Re: Varmints
Glenn Breayley wrote:
Now I'll breath a sigh of relief I don't have
> your gopher problems instead.
> We get two main mole types here. The first are surface ' runners ' which arethe carnivores & rip up roots in passing. The worst thing about these are
> that the better your soil gets & the more earthworms you encourage, the more they love it & the more damage they do.
> The second are vegetarian mound or dune moles, which sound analogous to your gophers. They form long intricate webs of quite deep tunnels with little raised mounds where they break the surface. I've had success controlling
> these by quietly opening a mound, sealing in a hose attached to my car
> exhaust & letting the car run for half an hour. It could be worth a try ?
>
> We also have snakes adapted to feeding on moles. I find the question of
> whether the moles - & the gophers - have an inherent beneficial role in the
> ecosystem an interesting one. NZ doesn't have them & survives quite happily
> ( I can see Moira reading these letters with a quiet, satisfied smile ). It
> is thought the reason many SA bulbs have evolved to produce multiple
> bulblets is so they can drop off to keep the plant going as the moles drag
> the main mother plant away. Thus they even help spread them. The gardeners
> rule of thumb for planting bulbs has been twice as deep as the bulb is high.
> I've been astounded however at some of the depths you'll see bulbs throwing
> shoots up from when you see them in washouts. Some of them can go a good
> 25 - 30 cm. In a natural setting I guess its all in balance.
>
> Oh, for a NZ style mole free garden though.
Dear Glenn, Linda and Rebecca,
I am relieved to hear that you have a similar problem and so I can
commisurate with you all, because here in the South of France moles are
our major cultural problems. Pooling our ideas together may help to
find a problem. Many of our bulbs are planted in plastic baskets. It
work several years, but this summer they discovered that the baskets can
be broken into. and part of the collection was destroyed.
Sourounding the beds with chicken wire will be the ultimate
solution. Tried gassing by introducing cyanomide into the tunnels. It
kept the population down, but their reponse was to block up the tunnels
to stop the gas from circulating. Our reponse: to intoduce the cyanomide
powder all over the place at once. This operation must be repeated as
soon as another populations of moles arrive. Bulbs has just been
planted now and the watch out will be continuous for the first signs.
Apart from surrounding the bulbs beds, chickenwire will also be placed
on the edge of the nursery to avoid mole migrating from the surrounding
orchards. This really is a total war. Good to know that we have not
(yet) seen 'gophers' here.
Keep us informed about new methods and eventual succes. Apperently
the instrument to pose baits in the tunnels is also available in France,
so I am on the look out.
Good hunting
--
Lauw de Jager
BULB'ARGENCE, 30300 Fourques, France
Région: Provence/Camargue; Climat: Zone 9a (Mediterranean)
Tel: 33 466 016 519 Fax: 33 466 011 245
Web: http://www.bulbargence.com/
Votre vacance en Provence dans notre Gîte rural
Have a holiday 'en Provence' in our 'Gîte Rural'
