potatoes bought from a local Asian store and T65 from a seed company. The not so good news is that there appears to be quite a lot of slug damage as a lot of the potatoes have a number of very small holes in the tubers. How this will affect the keeping quality remains to be seen. If they don’t keep well then next year I will try growing in 30 litre containers in the same way I grow my normal potatoes. I apologise for asking another question. Last night’s frost has also blackened the leaves on my Yacon and Oca plants. Is it time to harvest those as well? Finally, thank you both for an excellent channel, it really is a mine of information and inspiration and is my “go to” place for information about growing these sub tropical plants. 😀😀😀😀😀👍👍👍👍👍

[@freedomforestlife]

@@mikeross4 great to hear your sweet potatoes grew well Mike 🙌 Some of the damage will heal over if cured/stored well 👉 kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYuVZKSkqZ2teLs 👈 Eatting the worse effect ones first will prop be best. We usually let our Yacon and Oca foliage get quite knocked back before harvesting - Oca normally just forming up now we find here for us... Usually around Dec even January. Yacon we normally start harvesting sometime in Nov... but if you are a little colder, maybe earlier for you. I'll drop another couple of vid links in here you might find interesting - in case you haven't seen. So glad you find our channel helpful - exactly what we hope for 🙏✌🌿 kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4KunJ5_m9aKqbM kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3eTlZ2erdGHgLc

[@mikeross4]

Thank you for the helpful replies. 😀😀😀👍👍👍😊

[@DebRoo11]

This harvesting from the ground looks so time consuming and back breaking. Large grow bags hopefully will do me well this year. I couldn't imagine being bent over hand digging at my age

[@freedomforestlife]

Ha, its really not back breaking, our soil is really quite nice and loose, so we are able to do most of it just with our hands - much easier and less back breaking than conventional digging 💚 We are trialing some in raised beds this year too, which you can see in our newest video, i am sure this will make for nice harvesting conditions also. ✌️🌿

[@DebRoo11]

@@freedomforestlife oooh fun! Best of luck with your harvests

[@freedomforestlife]

@@DebRoo11 you too 💚

[@thehillsidegardener3961]

Bummer, you always lose some and win some in this growing game. Glad to have not had a problem with rats so far, though my sweet potatoes are still somewhat underwhelming, planning to step them up next year as they are a valuable crop (high calorie, quite expensive in the shops). I wonder if apart from companion planting with the taro (hey, never heard of that one, but it looks just like a common houseplant - pretty sure they are related, might try eating mine :D) you'd benefit from dotting them around the garden way more to make it harder for the rats to find them. I know, it makes them more work to keep on top of and to harvest, but you know, pests always congregate where there is a monoculture, it's free food :/

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi - Nice to hear from you again 💚 Yes, its great when you can grow 'valuable' crops for yourself - each year we learn more and more hey! This year, we will just be eating more pumkin than Sweet Potato ! 😃 Yes Taro is sometimes grown as a house plant - there are edible and ornamental varieties. Defo a good idea about creating less monoculture - thank you 🙏 and thanks for watching & taking the time to message 🙏 Hope you have had/having a good season with your crops overall ?✌️🌿

[@thehillsidegardener3961]

@@freedomforestlife Actually we had a terrible season, thanks :D. We don't really know what happened as there was a decent amount of rain for once, but a late frost basically killed ALL the fruit (it's not just us, everyone in the region) and other crops struggled in the later drought. Fortunately we aren't trying to be self-sufficient any time soon so I am trying to see what works best and some things have shown promise: Jerusalem artichoke is indestructible, raspberries did way better than I hoped, strawberries have spread like wildfire - they can take over the whole garden for all I care! Again, I guess you just have to find what works in your climate and of course spread your bets, it's just our climate is harsher than many...

[@thehillsidegardener3961]

(P.S. Yeah, haven't check in for a while but I have watched most of your vids :) )

[@freedomforestlife]

@@thehillsidegardener3961 sorry to here you haven’t had the best season, it sounds like you’ve had a few successes though still 💚 it has been a very ‘interesting’ growing season here too - not as harsh as yours by the sounds… far from normal though … whatever that is these days!?! We’ve got apples trees and a quince flowering again now it’s so mild or they are stressed, which I think is still a knock on effect from last years drought in some cases. Every year is so different isn’t it … exciting and challenging 💚

[@vanessaevans3401]

Animals come and animals go m. Trust in nature let all the crawlies and furries do their thing and look forward to next year . Peace kindness and plants 😊

[@freedomforestlife]

Aww thanks Vanessa ... thats a really good prosective 💚🙏💚

[@val6112]

Awww that's such a shame that the rats 🐀 got in there!! But also Coffee grounds are supposed to keep the rats at bay❤

[@freedomforestlife]

Hey Val, Yep bit of a bummer - but really excited to try planting with more taro and maybe other natural deterants next year and find out if what we observed is really a 'thing' for sure 🙌 Thanks for watching & messaging 🙏✌️🌿

[@Jan-Boer]

Thanks for the video, you have to catch rats alive in a baited cage. No poison needed, no more allowed here. Kill pests and release beneficial animals. I always have success the second or third day after setting the trap.

[@freedomforestlife]

Thank you - its really helpful hearing how everyone else deals with these things - lots of new and good ideas - much appreciate all the sharing 🙏✌️🌿

[@julienfowler8274]

I think the UK is generally a bit cool and rainy for sweet potatoes, no?

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi Julien - We have been growing them here outside and undercover for 5 years now and normally we get really good harvests - Check out some of our past harvest videos : kzbin.info/aero/PLOidPRQofoMMQnV_40S6dUq7nxtcMY5w9 Just the rats causing us lower than normal yield this year. We did have to find a suitable variety for outside here though - we tried quite a few to start with and enjoying trying others and learning more each year. Thanks for watching 💚✌️🌿

[@julienfowler8274]

@@freedomforestlife Ho ok.

[@julienfowler8274]

@@freedomforestlife Thanks

[@evazieglerova3437]

Peacocks could help with rodents:-)

[@freedomforestlife]

Interesting - we did once talk about getting a Peacock - as Dan liked the idea of having one wondering around in the Jungle here - might have to look into it again 😊 Thanks for watching & for your suggestion too 🙏✌️🌿

[@evazieglerova3437]

Knowledge learned when visiting too many chateaux and castles:-)

[@Karen-Smith]

Such a shame about the harvest - I hope interplanting with taro does the trick for you next year. Were your taro starts just bought as eating tubers?

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi Karen - the Taro were just ones that dan bought in Asian stores - hes tried lots of different varities to see which grow best this year and hopefully narrow down for next year - even just as orinamental, if they act as a deterent we'd be happy - gonna look beautiful and be really interesting to try next year 💚

[@Karen-Smith]

Looking forward to seeing how you get on with them 🙂

[@xperyskop2475]

Get a proper alley cat it will take care of rats mice

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi, yes - I would right now if we could - unfortunately are dog is seriously not a cat lover!! 🫣 Thanks for watching & for taking the time to message - really appreciate hearing from everyone 🙏✌️🌿

[@islarun4103]

This plant jist begin to bulb, leave them more time....