Re: Moles + wildlife and gardens in general

**Ron Whitehurst b*@rinconvitova.com**

>  But there is an effective biological control called Milky Spore Disease that
> inoculates your soil with a fungal disease
> that infects the grubs but bothers nothing else. The problem with this product
> is the time it takes to effect the cure, at least a year or more.
>

The milky spore disease, Bacilis popilliae, does take a while to spread through
the japanese beetle population but will last for years. The downside is that
this disease is highly specific to Japanese beetle, and doesnt go after other
grubs.

Faster and broader spectrum is using insect pathogenic (or entomophagus)
nematodes. Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, H. indica and H. marelatus are three
species that work well on grubs - lots of kinds of grubs: white grubs, chafer,
black vine weevil, corn root worm, cucumber beetle, as well as billbugs, thrips
(pupating in soil), root aphids, root mealybugs, and to a lesser extent other
insects in the soil. So if you dont know what kind of grubs are affecting the
roots of the grass, or attracting moles, racoons, or skunks to dig up your sod,
use nematodes.

http://www.rinconvitova.com/nematode%20bulletins.htm

Ron

* * * * * * * * *

Ron Whitehurst
Marketing Manager

Rincon-Vitova Insectaries,
P.O. Box 1555, Ventura, CA  93002-1555
805-643-5407   800-248-2847 (BUGS)   fax 805-643-6267

e-mail:  bugnet@rinconvitova.com
web:  http://www.rinconvitova.com

Biological Solutions for Pest Management

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