Derald wrote:
songbird wrote:
Derald wrote:
Here, the raccoons seem to dig randomly in search of subterranean
treasure ("grubs"), although, they clearly do follow mole trailsÂin
competition for the same food, no doubt.
moles feed most often by running their tunnels looking
for worms/grubs/whatever that falls in. they also feed
frequently. so if you find their main runs you can often
trap them within a few days.
I leave moles in the yard unmolested.
i would like to as i know they play an important
role in keeping the topsoil uncompacted, but Ma
rules so i trap them when i see they are getting
into the grassy strip along the south side. i see
we have one along there now, but i won't be setting
a trap until the ground is thawed out.
They have enough to do just
dealing with the raccoons.... Well, truth is, we do collapse their
tunnels (opportunistically) but that is simple human malice: That is to
say, "Because we can" ;-) For a few years, I had trouble with moles
getting into the raised beds. Two successive introductions of predatory
nematodes in fall 2011, intended primarily to control "root knot",
reduced the "grub" (beetle larvae) pupulation enough that it no longer
attracts moles. Also seems to have reduced the wireworm (click beetle)
population.
we've only had a few instances where the moles
have come through some of the gardens. they don't
stay around long (mostly out front and in the
garden to the north which is better quality topsoil
and not so much clay). with all the soil being very
worm free for so many years, they came in, and were
usually gone within a few days.
Here, the most likely pests to
be attracted to garden soil amendments are free range dogs.
we are lucky to not have those here. there are fox
and coyotes around but as of yet they stay away. we
don't have stuff out to attract them anyways.
We hear coyotes from time to time but have never seen any. I've
not seen a native gray fox since 1996. Don't remember when I last saw a
red fox, which is fine with me.
up until last year we'd not seen any coyotes, but had
one run across the road in front of us (by a long ways
so we were not in any danger of hitting it). something
must have got it moving for it to be running in the mid-
day. foxes are around but very shy. i've only seen one
or two of those and they are not around our yard, we
don't keep chickens.
As for dogs, they replaced feral cats and feral swine as pointless
destructors in these parts years and years ago. Most of the hogs were
killed off years back and an aggressive feline sterilization program
exists in this area. This area is just remote enough for townies to
judge to be "far enough" to dump Lassie when she no longer is a cute
puppy and becomes just another dumb-ass dog left alone by folks who
willingly commute 100+ miles just to keep a job.
yeah, it's very sad, the northlands here tend to be
a lot harder on stray dogs. i don't know of any around
that live long (through a winter) unless they are in
the city and someone is feeding them.
It is fresh tender, ready to
rot, _green_ vegetative material that always is in short supply.
i only use that for worm food and as a bit of a
N boost sometimes as a top dressing if it will be
dry enough. as of yet, see no signs that this is
not working well for all involved. minimal fuss
and bother method. if i could make alfalfa pellets
that would be fun, but it involves machinery and i
don't really want to get involved with machines if
i can help it. worms seem to not care and eat it
up in any form.
Oh, a well managed compost pile is no particular trouble and
produces a steady supply of black compost. Requires a good supply of
green stuff to feed the bacteria, decent areation by turning and
"enough" moisture. Although, I add to my small compost pile
continuously and agitate it frequently (aereation), I no longer fool
with such esoterica as measuring temperature, calculating n/c ratios,
calculating volume or whatever else is oh, so important to the popular
press this year. Shoot, if weed seeds germinate in the pile, it isn't
hot enough; how hard is that? Besides, one doesn't want to kill or
debilitate the worms and insects that inhabit the stuff. When preparing
beds, I turn the compost 100% and harvest the ready compost that sifts
out during the process. I do not make the mistake of distributing a
limited quantity of compost across many beds where it essentially is
lost but concentrate the available compost in a few beds in order to
provide the most benefit to the plants and animals in them. I augment
the compost throughout the garden with alfalfa pellets. I'd prefer the
meal form but none of the local sources carries it and I tired of
grinding my own so, nowadays, I just work pellets (at the highest rate
shown he
http://www.alfalfagreen.ca/index.php/what-is-alfalfa-green/application-rates-w-pictures
into the upper few inches and live with them.
i do the concentrated thing too with the worm castings/
worms. most of them go to one or two gardens. it's
getting closer to that season.
how long do the pellets last in your beds?
songbird