So Russ, if the moles eat the grubs and you get rid of those, the moles leave, what about the voles that eat the roots and bulbs? Also the gophers? Not sure what they eat.
Did you get that catmad? About the milky spores?
General Discussions - 2010 - Chapter 30
Not sure how to rid the voles. But large garter snakes and bull snakes do eat them. Problem???? how do you keep from being startled. when one slithers out from a pile of mulch, right by your feet?????? :>(
Got that catmad?
LOL, let me know what you do.
I do catch and carry garter snakes back into the garden. Not so with the bull snakes. They kind of give me the willies, although I have caught them before in the hen house when I was younger. At that time I always got rid of them.
Russ, how are Barb and the girls? I'm sure we would have heard if they weren't good?? Tell her hi for me. Or, better yet, let her have that computer for long enough to say Hi!!
Guess we cross posted. I will leave the snakes to you. We have the garter snakes we used to chase each other with them when we were kids, but we don't have any bad ones and I don't think those little guys are going to eat many critters. Maybe bugs and that is about it.
Yeah they need to get pretty big before they get too exited about a mouse or vole.
Okay Okay I'll let her have the computer once in a while. :>)
Qgirl.. sorry to be so slow in answering but have been at work all day and meetings tonight... rather be in the garden. I have a wooden fence around my garden and I bent the corners using the top of the wooden fence. The dirt you saw is my well rotted manure that I add to my raised beds. I just added a layer (some of the information suggest it helps... and is necessary if you plant seeds) and it seems to help with the moisture issue on top.
The moles started to enter the garden this year as I was starting my bales. I was using blood meal and it runs through the bales a bit. I read somewhere that moles do not like the smell of blood. Well, I will tell you that mole left and has not returned. I also use the Castor oil pellets and they seem to help. The little beast ate my rhubarb roots last year (actually I think it was the voles got into the tunnels and did the damage) and I am concerned that my asparagus were damaged in the onslaught last year. Am preparing to go out and lace the garden with the Castor oil pellets again this week before the little beasties get serious again.
As for the snakes... I will stay with the blood meal and Castor oil pellets.... I have enough trouble with snakes in my barn, I don't think I want to be worrying about those creeping out of my compost pile or over the beds. I've had enough run ins with 6 ft black snakes to last me a lifetime. Unfortunately, they seem to like consuming my frogs more than anything else....
Wow nini, the snakes are eating your frogs? How terrible. So sad.
I have found that caster bean plants work. And they are beautiful. I had those critters a few years back and was looking for something to stop them so I bought some kind of mole away or whatever from Gardens alive. I looked at the ingredients and it was a small % caster oil and the rest inert ingredients. So, I took the pellets and broadcast them out in my perennial bed. I didn't have any more problem. They moved out overnight. However, the other side of my house looked like a mine field, which was ok, because I didn't do anything with it.
So, I posted it and said something about looking for a way to use caster oil and someone says why not just plant the beans? I decided to try it and that is what I have done since. My sister had tons of the critters in her p;lace and I gave her a few plants and now every year she plants a half a dozen. Like I said, they are beautiful.
So, with those and the Milky spores, how can you go wrong? Gotta use the milky spores to get rid of the attraction.
This year is my first at straw bale gardening. I have four bales set up end-to-end. Today I watered them, but would like to try putting strings on the ground tomorrow. Hope they will move for me.
Kent, thanks for all the videos on YouTube!
"Did you get that catmad? About the milky spores?"
Thanks Jeanette, yeah, NOW I get it. Just a bit thick sometimes.....:)
I think I better get some M, S too before I forget and it's too late.
I have around a gallon of Castor beans, Think I better think of where to plant them. Ughh Not the whole gallon!! Save some to drop down into their tunnels.
Russ
That's a lot of caster beans Russ. Did you take those all from your own plants? I guess so, what else would you do with them.
Oh, BTW, is Barb ok? LOL
I started several in the house to put out there in my perennials.
Where does one get Castor bean seeds? Sounds like I need to plant a few of these around my garden and the back yard. I am not even sure what the plant looks like. Anyone have a picture to post. And on a sadder note... my favorite mole dispatcher in my family passed away this week at nearly 16.. Dear old Sid always gave it his all and never let an opportunity pass to dig for moles and trench up the backyard.... A mole dispatcher to the end, he didn't even let the 10 inch snow this past February deter him from his appointed mission... I'm afraid his three remaining companions (two pugs and a pit/cross) will not be up to the task, so the Castor bean plants it will have to be.
Oh , what a good looking feller . So sorry for your loss . He looks like he was a great friend . I lost my pooch two weeks ago but I picked up his ashes and now he keeps me company at my desk . Maybe they have met , over the bridge , and my dachshund,Sam , and Sid are getting rid of the varmits together . What fun ! Love his dirty nose . digger
Oh, I'm sorry nini. I hate that when we lose our pets. Caster beans are a very pretty plant. Tropical looking. I can send you some beans. OR, Russ has a gallon of them. Where is he? Just went looking for him. Kicking and screaming all the way.
I will let you know if I hear from him.
nini, just remember caster beans are poisonous. Don't mix them in with your other beans.
Jeanette
Jnette..would love to get some seeds from you... will send you an address through the dmail... and thanks a lot...wish I had some seeds to trade you for them... maybe one day I will try to start saving some... just haven't progressed that far in my gardening.
Digger and Jnette... thanks for your comments on Sid. Sid now has a permanent resting place in the flower bed where he always love to be (irregardless of his affect on the plants well being).... It seemed fitting and I know he will continue to keep an eye on everything that goes on in the backyard.
jnette, just sitting here shredding a bunch of papers , looking through at the tv , and munching on dried tomatoes . Papers will go in the compost tomorrow . nite , all . digger
Sally, Digger, are you trying to get rid of the evidence? lol, you've got a lot of tomatoes to go thru.
nini, Russ is sending you some caster beans. Remember they are to plant not to make chili from. :o)
I gave him your address.
Jeanette
Yes Nini; I told Jeanette they will be in the mail tomorrow I will see if I can find one of the pics of a couple years ago.
well I found this one, it's a little late in the season but maybe it will give you an idea of how big they can get.
Now also keep in mind in the warmer climate they can be perennial. and get quite large. I will try to find what zone that is. I don't remember right now, so check back later.
Russ
Found one a little earlier in the season not a close up but they are in the left back ground. Maybe you can enlarge the pic to see them better.
Russ
Edited to say more like center back ground. Sorry!
This message was edited Apr 14, 2010 4:16 PM
The one with the beautiful big leaves nini. They look tropical. Wow Russ, that first picture with the thick branches. I have never seen any like that. Do they come back for you? Perennial? I can't imagine their getting that big in one season.
'course I had mine in a container. The flowers are beautiful. Besides the leaves.
Nope they are only an annual here I have another pic of the trunk on one it was about a 2" diameter. They can get bigger a lot depends on the weather and how soon they get planted. Of course I as well as many others recommend harvesting all the seeds and not letting them take over an area. We will have to wait and see how big they get in VA.
Russ that is absolutely amazing. I think you had better pick all the seeds. Is that what they are doing? Seeding themselves down? Really something.
Wow! That is a large plant.....A bit intimidating if I do say so myself..... So what is it that keeps the moles at bay? Do they work as well planted in pots to repel moles as planted in the ground? Will have to be careful where I put it. But thanks Russ, I will be looking for the seeds. Jnette... no chili for me.... just a chilly reception for the moles :o ()
nini, I think Russ's soil is just excepetionally good. (plus his weather) I don't think I would worry about your plants getting that big. I could be wrong, but I would be happy if mine got a third that big. The moles just do not like caster of any form. oil, beans, powder, plants, etc. The trees Russ is showing us do not go chasing the moles and voles. LOL
Russ, that is like Jack and the beanstalk. nini does not want to go climbing. They truly are amazing. You better pick all the beans that they produce. Crap mine didn't even get a bean. Mine just bloomed. But then I had mine in a container on my deck. I did have some puny little things Russ would pull for weeds planted out in my perennial beds but even they must have been enough.
nini, here's one growing in my front bed in July of 2008.
Doug
How on earth do you catch all the seeds? When I had them in FL, the seed pods would "pop" and send the seeds flying. They got huge, and spread like wildfire. One thing, although the beans are the source of ricin, which is deadly, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricin) my plants were routinely stripped of their leaves by the local Haitian community. I could not get them to stop, but did manage to get them to leave the front plants alone. They said they used it for stomach problems.
Here's a page with some interesting stuff..
http://earthnotes.tripod.com/castor.htm
Nini - my condolences on your loss. Made me so sad for you as I looked at his little face, and brings tears to my eyes. As much as all our (10) animals cause us such hassles, it makes me sad to think of their passing. Only one of them has any interest in digging after our gophers (the miniature pinscher, and they were bred for that), but she never digs very far.
I wonder if those castor plants could work their magic on gophers? A couple questions, if they get that large, don't they shade the veggies - or just plant them on the east side? They only need to be planted on one end? I am wondering what it is that made them invasive in Florida. The heat, the humidity or the combination. We have the heat, but it is very dry in the summer. I would like to try some of those beans. We have other invasive trees whose prodigy need to be plucked from the ground immediately when recognized. Ours are the Tree of Heaven and make nice looking shade trees, but need to be controlled.
Hey catmad; Tell the Haitians that if they leave them alone you will give them seeds so they can plant their own. lol
They are easier to control here, just pull them when they are little or run the roto tiller down between the row where they are coming up. I watch the first ones that look dry and cut that branch off if it looks like they are about to pop. Then hang that branch or seed stalk from the rafter in the greenhouse. Those I save for seed the rest I use for mice and feeding the moles in their tunnels. I mash them up so they are easier for the rodents to get a belly full. Of course being careful in that process.
Doug looks like yours was the green or gray ones mine are the red. I'm not going to look up the different names, just noticed the color. Russ
As far as my soil I did plant 3 of them in bales, they didn't do as well as those in dirt.
Sometimes I joke that we have a lot of that rich Canadian soil we got from the glaciers during the ice age. lol
I think this year I will use what hay and straw I have as mulch
I received seeds of different colors of the Caster beans in a swap. So, I have red, purple black and green. Think I am going to try some of each. LOL, my all be the same just different perspectives Other than the green ones. . I planted the reds in a planter on my deck and they were beautiful. Loved the bloom, but I never got any seeds. Too short a season here I guess.
Jeanette; You don't need to worry about seeds. The plants I had last year produced more seeds than I can use. If you can distinguish one from the other I wouldn't mind a couple purple for a doz reds. lol
LOL, I have the reds too. Russ. But, I don't know if you can tell by looking at the seeds. I will look tho and certainly send you some. I am wondering if there are actually purple vs red vs black? Or is it just maybe the soil they are planted in or something like that? Will be interesting to see. I will let you know.
BTW, how do you do the water test? I am assuming if they float they are empty? Or is it the other way around? And how long do you leave them in the water to tell?
Actually Russ mine do turn a darker/redder color in more sun and later in the year. That was in kinda of a shady bed.
Doug
Well the last time, all that floated were empty. When I just tried it yesterday they all floated. I smashed 3 of them and they were full and moist inside, so I assumed that the oil on the hard shell was making them float. That system may not be a good test. So much for thinking I had a simple way of checking them.
Yes there several varieties 1 variety has yellow flowers another has green mine have red. For the most part the color refers to the the color of either the leaves or the stalk and or the flowers. I had swapped for a couple grays but I lost them.
Man.... Didn't realize I would take this thread so far off topic by asking about Castor beans and what they look like. Many thanks to all who have posted pictures and are sending seeds. Cannot wait to get them and start them in the house to plant out later this spring. From what I can tell, I will be choosing their placement carefully due to their size. The picture that Doug posted was truly amazing and as he is zone 6a and I am 7b, I can only imagine that mine will get equally as large or larger. Will keep everyone posted as to the success in Virginia. And good news, the voles did not kill the asparagus.... Large spears finally breaking the surface!.. Guess it has just been a really cool and slow spring... Hopefully I will be cutting this weekend ( : 0 )
nini, that one was actually small. They grow to around 10-12 feet in ideal conditions here.
Doug
OK now I'm really going to have to plan... 10 or 12 feet.... small tree is a more apt description.... I still think I can find a few spots for this mole chasing plant.... Did anyone say the leaves were toxic? I have horse, should I be concerned if they get hold of any of these leaves?