I bet we all have had problems, I know I have. For instance, around mid to late summer, a rainstorm blew in and flooded my garden and yard with rain! Many of my flowers and veggies died from rot! I hope that other gardeners will share there problems of the previous year, so that this year, we will overcome these problems. Please reply! (In the photo, there is about 3 inches of water around these plants.)
Another photo.
One more.
Well, my tomatoes were doing wonderfully. I had planted l00 onion plants & they were growing big & starting to bulb. I watched my garden daily, the mustard greens were growing, my leeks were maturing. I had never seen a garden do so well. Then, one day, I noticed a few of my tomatoe plants missing, but thought nothing about it. Then I started to see some of my onion plants missing. I told my husband that I thought we had someone coming during the night & stealing my plants. Then one day, while I was standing in the garden, scratching my head, wondering what was happening to my greens,onions, thinking maybe I was just imagining this, I saw a plant just zome down into the ground & disappear. Then the next onion, & so on. I didn't know what to do or how to stop this. I started digging with the shovel, but could find nothing. Just a tunnel. Well , I lost a lot of onions, so I am scared to plant this year. I do have raised beds, with plastic under, but wonder if this will help. I guess I have Voles & I have placed poison & have not been able to catch any.
My biggest problem every summer is squash vine borers. I absolutely cannot grow summer squash or zucchini. The vine borers get every single plant. I have tried everything I've ever read about in books, websites, this group, you name it. The only time I can grow squash/zucchini is if I plant in August and harvest in early fall before the first frost.
Have you seen the culprit? I'm not sure but it could be moles also. As for the squash vine borers, here's what I would do,(my squash, watermelon, pumpkin, and even a 'Hubbard' squash didn't have a problem). Since the adult borer is attracted to the color yellow, a simple way to monitor your plants for the presence of this pest is to use a yellow dish pan filled with water. These traps should be placed near the plants by late June and checked daily. When you notice the adult borers in your traps, you should take immediate action to prevent the insect from laying its eggs. Another method of prevention is wrapping the stems of your squash in aluminum foil or an old pair of nylon stockings to block the destructive actions of the borer. I would put floating row covers over the plants, or at the very least, plant 1 or more 'Hubbard" squash to act as bait to keep them from your favored varieties.
I have problems with voles too. Moles don't eat much or any vegitation, but they are great tunnelers after worms and grubs. The voles travel in their tunnels and tunnel through loose soil themselves. All they eat is vegetation. I want a Great Grey Owl, because all they eat is voles. That not being likely, I am going to try a Sonic Molechaser next year as I do not want to use poison. They are said to work better in clay soil. I do hope it works, but for under $25 I figure it is worth a try. After that, I'll have to try trapping.
Bloomfly, Thanks for responding, but I have done all of the things you mentioned. NOTHING helped at all. I still lost all of my squash plants.
So sorry! Even I didn't know the outcome, but maybe it was to late in the season. Hopefully next year, the plants will be protected. I keep my traps out, even in the dead of winter, to attract as many as I can, so they don't bother my squash. This is especially needed, as this year, I am attempting to grow those giant 400 pound pumpkins. I do not want those pesky borers digging in my plants! I wish you luck this year, and hopefully the borers don't attack your plants as much, or maybe not at all! Who knows?
Bloomfly, here in Southern New Jersey ... this past Season we had over 60 Day's of Rain A
Hurricane(IRENE), and a Tropical Storm, I'm not sure what possessed me to dig out all four Garden's and Install French Drain's this past Year, but they Saved all my garden's....there was never puddling, root rot, I had a few instances of moles, otherwise I had a Successful season...
I like your Idea about the Voles and I wonder if that will work for Moles although I'm not confident....
Thanks...
Moles are meat eaters, the chance that they will eat veggies is very slim. Voles will eat vegetables.
A couple of seasons ago I had a huge problem with voles, then, by chance, I planted sweet potatoes at the edge of the garden - a 50 foot long row. The voles ate some of the sweet potatoes, but left the rest of the garden alone.
Personally, I don't like using bait because my little dog will eat anything!
This is why I Love Coming here, even though we come from Different area's, we learn so much Thanks Honeybee.
I have this Link I just read about Voles vs Moles
http://landscaping.about.com/cs/pests/a/vole_control_4.htm
I just remembered that I purchased this product:
http://plantskydd.com/Plantskydd-Deer-Repellent.html
but never got around to using it.
It's supposed to deter voles. The reason I never used it is because I found the sweet potatoes worked just as well.
I like the idea of coyote urine. The next time I see a coyote, I'll hold out a cup and say" "Pee in this, please" ---- NOT!
HoneybeeNC. We have many coyotes in the area, and also many voles in the yard and pasture. It has been a pretty warm winter for us so far and the voles are very active. And this is "coyote season" in our little neck of the woods. They always seem to be changing territories and coming up closer to the house the Jan. than any other time of year. The coyotes are particualy active this year, I think due to the drought and far fewer cattle in the area also due to the drought. Our donkeys have had their hooves full trying to run them off. I would have thought that the voles would be taking a hit and the activity would diminish due to all these coyotes running around, but no. I'm a little dubious of the coyote pee method. But it can't hurt to try. My corgies seem to be the biggest vole preditors right now. During deer season the owls always seem to move away from the areas where the hunters and shooting (which has been pretty much everywhere this season) are active. Now that deer hunting season is closing I am expecting the owls to move back and the voles had better look out!
If nothing else, coyote urine might be useful for keeping OTHER coyotes away. Canines use urine to mark territory, and if you draw a perimeter around your garden with spots of some other pack's urine, the coyotes may take it as a sign that it's somebody else's territory.
This might not be a concern if you don't have cats, small dogs, ferrets, etc. but I can tell you for sure that in Albuquerque's "West Mesa" neighborhoods, coyotes are notorious for killing people's pets.
petronius_ii - sadly, cats and dogs in surrounding neighborhoods have fallen prey to coyotes. I couple of months ago I saw one in our neighbor's front yard three nights in a row. I stopped taking my 7lb dog out into the unfenced front yard before bedtime in fear that she would be taken. I now have to walk her quickly into our fenced backyard on a leash at night.
One neighbor reported that a coyote climbed her fence. Fortunately her lab managed to chase off the coyote with only minor injury.
