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14th Lawn and Garden Thread P Allen Smith 2024


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11 minutes ago, mreaves said:

The same happened when our house was set.  That was corrected when we did our siding project last month.

We re-did the back bedroom (our computer room except when the grandkids are here) and had to remove the mouse-chopped (and 43 years of mouse-pee) insulation.  After multiple applications of odor-kill spray and baking soda, we installed Rocksil insulation, claimed to be mouse-proof.  Pre-reno, wx like today would fill the room with a nasty redolence (that corner faces the sun), but none since the update.

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46 minutes ago, tamarack said:

We re-did the back bedroom (our computer room except when the grandkids are here) and had to remove the mouse-chopped (and 43 years of mouse-pee) insulation.  After multiple applications of odor-kill spray and baking soda, we installed Rocksil insulation, claimed to be mouse-proof.  Pre-reno, wx like today would fill the room with a nasty redolence (that corner faces the sun), but none since the update.

Nothing worse than a pile of mouse shit and they pee everywhere, it just always dribbles out of them

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1 hour ago, tamarack said:

Our indoor-only cat (lost several in the past to fishers/coyotes) catches the occasional mouse and loves to play, sometimes losing the little guy completely - to my wife's disgust.  If the dog gets a hold on it, game over.  Home is an L.C. Andrews package, stick-framed with 3-sided white cedar log siding.  Shrinkage allows smaller mice to enter, and when the builders (on their 1st house and it shows) were sheathing, they left a 1/2" space between plywood and upper plate, so anything that can wriggle thru the logs has free access to entertain the cat.

They don't need much of an opening to get in.

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9 hours ago, tamarack said:

Our indoor-only cat (lost several in the past to fishers/coyotes) catches the occasional mouse and loves to play, sometimes losing the little guy completely - to my wife's disgust.  If the dog gets a hold on it, game over.  Home is an L.C. Andrews package, stick-framed with 3-sided white cedar log siding.  Shrinkage allows smaller mice to enter, and when the builders (on their 1st house and it shows) were sheathing, they left a 1/2" space between plywood and upper plate, so anything that can wriggle thru the logs has free access to entertain the cat.

2 days ago I was outside and my cat chased 2 Fishers into the woods, saw it first hand.  I wonder how aggressive they really are towards house cats? Interesting article below.  Coyotes, yea that is a different story for sure.   

https://archive.nytimes.com/scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/do-fishers-really-eat-cats/

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1 hour ago, backedgeapproaching said:

2 days ago I was outside and my cat chased 2 Fishers into the woods, saw it first hand.  I wonder how aggressive they really are towards house cats? Interesting article below.  Coyotes, yea that is a different story for sure.   

https://archive.nytimes.com/scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/do-fishers-really-eat-cats/

We lost a cat too, but I think it was coyotes, we hear them howling close by now and then so it's just an educated guess.

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15 hours ago, backedgeapproaching said:

2 days ago I was outside and my cat chased 2 Fishers into the woods, saw it first hand.  I wonder how aggressive they really are towards house cats? Interesting article below.  Coyotes, yea that is a different story for sure.   

https://archive.nytimes.com/scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/do-fishers-really-eat-cats/

Almost the entire weasel family members are quite fierce, with skunks and otters the exception (and the latter can be nasty when threatened).  An adult male fisher, 12-15 lb, could easily kill most housecats, though as the linked article notes, the much larger coyote can do it more readily.  A 5-lb female fisher might look elsewhere for food.  There has been loads of research in Maine on the (officially) threatened Canada lynx, and one result that surprised many is that fishers are probably the greatest threat to lynx.  The big "weasels" kill by dropping atop the much bigger cat and quickly getting a death grip.

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10 hours ago, tamarack said:

Almost the entire weasel family members are quite fierce, with skunks and otters the exception (and the latter can be nasty when threatened).  An adult male fisher, 12-15 lb, could easily kill most housecats, though as the linked article notes, the much larger coyote can do it more readily.  A 5-lb female fisher might look elsewhere for food.  There has been loads of research in Maine on the (officially) threatened Canada lynx, and one result that surprised many is that fishers are probably the greatest threat to lynx.  The big "weasels" kill by dropping atop the much bigger cat and quickly getting a death grip.

We had one prowling around the neighborhood a couple years ago, their scream is kind of eerie, sounds like a baby screaming. I was walking my dog one night after dark and there was one in my neighbor's yard, he screeched and climbed up a tree and hid behind the tree and just stayed there not moving. I wouldn't want my dog to corner one, but I think they're just as afraid of us and dogs as we are of them.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Speaking of Merrimack Valley, anyone battling fungus this year? I sprayed once… didn’t seem to get it all, so just put down disease x 48 hours ago but….? Wondering if there are any better remedies…thanks 

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2 hours ago, eekuasepinniW said:

I have vole issues every summer, but this year is so over the top I'm ready to just throw in the towel and plant fake flowers.

Small rodents are one of the major vectors for ticks.  Yay!

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2 hours ago, eekuasepinniW said:

I have vole issues every summer, but this year is so over the top I'm ready to just throw in the towel and plant fake flowers.

I have like 6 skunks right now and they seem to be eating up every insect and small rodent in the yard.

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4 hours ago, dendrite said:

I have like 6 skunks right now and they seem to be eating up every insect and small rodent in the yard.

Speaking of skunks... has anyone ever actually seen an eastern spotted skunk?  They're like the absolutely cutest animal we allegedly have here.

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4 minutes ago, eekuasepinniW said:

Speaking of skunks... has anyone ever actually seen an eastern spotted skunk?  They're like the absolutely cutest animal we allegedly have here.

I think we’re out of its range? 

This one with the black spot eats mealworms out of my hand now. 
image.jpeg

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11 minutes ago, dendrite said:

I think we’re out of its range? 

This one with the black spot eats mealworms out of my hand now. 
image.jpeg

Hrm, I feel a bit stupid because I swear when I first heard about them I thought their range was the entire east coast.  But every range map quite clearly indicates I'm extremely wrong. Haha.

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1 hour ago, dendrite said:

I think we’re out of its range? 

This one with the black spot eats mealworms out of my hand now. 
image.jpeg

That's fooking awesome.

 

8 hours ago, eekuasepinniW said:

I have vole issues every summer, but this year is so over the top I'm ready to just throw in the towel and plant fake flowers.

Voles, not Moles?  We're having an insane year of moles.  Not in the lawn, only on the woodchipped paths.  Must be some insect underneath they like.  But I've also heard from several folks that they've got a serious mole problem.  Tunnels and Tunnels everywhere.

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5 minutes ago, tunafish said:

That's fooking awesome.

 

Voles, not Moles?  We're having an insane year of moles.  Not in the lawn, only on the woodchipped paths.  Must be some insect underneath they like.  But I've also heard from several folks that they've got a serious mole problem.  Tunnels and Tunnels everywhere.

I can tell when I walk properties they have a mole issue, the ground is soft in spots.

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1 hour ago, fz583 said:

Skunks are a carrier of rabies, may want to take a rain check on having a cuddle club with them. 

A carrier if they’re bit by a rabid animal. And I think they can only spread it if the disease is active. These were all babies born nearby this spring and none have shown signs of the disease. I’m not actively trying to be friends with them, but they want the mealworms in the driveway that my chickens don’t finish and the “friendly” one has been creeping out of the woods a little before sunset now to get some worms early while my chickens are still free ranging. So I try to feed it away from them to keep it occupied. It isn’t ideal, but it hasn’t shown aggression toward me or the birds. It just wants that mealy crack.

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  • 2 weeks later...
5 hours ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Crabgrass invasion. The Pre emergent in the spring clearly did not work…

I moved into a new house in February. Lucky for us a month before we moved in the prior owner installed a brand new septic system, but this meant our entire backyard and side yard was just dirt due to the septic tank removal. The septic people came back and reseeded all  of it in the spring, and while the backyard is well shaded so we haven’t had much in the way of weeds, the side yard gets sun and well.. let’s just say the crabgrass overtook our nice grass seed we temporarily had lol we won’t ever use pesticides due to our dogs, so I guess  we will just have to hope the back yard stays nice. 
 

On a better note I will say up until the scorched earth weather pattern we have been in, this was an awesome year for hydrangeas. Crazy amount of flowers.

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23 hours ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Crabgrass invasion. The Pre emergent in the spring clearly did not work…

There are a few different pre emergent options and they have different time periods that they cover based on rate of application. Some only cover as little as 30 days-ish. Some can cover 90-120. Depending on what you applied and when, you could have lost all coverage to stop crabgrass from coming up (if applied early spring) Sometimes you need to do a split application and apply again mid summer.  

Don't shoot the messenger about chemicals..lol. Just giving info. Also, the thicker you can get your grass also reduces weeds that will germinate. I don't use pre emergent, but do get some crabgrass pop up in spots and some other random stuff.

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2 hours ago, backedgeapproaching said:

There are a few different pre emergent options and they have different time periods that they cover based on rate of application. Some only cover as little as 30 days-ish. Some can cover 90-120. Depending on what you applied and when, you could have lost all coverage to stop crabgrass from coming up (if applied early spring) Sometimes you need to do a split application and apply again mid summer.  

Don't shoot the messenger about chemicals..lol. Just giving info. Also, the thicker you can get your grass also reduces weeds that will germinate. I don't use pre emergent, but do get some crabgrass pop up in spots and some other random stuff.

Yea I use JG and they claim 3 months. Next year I will lay it down twice but I’ve been tied up (when the heat and dews break) working on a rebedding project so I honestly have not given the lawn my full attention. It’s acidic so I need to work on raising the ph and building the turf instead of blindly doing the annual 4 step program. 
 

thanks for the heads up.

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