Now Moles in My Corn
Forum Archives
Bill
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: Jun-13-2005 at 8:16am
So I apparently have a mole hill in the middle of what use to be my corn with a hungry mole.
Two complete rows of corn were apparently bitten clean off at about 2-3" high, and about half of a 3rd row was eaten.
What can I do to keep the moles out of my garden and can I still replant corn? Say this upcoming weekend?
Thanks again all, this garden may be lawn again next year the way my luck has been running.
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Jun-13-2005 at 9:26am
Gopher maybe but not mole. They only eat worms and other ground dwelling meat. Gophers and mole tunnel voles are another thing though.
Or could it be rabbits? Look for tracks on tilled soil. Do you have the garden fenced?
Gary
Bill
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: Jun-13-2005 at 11:32am
Your right it could be a gopher though the hole looked a little small so maybe the tunnel vole you mentioned... know any ways to deter them?
Definetly not a rabbit. Though my garden itself isn't fenced I have a 6' cedar fence around my property and my German Shepherd is free within that fence so no rabbits, neighbor cats, or anything else is in my property... except whatever came up that hole.
Incredibly rough to see three rows of corn gone Any advice greatly appreciated.
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Jun-13-2005 at 1:27pm
Bill,
One other possibility is a mountain beaver but your 'hole size' seems to be to small for that. At a previous house in Seattle, my daughter had trouble with something that would chew through almost anything to get at her plants. We decided that it must be a beaver. She was losing everything regardless of size of the plant. Her wedding did get her into another house in Ballard with no 'varmints' so far.
There are certainly smaller gophers such as the pocket gopher that we have around here. I have had trouble with something small in my beds and the holes have been only about an inch in diameter. My damage has been to the roots of parsley plants and potatoes some times, not above the ground losses.
You might check your library for Russell Link's new book Living with Wildlife in the Pacific Northwest. My 8th grade science teacher daughter has our copy of it now and I can not do some quick research on suspects and solutions.
Bill
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: Jun-13-2005 at 7:42pm
Thanks Gary, I really appreciate your assistance and will check out that book as soon as I can.
In the interim a colleage at work who is an avid gardener suggested something to me, though it sounds a little crass it may actually work: marking the hole with scent from a male predator and the critters will not come back. In other words drinking a beer or two tonight and fertilizing the hole... I figure I have nothing to lose trying that.
Gary: though the rest of my garden is doing really well at this time what is left of my corn is basically dying fast, it's yellow and drying out and dying. I'm about to give up on the corn, but do I have time to try it again? I will replant it all if so, if not can you make a recommendation of what would be a good summer crop to put in it's place that it's ok to plant this late? There is a storm coming in, but I am hoping I could plant something in that section after that.
I think I may have gotten some of the mist from some round up on my corn. I know some on here would never use it, and I wont again after this.
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Jun-13-2005 at 8:17pm
Ahhh, the infamous pesticide drift. So sorry to hear that happened. You might try painting it on, not spraying it, next time. I use it *very* selectively - only when hand removal fails to control an aggressive weed - and I paint it on because I can control where it goes and not worry about drift and breathing it in. IIRC, one of our members suffered from a nasty cough for some time after accidentally inhaling Round-up when spraying.
As always, read the label and follow it to the letter when using any pesticide products.
btw, pesticide is the term used for the whole group of insecticides, fungicides and herbicides.
cjmiller
Location: Oregon, Willamette Valley
Posted: Jun-13-2005 at 8:41pm
Corn can be replanted. it isnt too late and we do have high hopes of a late and warm fall. Precocious(65 days)or Bodacious (80 days) will get ripe before it gets too cold. there are 60 days between June 15 and Aug. 15 and weather should be great until past Sept 15. Your sequencing may just be late, pretty much like the rest of us this year.
Another critter to consider as the perpetrator is field mice/rats. They love (?) using mole runways and eat anything you consider precious! My heart hardens when it comes to protecting garden produce and I would dump warfarin pellets down those rat holes. Be clever, as you have to protect your dog from it.
I received the Territorial Seed catalog for Winter on Saturday (and I still have things left to plant from the spring catalog!) however, it might give you some ideas for a late fall/winter harvest there are late cabbages, chard, carrots, broccoli, etc you can plant over the next 2 months for late harvests.
Carol
HarleyLady
Location: Willamette Valley
Posted: Jun-13-2005 at 10:29pm
An article in a newspaper down here in the grass capital of the world said that the gray-tailed vole (microtus canacaudus) damage is the worse in 25 years due to the mild winter. A normal population is one or two per acre but there are now 1000-2000 per acre. Some of the rye grass farmers have lost as much as 50% of their crop to voles and some fields have suffered 90% damage. They are a native northwest herbivore but don't know if they could be your corn-eatin' critter. I make a lotta shredded vole everytime I mow.
HarleyLady
JeanneK
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Jun-14-2005 at 8:17am
Wow, HL. 50% of the rye crop! What are they doing to try to stop the voles from eating the rest? I bet you do make some shredded vole, with all the grass you have now.
Jeanne
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Jun-14-2005 at 10:28am
Bill,
With 'normal' (average of 1971-2000) weather, Bodacious corn planted on June 14th near the Oly Airport would be ready for harvest Sept 15-20.
I think Lisa maybe right on the yellowing but did you water during the hot days? Early corn (sown 4/5) in her Portland area is now using as much water as grass. When it tassles, it will need 25% more water per day/week than quality turf. Young plants like you have, don't need that much but their developing root system needs water more frequently than mature plants.
Gary
Bill
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: Jun-14-2005 at 4:56pm
Thank you all for the replies. I did water on one of the hot days but not all so that could have been it too, but it has the same kind of yellowing plants you spray get...
My big concern now is how the rest of the garden will do as between my corn rows was not the only place I sprayed it, after all the work so far this year it will really be a sad thing if my other plants are affected - somehow I do not think they are affected though as everything else in the garden is really doing great (knock on wood) even the things I was unsure of trying like Cauliflower and Brussel Sprouts.
FWIW - I errr... marked my scent on the hole last night, and then one other hole in my lawn I found - I don't really know if that will help keep them away or not, but forcing myself to drink an extra hard apple cider didn't put me out too much ;)
According to the weather I will be planting more corn next Monday, I have three packets of Bodacious left so I think I will just use that and then maybe just plant some more mesclun as well in that spot.
Thanks again very much everyone.
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Jun-17-2005 at 7:13am
Save some of that mesclun for later as a fall/winter crop. This is a good time to remind everyone of Trav's vegetable timetables on his website. You can see links to both his 'normal' Winter Garden timetables at:
"Trav's Quick looks"
Trav doesn't name 'mesclun' but the early August dates for mustards, mache, radicchio, cress, endive, et.al. would indicate similar timing. Remember Trav's dates are based upon his experience near Sumner so Willamette and warmer sites should be able to get later dates to work.
Solomon recommended 10 days + or - sowing dates in late summer for the Willamette and the WA foothills versus the Puget Sound basin. For your first tries at winter gardening Trav recommends multiple small sowings to determine the best timing for your site.
All those 'greens' above survive to 15F or below. put some space aside for your fall/winter garden and you'll soon see why Solomon, Trav, & I use half our gardens at time of year.
Gary
HarleyLady
Location: Willamette Valley
Posted: Jun-17-2005 at 7:41am
Jeanne, about the voles: one recommendation is to graze the fields during the fall and winter months reducing cover so that predators (hawk, eagle, owl, coyote, fox, etc.) can spot the voles more easily. A more toxic solution is the use of zinc phosphide (rodent bait) but that must be applied May 1 - Sept. 1 and not within 30 days of harvest or within 24 hours of rain so it's really not practical not to mention the environmental considerations. Even more useless because at that time of year, the farmers don't know yet if there will even be a vole population explosion the following spring and the damage for the present year has already been done. HarleyLady
cjmiller
Location: Oregon, Willamette Valley
Posted: Jun-17-2005 at 10:33am
We found out quite by accident that the 2 foot deep french drain we put around the garden to control the natural springs runnoff on Mt Scott inadvertantly also prevents moles from getting into the garden. In your spare time, you could dig a 2 ft deep trench fill it with rock and keep them #$%* moles out! Digging builds character. My Dad said so. I wonder if voles have trouble walking over a french drain?--It works for moles.
Carol
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Jun-22-2005 at 10:03am
More timing advice for year long vegetables today thru my local paper. One of my local Farmers' Market vendors, Kirsop Farm, mentions their sequence to sell greens April through December. Genine and Colin of:
"Kirsop Farm produces a steady stream of bok choy, beginning with the first planting Jan. 31. Every other week until the end of October, a new crop is started. When the seeds sprout, they are carefully picked one by one and transplanted into a roomier tray. Eventually, these seedlings end up in a tidy row in the ground."
The full article including some recipes is at:
"Farm Fresh is Best"
This is like Trav's advice to sow lettuce transplants on the first of each month from January to August. Two sixpacks means 3 heads a week two months hence or 3-4 leaf cuts a month hence. You also have some protection from hot weather causing your plants to bolt because you have another cycle coming behind as the weather cools. Apparently, the choys work to harvest on the schedule as lettuce so using Trav, how about once a month on the 15th?
Gary
Bill
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: Jun-25-2005 at 8:29pm
Another follow up:
1) on my corn: Beleive it or not I still have about half my corn and it's now doing better than ever. I even got as couple good ones in the two rows I thought were completely eaten down. I been really really vigilante to keep the soil the exact moisture level I want and am keeping the roundup away so who knows I might get corn yet! If every corn plant currently doing good gives me one medium sized ear then I will still get several bushells of corn.
2) On the tunneling critter (tunneling vole, mole, nematoed or whatever it is!): It has kept away ever since I marked the holes. I need to do that again to ensure it stays away, but it has not returned since I did that. Knocking on wood, I'm happy bout that!

Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More
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