2014 Lawn, Garden, Landscaping , Fishing , and Allergy Thread

[mackerel_sky]

You mean my cane, and my pole.

Exactly !

[GaWx]

 Well Tony's (I assume) moles finally made it to Savannah this spring but not where I wanted to see them...in my backyard! They're killing my grass in parts of the yard and are making the lawn spongy when walking on it. It almost feels like I'm walking on quicksand in those spots. Why didn't they go to the beach as planned? They could have had so much fun burrowing into the dunes!

 I've also got real bad fireants in spots! I've had Terminix repeatedly treat them (they even went underground) but they don't seem to want to disappear!

 

Edit: I also see inside the house the white moths from time to time that originated from the webworm infestation of last Aug-Oct.

[Crapper Jim]

 Well Tony's (I assume) moles finally made it to Savannah this spring but not where I wanted to see them...in my backyard! They're killing my grass in parts of the yard and are making the lawn spongy when walking on it. It almost feels like I'm walking on quicksand in those spots. Why didn't they go to the beach as planned? They could have had so much fun burrowing into the dunes!

 I've also got real bad fireants in spots! I've had Terminix repeatedly treat them (they even went underground) but they don't seem to want to disappear!

Get cats.  I have zero moles and mice.  Ants... I don't really care about them unless they're in the house.

[Cold Rain]

Get cats. I have zero moles and mice. Ants... I don't really care about them unless they're in the house.

Doesn't always work. I've got 3 cats and 300 moles/voles. My cats are pretty lazy though. But of course, they have no problem killing birds or bunnies.

[SharonA]

You mean my cane, and my pole.

Nice one

 

My poles and my canes reside proudly on the gun rack in my pickup.  It might garnish a few odd looks, but a gunrack ROCKS for storing canes and fishing poles!

 

 

 

Did some fishing in south Florida while on the road last month ... this little fellow kept taking swipes at my lure as it would pass over his spot.  I could see him clearly from the bank.  After multiple swipes, during which he ruined the lure's swimming action by chewing the bejeezus out of the spadetail part, he finally snagged himself.

 

 

And another proud member of my "Not A Peacock Bass" photo collection:

 

 

(I REALLY want to get back to Florida for an EggFest and fishing before my non-resident licenses expire!)

[mackerel_sky]

Nice one

My poles and my canes reside proudly on the gun rack in my pickup. It might garnish a few odd looks, but a gunrack ROCKS for storing canes and fishing poles!

Did some fishing in south Florida while on the road last month ... this little fellow kept taking swipes at my lure as it would pass over his spot. I could see him clearly from the bank. After multiple swipes, during which he ruined the lure's swimming action by chewing the bejeezus out of the spadetail part, he finally snagged himself.

NottaPeacock_Med2.jpg

And another proud member of my "Not A Peacock Bass" photo collection:

Notta_Peacock_Toothy.jpg

(I REALLY want to get back to Florida for an EggFest and fishing before my non-resident licenses expire!)

Don't know the one on top, but nice Gar on the bottom! They are always a neat fish to see/catch

[SharonA]

The top one is a spotted Tilapia. commercially farmed for both aquaria and for eating.  They are well-established in the wild in S Florida, and out-compete the native Lepomis and other panfish without being as willing to be caught with bait.  Very invasive, and it's illegal to possess a live one (you're expected to kill it immediately after catching, ice-in-the-cooler if you want to keep for eating), and also to release them after catching.  The only exception to the release that I could find is you're allowed to use a live one for bait in the same body of water it was caught.  Peacock bass were introduced into the wild in S Florica in part to help control Tilapia populations, so you could catch little ones and use them for bass bait same as using little panfish.

 

Excellent eating, no limits at all (the state is saying PLEASE CATCH THEM ALL FILL YOUR COOLER YOUR CAR YOUR FREEZER !!! ), but the wild ones do have higher levels of mercury than the farmed ones, and sometimes a grassy-ish or muddy-ish hint to the flavor (which is easily fixed with a dash of citrus).

 

The gar kept going after my live shiners that were being used to try and get peacock bass.  I caught one gar that was close to 4' long, and one of the kids got all excited so I let her reel it in (with me helping). I made a big deal out of is SHE had caught it, so she wanted a picture of it, and it was longer than she was tall.  Unfortunately there's no real way to lip-hold a gar for photos, and while it was thrashing around objecting to being held vertically, it gave her a good solid WHACK so she was afraid to get closer (while still insisting she wanted the picture).  I finally did get the shot with an adult holding the "huge" gar vertically by snout and tail and kiddo leaning in --- soooo cute and I hope she remembers it fondly instead of being afraid of a scary thrashing fish whacking here again.

 

I'm kicking myself for not having taken pictures on MY camera, for myself.  It's by no means any kind of record, it's just a fun fishing shot with a kid.

 

Gar are so cool to watch.  Not so much fun (IMO) to catch, they don't seem to have much fight.  It often feels more like I'm hauling in a big stick that gets stuck on the way up, rather than a fighting fish.

[mackerel_sky]

I've caught a few gar in the day , the only real way to hold on vertical is to have a towel and double it and hold its mouth with the towel protecting u from the teeth.

[Crapper Jim]

A Channel Cat is the prettiest fish I've ever seen.. the little ones' eyes.

 

SharonA's photo reminded me of that.

 

 

Edit: I really miss all-night catfishing!!!!!!

[crossthread]

A update from this past week of Fishing down here one the SE Coast. Plenty of Keeper blues in the Early morning(s), On ALL piers south to North to OBX.  Oak Island Piers, (and SC) have decked their first few King(s), Largest being 44.10 off Ocean Crest Pier.. In addition to 20+ pound Cogia(s) being caught on the South Piers..

Where I fish, eg: Carolina Beach, we're being Slaughtered by Blues, and Spanish Mackerel, Have Shown up (again), the past 2 Days, Keepers in 1 to 3 pound range...

Sea Mullet (Whiting) are being caught in certain places that Have NOT, see **Beach ReNourishment**, in the past couple years..

In addition to SUPER SIZED Pomps up to 3~4 pounds, using sand fleas for bait...

HINT: If YOU are SURF Fishing, and DO NOT see those lil birds working the shoreline, eg: the Edge of the water & surf zone,,, MOVE.. Until you see them working, feeding along the edge of the surf, Meaning there's Sand Fleas/Coquina Clams/Sandworms & other critters these Bird feed on and HENCE he fish you are targeting are very possibly there... eg: Mullet/Red & black Drum, pompanos etc...  That haven't been smothered & killed due to Beach  ReNourishment....

South of Bald Head Island &the Cape Fear River, Water temps are into the 70+ mark..

NORTH, Water Temp(s) are mid-60's to 68 @ Carolina Beach.. & parts North...

 

Question for the "Weather & Water" Folk(s) THAT also track el ninos etc...

WHY??  is our temp difference/Break   and thus catching  King Mackerel after Bald  Head Island, AND the CFR    different than that SOUTH of Us in Carolina Beach? Is this because of the "Outflow" of the CFR , how can I say, Stopping the "flow" of Warmer Waters, South to north? As We've not seen NO King nor Cobia, (every year) until 2 weeks too 1 month AFTER the Oak Island Piers catch their first few Kings or Cobia? We have Spanish Mack's/Bonitas aka lil tunnies etc but NO KINGS??? I KNOW if Spanish Mackerel are here the King Mackerel should be here also... ANYONE try to take a guess?

[oconeexman]

Putting Palisade Zoysia in this week. Irrigation system done. Ready for a real yard!

[Solak]

This thread was dead for almost a month! So, what's going on with our 2 remaining Bradford Pears? Is it a combination of this mini-drought that was interrupted by 3 inches of rain? They've been losing a lot of leaves lately... not new tip growth, but on almost every branch, the leaves that are 6-7 buds in from the tip growth are just turning black/brown and dropping. They were really flying around with last night's rain-free outflow boundaries. It's not really a big deal, since they're coming out this fall, but aesthetically, they're really starting to look ugly.

 

Oh, yeah --- one of our Leopard Frogs down at our little pond wanted to say HI tonight

[Crapper Jim]

Yep... the Bradfords' drop ugly, dead stuff.

 

But, they suck up soooo much water in the meantime.

You can't grow anything near them.

 

"They'll be back!"  They spread suckers 5 miles down your road.

 

 

This year... the Bermuda grass, my hood, has just started!

1/2 my lawn is bare.  And.... I ain't gonna do the weed-n-feed thing.

<Not English... green is good.   

[crossthread]

Despit what many of you think in PR, I'm NOT that kinda crazy "nut-case"...

It's been over 10 years, since I've worked with Video Software, eg: Adobe Premire...

I've been "up-graded" to CS 3 Master Collection, so Lotsa relearning this software/rendering and effects, In addition to learning *New* stuff...

Lost My "original Clip", due to a Major Software crash, so I pulled a "All-nighter" to get this Video Short done..

Split half of Fathers Day with these Kids & young Adults, the other with MY Daughters..

Take a break, set on down spend 5 minutes,Watch this,  Get your good feeling on...

this is the 4th ANNUAL Fishing event for the KIDS.. Everyone goes Home a *Winner* reguardless....

i hope you enjoy this.. I'm SORRY,,,  I'm learning to get this to play on Mobile Devices/Smart Phones.. So, It's a .AVI (WMP) File.... 

[mackerel_sky]

It's a sad day . Found my first tomato horn worm on my plants today. Was out storm watching and picked what would be my 5th and 6th tomatoes of the season ( only have 2 plants)

And noticed some nibble shoot tips and searched all over and finally found the bugger! He was just a baby, about 3/4 of an inch long and as big around as a spaghetti noodle! One swift flick took care of him and I could not find another. So now when I'm out watering every other day , I will have to look out for these dastardly bugs!

[Crapper Jim]

It's a sad day . Found my first tomato horn worm on my plants today. Was out storm watching and picked what would be my 5th and 6th tomatoes of the season ( only have 2 plants)

And noticed some nibble shoot tips and searched all over and finally found the bugger! He was just a baby, about 3/4 of an inch long and as big around as a spaghetti noodle! One swift flick took care of him and I could not find another. So now when I'm out watering every other day , I will have to look out for these dastardly bugs!

Honestly Mack...

...I'm glad I didn't do 'the yard thing" this year.  The local drought with the expense of water in this area.

 

The horn worms destroyed my Roses this year (hundreds of them, at once).  It's on the same side of the house

I grew my tomatoes last year.  I suppose the soil is infested from last year.  Nothing I could do about it.

 

Good luck.  I'm just glad I don't have to pick off the semi-visible buggers every day. 

 

 

Horn Worm Stew Recipes, anyone?