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Probably The 13th Lawn Thread 2022


Damage In Tolland
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Never in my entire gardening career have I suffered more loss to rodents than this year. A nearly 30 foot long section of the wall garden is totally destroyed. Tiger lily bulbs were chopped into bits, hollyhocks gone, echinacea gone, iris, butterfly weed, everything is just gone. The number of perennials I have has creeped up over the years. Definitely starting to remember why I initially did nothing but annuals. The second photo shows a lovely "carpet" of echinacea roots neatly laid out inside of a pathway.

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On 3/27/2022 at 7:01 PM, eekuasepinniW said:

Never in my entire gardening career have I suffered more loss to rodents than this year. A nearly 30 foot long section of the wall garden is totally destroyed. Tiger lily bulbs were chopped into bits, hollyhocks gone, echinacea gone, iris, butterfly weed, everything is just gone. The number of perennials I have has creeped up over the years. Definitely starting to remember why I initially did nothing but annuals. The second photo shows a lovely "carpet" of echinacea roots neatly laid out inside of a pathway.

20220327_180851.jpg

20220321_122624.jpg

May I suggest the bucket of death?

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26 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

May I suggest the bucket of death?

I'd probably have to buy new buckets... lol.

Someone must have left a lot of food in a trashcan somewhere, because over the last few years the squirrels have since gnawed holes in virtually every bucket shaped thing I have. Even a gas can. I don't get it.

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Just now, eekuasepinniW said:

I'd probably have to buy new buckets... lol.

Someone must have left a lot of food in a trashcan somewhere, because over the last few years the squirrels have since gnawed holes in virtually every bucket shaped thing I have. Even a gas can. I don't get it.

Funny you say that. I had squirrels chew through my shed in two areas to get in. They were nesting. I noticed tons of stuff inside chewed up including a gas can!  I caught one of them and released him a couple of miles away. Trap set again. 

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1 hour ago, CoastalWx said:

Funny you say that. I had squirrels chew through my shed in two areas to get in. They were nesting. I noticed tons of stuff inside chewed up including a gas can!  I caught one of them and released him a couple of miles away. Trap set again. 

Released? Kill ‘em all 

- Lars 

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3 hours ago, eekuasepinniW said:

I'd probably have to buy new buckets... lol.

Someone must have left a lot of food in a trashcan somewhere, because over the last few years the squirrels have since gnawed holes in virtually every bucket shaped thing I have. Even a gas can. I don't get it.

About 10 years ago a co-worker gave me a bunch of black walnuts from the tree at his Waldoboro (midcoast) home, still in the husk and enough to nearly fill a 5-gal bucket.  He'd planted nuts in his yard several times with zero success - nothing made it out of the ground.  One Saturday afternoon I planted about 2/3 of the nuts in various places on our woodlot, putting 2-3 per hole because there were so many.  I left the nut-bucket on our porch with another such bucket fitted inside it, the 2nd bucket holding about 20 lb sand.  Thinking that would foil the local rodents, I didn't check on the buckets until Monday after work.  The lower bucket had 1-2" taken down from the rim, not enough to reach the nuts but a sure sign that the red squirrels and chipmunks were very interested.  I doubt there is a black walnut within 20 miles of my place and even its cousin, butternut, is probably a mile or more distant.  Those rodents had never sniffed anything like those walnuts, but that aroma was enough to drive the critters nuts.

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Catch and release.

Wildlife > Humans

That's my usual practice with critters I don't plan to eat, but one winter the red squirrels got into our unheated back porch and tore things apart, warranting an exception - rat traps.  Caught 4, lethally of course, and the depredation ceased.  Our "log cabin" is actually stick framed and clad with 3-sided Northern white cedar logs, very irregular.  That spring I took 2 narrow strips of 5/8" plywood left from an earlier project and with scribe and saber saw fitted the strips to the siding.  No more squirrels though mice still can enter, usually in places other than that porch.

Our cat also follows your philosophy:
Catch and release
Catch and release
Catch and release
Catch and release . . .
 

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20 hours ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Bought a Colorado blue spruce and a dawn redwood tree from an online nursery on Etsy of all places lol.

Come about 3 feet tall, reviews are awesome….

I have some of both growing from seed. The spruce came from my own existing trees. Unfortunately the voles tore them up in my garage. I have a few dawn seedlings alive in a single pot in my basement. A couple of giant sequoias as well.

I have some random trees that I grow. The voles wiped out a lot. I have a few white willows in air pots from cuttings that are growing well. Some need to be upsized. Some of my black walnuts survived the attacks and most of the pawpaws did as well. This year I already have a few chinquapins and macadamia nuts that have their radicles emerged. I have more pawpaws, butternut, and some ginko that are still stratifying.

I have a bunch of northern catalpa growing together in a fabric pot that probably needs to be separated and repotted while dormant.

If there's a particular tree you like and you don't mind experimenting you can find seeds for almost anything on sheffields. I like the air pots because the roots don't get tangled around themselves like in standard pots. I'll have to show you a pic of one of my willows with the air pot removed. It's a fobrous mass of roots.

You could probably grow a cold hard fig down there as well. In extreme cold it may die back, but it would fire right back up in the spring. You seem to be more into ornamentals though.

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I just got an email from Cummins Nursery for 50% off all of their apple, peach, and pear scions. I got 2ea of 6 different apples and 1 type of pear.

Apples: GoldRush, Spartan, Enterprise, Sweet Sixteen, Freedom, and Ashmead's Kernel
Pear: AC Harrow Crisp

Anyone here have grafting experience? I'm planning to just do some cleft grafts onto my existing large apple tree which currently has crap fruit. I'll try a couple of the Harrows on my existing pear trees as well. It's a good way of trying a bunch of different varieties without planting a bunch of trees.

I've never done a graft before, but it doesn't look too difficult. As long as 1 of the 2of each variety take I'll be happy.

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6 hours ago, dendrite said:

I have some of both growing from seed. The spruce came from my own existing trees. Unfortunately the voles tore them up in my garage. I have a few dawn seedlings alive in a single pot in my basement. A couple of giant sequoias as well.

I have some random trees that I grow. The voles wiped out a lot. I have a few white willows in air pots from cuttings that are growing well. Some need to be upsized. Some of my black walnuts survived the attacks and most of the pawpaws did as well. This year I already have a few chinquapins and macadamia nuts that have their radicles emerged. I have more pawpaws, butternut, and some ginko that are still stratifying.

I have a bunch of northern catalpa growing together in a fabric pot that probably needs to be separated and repotted while dormant.

If there's a particular tree you like and you don't mind experimenting you can find seeds for almost anything on sheffields. I like the air pots because the roots don't get tangled around themselves like in standard pots. I'll have to show you a pic of one of my willows with the air pot removed. It's a fobrous mass of roots.

You could probably grow a cold hard fig down there as well. In extreme cold it may die back, but it would fire right back up in the spring. You seem to be more into ornamentals though.

I’m kind of impatient lol… the 3 foot Colorado spruce they are sending is already 5 years old. 
 

Im down for trying anything that looks good and gets decent size. To build my neighborhood, they just leveled the whole area. The only trees that are here are those stupid ornamental pears. Some people have planted some other small stuff, but I’d like something bigger 

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13 hours ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

I’m kind of impatient lol… the 3 foot Colorado spruce they are sending is already 5 years old. 
 

Im down for trying anything that looks good and gets decent size. To build my neighborhood, they just leveled the whole area. The only trees that are here are those stupid ornamental pears. Some people have planted some other small stuff, but I’d like something bigger 

Going from my experience, that spruce probably won't get much bigger in its first year there, as up to 90% of its roots stay behind when it's lifted for transplant.  That makes keeping the soil moist (not soggy) extra important, though you probably know that already.  The tree should do much better in years 2+.

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On 4/5/2022 at 1:36 PM, dendrite said:

I just got an email from Cummins Nursery for 50% off all of their apple, peach, and pear scions. I got 2ea of 6 different apples and 1 type of pear.

Apples: GoldRush, Spartan, Enterprise, Sweet Sixteen, Freedom, and Ashmead's Kernel
Pear: AC Harrow Crisp

Anyone here have grafting experience? I'm planning to just do some cleft grafts onto my existing large apple tree which currently has crap fruit. I'll try a couple of the Harrows on my existing pear trees as well. It's a good way of trying a bunch of different varieties without planting a bunch of trees.

I've never done a graft before, but it doesn't look too difficult. As long as 1 of the 2of each variety take I'll be happy.

 

On 4/6/2022 at 9:41 AM, tamarack said:

Going from my experience, that spruce probably won't get much bigger in its first year there, as up to 90% of its roots stay behind when it's lifted for transplant.  That makes keeping the soil moist (not soggy) extra important, though you probably know that already.  The tree should do much better in years 2+.

What can I fertilize the spruce witg when it comes? A fertilizer spike?

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14 hours ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

 

What can I fertilize the spruce witg when it comes? A fertilizer spike?

I agree with Dendrite about waiting until transplant shock has ended.  Tree spikes worked quite well for our apple trees, but I don't know if there are varieties for plants more adapted to acidic sites.  The regular ones should work okay, however.  I've read that tree fertilization (of any kind) should stop at least 3 months before first frost, to limit the chances of an early frost nipping still-active shoots.

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Hey guys- took ur advice last year and bought a dethatcher then over seeded. Looks great.

Question is: what’s the timeline for application of milorganite( my fert of choice), grub killer and  Pre-emergent for crab grass?  And In what order? I see some people starting now but seems too early for me. Any help would be appreciated. Also- am I missing any steps? Should I vigorously spring rake or would that ruin the sprouts from last fall?

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4 hours ago, Supernovice said:

Hey guys- took ur advice last year and bought a dethatcher then over seeded. Looks great.

Question is: what’s the timeline for application of milorganite( my fert of choice), grub killer and  Pre-emergent for crab grass?  And In what order? I see some people starting now but seems too early for me. Any help would be appreciated. Also- am I missing any steps? Should I vigorously spring rake or would that ruin the sprouts from last fall?

I’ve had good luck putting down the dimension around the time forsythia fully blooms or a little after…. Grubex I usually apply sometime in June 

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On 4/8/2022 at 10:01 AM, tamarack said:

I agree with Dendrite about waiting until transplant shock has ended.  Tree spikes worked quite well for our apple trees, but I don't know if there are varieties for plants more adapted to acidic sites.  The regular ones should work okay, however.  I've read that tree fertilization (of any kind) should stop at least 3 months before first frost, to limit the chances of an early frost nipping still-active shoots.

I’ll probably hold off then if there’s a chance of damaging the trees.

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