hi,
i've been using crushed oyster shells to protect my lily bulbs from voles. so far so good. my questions to you is: do oyster shells biodegrade over time? and if yes, how quickly?
thanks,
thought i'd come to some folks who would know about such things.
thanks
debi z
crushed oyster shells &
I remember doing clear out behind my fathers house. We dug up oyster shells that had been there for many years. Someone had burried them in the back yard. They were whole though, not crushed. I hope someone else has more info for you debi_z. So what do they do to protect your bulbs? Just curious. Do they hold nutrients? The chickens use them to aid in digestion.
well the voles(field mice) just happen to love to munch on lily bulbs. 4-5 winters ago they devoured or brought back to there nest about 150 of mine. ahhhhhh plus munched on some other roots too. but my lilies are my favorites and i'd invested some money in there beauty. anyhow.........i decided to learn all i could about the critters and figure out the least expensive and effective way to keep them from being able to munch them away. i finally came up with crushed oyster shells. you encircle the lily with them when planting, and some more in the dirt above where the roots and stem grow, and this deters them when they munch down or start to try to move through them, they are scratched etc. they move onto something else.
there is also a product call vole block which is granite stone baked etc, and you do the same with this stone. it is much more expensive than the oyster shells. i've found 50 lb bag of the shells for $15.95. you can use a pound for each one but that is only 32 cents a bulb at the most. i have over 70 bulbs coming in the 3 co-ops.
i most likely will stick with the oyster shells. your info has eased my mind a bit. what the heck they withstand the ocean, i guess they can my garden soil.
thanks
I'm not sure about them breaking down, but they would add a good amount of calcium to your soil. I'm not sure I would use a whole pound per bulb.. that seems like a lot. I wonder if it would mess with the pH...?
Catscan can probably answer this question!
Hi Debi_Z: I can tell you this about oystershell, We use them here a lot on the west coast for driveways. If they biodegrade at all, it is exceedingly slow. They do pack very tightly and make excellent driveways in the country. They become almost as hard as asphalt. Not sure about ph change in soil. Haystack.
Stupid Voles!! I have them too! They really wreak havoc on the lawn. I will see trails around the yard after the snow melts. Best of luck to you with keeping them away. Let me know how well the shells work to keep them out!! ;)
He!!! What is a vole? I just thought someone had misspelled Moles. We have moles everywhere. They are impossible to deal with. I used to trap them and finally gave up. I'd trap three a day and still have mounds all around the five acre lawn. The dirt they push up wrecks the blades on my ride around. When it gets real dry then i have a dust storm. Haystack.
I have Voles in the flower bed.. not bad, but they are there.. They like to eat roots.. I don't have any trails.. but if you poke a stick in the ground.. you can feel the "hollow" about 6" down..
I think Voles are smaller than Moles..
Voles are like meadow mice.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vole
Yup! destructive little things.
Unless you continue crushing them they should hold up pretty much indefinitely. They degrade very slowly - I'd be more concerned with their spreading out and getting mixed into the soil. As for the ph -think lime...
http://www.google.com/search?q=ph+oyster+shell&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Grownut! You're back!
With 5 minutes to spare...been missing youse guys, but working frantically...should be back in a week or so to really do some damage ;-)
I was wondering about the Ph.. I have Brugs.. that would be bad for them.. Thank you for that bit of info!! :)
Yes, missing you too! Thanks for the info.
wow, thanks for all the great info. i'm forever learning here through dgers help.
test for voles: find one or more of there small holes. take a piece of apple and lay it next to the hole. cover with a large pot and put a stone on top of the pot to hold down. check in 2 weeks. if the apple is still there, no voles are using that hole. if the apple is gone, your in trouble.
voles do use mole trails as there superhyways to goodies. they usually live in dens and don't go more than 40 ft from it. they rapidly increase and do not retire for the winter season, they just eat more to stay warm. arghhhhhhhhhh. when they run out of food sources in one area, the whole family moves to a new residence.there new residence, not necessarily yours.
one article i read, a professional vole finder,(nice way to say exterminator), found a den and in one corner of it they had stored over 150 - 200 lily bulbs. i think they must have lived close by to me. LOL
again, thanks for all the oyster shell info.
debi z