Re: CULT - RAISED BEDS
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: CULT - RAISED BEDS
- From: D* S* <s*@molalla.net>
- Date: Tue, 25 Mar 1997 09:52:50 -0700 (MST)
Arnold Koekkoek wrote:
>
> Nancy Silverberg wrote about creatures devouring the Siberians. I'm
> wondering what kind of creatures those o-so-voracious things might
> be. Certainly moles wouldn't do that, because they eat grubs and
> worms, not the plants. The type of wire (size of mesh, etc.) would
> certainly depend on what pests you need to keep out.
>
> Arnold Koekkoek
> NW Iowa Zone 4
>
> Arnold Koekkoek Home Ph. (712) 722-0724
> Assoc. Prof. of History Off. Ph. (712) 722-6326
> Dordt College e-mail koekkoek@dordt.edu
> Sioux Center, IA 51250
Arnold;
Those pesky critters appear to be gophers. I say that without proof,
because we have never caught one. We went up to Tom and Ellen Abrego's
place almost two years ago, and received an excellent lesson on setting
traps for the little monsters, but just never seemed very good at it. I
tried drowning them one time when I found fresh mounds, but after
pouring water into the hole for about an hour, without it filling up, I
discovered that the little devil had connected his run with our septic
bed, and all the water was simply flowing into it. I have tried poisoned
grain down a fresh hole, and they have kicked it out with a "no
thankyou", and even kicked out the gravel from the septic runs onto the
lawn to make their runs more comfortable. Since David spent all his
energy nursing me last year, rather than the irises, when we went out at
first opportunity this year to see what still survived, we were
pleasantly surprised to see so many of the bearded irises holding their
own over the weeds (the weeds have done extemely well!!) but the gophers
have almost totally wiped us out of beardless irises. My last resort was
to import a whole litter of big healthy 10 month old cats someone was
going to have destroyed, and try to stike a deal with them. So far, they
have been great with the smaller beasties, but have not seen any
evidence of larger bodies. Hopefully they will work up to it, and be
very effective. Even if they encourage them to move on to someone elses
property, I will feel that their food and cat nip was well worth it.
Any other suggestions will also be welcomed. I am at my wit's end when I
look at the destruction to our beautiful siberians.
Nancy
