Re: [Fwd: CONFESSIONS and the SF Bay]

Janet Smithen wrote:
> The pesticides chlorpyrifos (Dursban) and diazinon are found in
> increasingly dangerous levels in the San Francisco Bay and some of the
> nearby creeks. 

Janet 
Thanks for this very interesting from Carol. I shall be filing it for
future use.

We have a second lawn pest here as well as the grubs - a  moth
caterpillar which lives in burrows coming out at night to graze the
grass, which they eat it down even more closely than sheep would, so
that an infested area may appear to be completely denuded of grass.
Fortunately, once the caterpillars go the turf usually recovers.

I was interested by Carol's observations that the grubs are frequently
of little moment on really healthy vigorous lawns, as since I have
adopted a better regime for _my_ lawns (higher mowing, feeding with
compost)  the previously frequent patches of caterpillar damage have
virtually vanished. I have speculated that the moths may actually need a
bit of bare soil for egg-laying and the vigorous close turf growth
probably puts them off. It certainly reduces the number of weeds which
manage to get a foothold!

Moira
-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand. (on the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
Lat. 41:16S Long. 174:58E. Climate: Mediterranean/Temperate
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