GardenBanter.co.uk - Milky Spore Gets rid of Grubs & Moles

In article ,
(GardenGamecock) wrote:

I tried milky spore a year ago in a desperate attempt to clear my lawn
of destructive moles. I purchases the Milky Spore from
http://www.Yardiac.com and have seen tremendous results!

I was a little skeptical at first but it seems to have worked.

Stop the battle yearly battle -- this stuff will work for 15 years.

Stealth spamming is dishonest. This means YOU, sirrah, are dishonest.
Therefore nothing can be believed about your company or its products. If
it worked against moles you'd be able to give citations of independent
horticultural field studies instead of posting major fibs about buying a
product you were at first skeptical about, when in reality just spamming
for a company you own.

Without the field studies to show your product, used for mole control, is
anything more than a worthless scam, there's no reason to believe you over
the extant studies that show milky spore disease is not realistically
recommended for mole con troll.

The only thing we really know about you that is absolutely certain is
you're dishonest. So it would not be too surprising to find out that milky
spore bacterium can be a biological control for Japanese beetle larvae and
a few other closely related grubs, but used for any other purpose is
dubious at best, & completely wasted effort if there are no targetable
grubs in the first place. IF there were targetable grubs, IF one had a
type of mole that ate primarily grubs instead of fifty different kinds of
insects & mostly earthworms, then MAYBE lowering the grub population would
discourage the occasional mole, but probably it would not. There are too
many other food items that remain for the happy mole.

In the main selling it as mole control is as crooked as stealth spam.
Milky spore neither kills nor repels moles. If milky spore disease can be
introduced to a large enough area, it will after several years reduce the
population of grubs, which moles love to eat. Usually this means they just
eat a higher percentage of earthworms & baby slugs & thousands of types of
insects, but very rarely a grub-loving mole might just go hunt grubs
elsewhere. But just as often it means the busy mole makes its tunnels more
elaborate because it needs a larger hunting area to find more worms &
grubs. This means that very often the presence of milky spore disease in
the soil causes a resident mole to become MORE industrious tearing up a
yard or garden.

Townsends moles & most west coast moles eat predominantly worms, with some
slugs & grubs thrown in, and would not be concerned to lose grubs from its
diet. The most common east coast mole eats a much higher percentage of
grubs & would be a little more unhappy if the grub population declined.
For control of the eastern mole, then, introducing milky spore disease
into a very extensive area MIGHT cause a mole to move on to some place
where there are more grubs to be found, though studies to date have failed
to find this scenario promising. At best it takes years to achieve, and
according to the leaflet on the subject distributed by Pensylvania State
University's agricultural extension, it will not effect moles at all
unless an entire neighborhood undertakes multiple methods of mole control,
since a single mole usually hunts through many yards & even if grub
populations decline in one of the yards, the mole will still keep its
tunnels active getting to the properities on all sides of a grubless
little bit of ground.

Virtually all extant studies indicate milky spore disease has minimal
impact on moles though it can be used as part of a broader attack, on the
premise that it MIGHT be possible that SOME moles will move on if they
happen to like grubs way better than the scores of other food items that
remain, so go grub-hunting elsewhere.

Here's an expert opinion from Jim Parkhurst, extension wildlife agent at
Virginia Tech University: "White milky spore, a naturally-occurring fungus
now available in commercial form, has been promoted as a means to help
reduce the number of grubs and somewhat limit the mole's food supply.
However, the fungus does not seem to survive well in cold climates, so it
may not persist through the winter months. Additionally, even where milky
spore is present, it is effective only on certain insects. Thus other
natural food items are still available."

Any claim to the contrary must be substantiated with independent research
such as from university horticultural stations, which have to date not
found milky spore disease a good line of offense against moles.

The best study on milky spore disease as a control for Japanese beetles
was done by Michigan State University, which found that it takes four
years to be effective against grubs, but thereafter the bacillus can live
in the soil for up to 20 years controlling scarab-family beetles (and
nothing else). With a great deal of patience therefore it can be a most
useful organic method of controlling Japanese beetles. The Michigan study
also concluded that where milky spore disease for mole control is
concerned, "Effectiveness is questionable."

Many suppliers like to cite the Michigan study, but rarely mention how
extremely long it takes to become effective against Japanese beetles, and
how unlikely it is to have any actual effect on moles. Any vendor that
says it will get rid of skunks and moles (as many allege) should not be
trusted in anything else they say either.

If someone wants to try it for Japanese beetle larvae (whether or not
there is a distant off-chance that four years later moles will be unhappy
that there are fewer beetle larvae about), the choice is commendable,
because certainly less harmful to the environment than are polluting
chemical pesticides. But the stuff is available cheaply from hundreds of
honest vendors, and no one needs to support stealth spammers. We can only
assume liars of that ilk will be have other underhanded policies to match,
so will not serve the consumers or our gardens to any great advantage.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/