Re: frost heaving
- To: i*@onelist.com
- Subject: Re: frost heaving
- From: B* S* <B*@hsc.edu>
- Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 16:29:03 -0500
From: Bill Shear <BILLS@hsc.edu>
>From: "R. S. Lockman" <thelockmans@tntie.com>
>
>When soil in my bed heaves, I set the vole traps! Got two set at the
>moment. Hate those varmits, treating soil in lawn for grubs shortly. Never
>had this trouble until last year. Any one else had to deal with this?
>Donna Lockman
Frost-heaving and vole trouble are two separate things. Also I wonder if
you might be confusing voles and moles. Voles are small, mouse-like
rodents (they have smaller ears and shorter tails than real mice) that are
primarily vegetarians. They eat roots and other parts of plants. I find
them damaging Siberian iris rhizomes and some other plants, particularly if
you have mulched the bed. Voles seen largely unable to dig their own
burrows, so they make tunnels just under the surface of mulch, like
mouse-runs, or use the burrows made by moles. Most of the damage takes
place in late winter and spring when the voles run out of the foods they
really like.
Moles on the other hand are carnivores, feeding on worms and grubs in the
soil. They dig deep burrows in which they live most of the time, and make
tunnels just under the sod, etc., which are the typical "mole-hills."
These temporary tunnels are pitfall traps into which grubs and worms
wander, to be caught by the moles as they patrol them. So moles cause the
soil to be "heaved up" but voles usually don't. While pesky and unsightly
in a lawn, moles do not damage plant life in the garden (except that they
provide homes for voles, which do!). Using milky spore on the lawn will
drastically reduce the number of moles by killing Japanese beetles and
other grubs. The moles get discouraged and go elsewhere.
I think this also would reduce the population of voles, at least a little,
because they wouldn't have the abandoned mole tunnels to use. Since
treating with milky spore two years ago, we have had little vole damage and
moles have almost entirely disappeared. Also, the population of Japanese
beetles has been drastically cut!
Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@hsc.edu>
Why is the word "abbreviation" so long?
-Anonymous
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