CHO Lawn & Garden Articles
Table of Contents
Toxin-free Tips for Urban Lawns and Gardens
Lawns: Dead Patches
Grubs and Bugs
Get Rid of Grass!
Loving Lilies v.s. Red Lily Beetles
What Is In My Yard? A Shrew?!
So what's a Mole?
What's a Vole?
Toxin-free Tips for Urban Lawns and Gardens
Author Carole Rubin gave and educational and entertaining presentation to over 100 people at City Hall. One of the many things she talked about was healthy lawns. She shared this information:
- Feed soil, starve a pest: 6"-8" of good, healthy soil, organic slow release fertilizers and screened compost, if necessary.
- Select regionally appropriate plants: blends of pest-resistant Kentucky Blues (20%), perennial Ryes (30%) and fescues (50%)
- Set new tolerance levels: will a few dandelions kill us?
- Keep crop healthy! A healthy crop is its own best defense.
- Maintenance, Maintenance, Maintenance! 80% of insect, disease and weed problems are caused by poor maintenance practices:
- mow high and SHARP: 3" tall AFTER cutting
- water infrequently/longer: 1" every 10 days
- aerate three times a year, compost and overseed
- immediately after fall aeration, compost, overseed, fertilize with organic fertilizers as required (soil test)
- de-thatch only if thatch is more than ½", in fall. (thatch is a hard fibrous gray mat of un-decomposed material; a green yellow/brown layer of naturally decomposing plant parts is healthy for your lawn)
- monitor: LOOK at your yard! catch a problem before it takes over!
- when all else fails: go to least toxic management of pests
- Learn about the pest: favourite food, growth, eggs, germination, etc. Natural controls: i.e. aphids like nasturtiums best, so plant 'nasties' a "trap" crop near aphid infested plants.
- Beneficial organisms/natural predators. Be aware of up-rooting predators from their home i.e. attract ladybugs, don't buy them.
- Purchase/grow resistant varieties that suit your soil and climate. If turf grass will not grow in an area, encourage/plant natives. Encourage clover.
- Plant a variety of species. Monocultures attract pests!
- Fatty acid soaps on insects; for weeds pull them by hand or use vinegar.
Lawns: Dead Patches
Fix, quickly and for good, big bare patches on your lawn.
The quick part: Rake patches until the surface soil is loose, then spread annual ryegrass seed - it greens up faster than any other. Until new grass is a centimetre high, water whenever it hasn't rained for more than 2 days.
For long-term healthy turf: When the annual ryegrass is started, move on to some biodiversity for your lawn. Perennial ryegrass resists grubs better than any other, creeping red fescue resists drought, white clover helps all grasses to grow better. A mixture of all three beats the standard bluegrass sod any day. Sprinkle seed and water every couple of days, if nature doesn't. No fertiliser is necessary - the clover will do it for you!
Overseeding is most successful during May or September during cool damp weather.
Grubs and Bugs
June bug and chafer beetle grubs may cause devastating infestations. Pesticides harm predators, pathogens and parasites, so when the next generation of grubs hatch, their nemesis is gone!
What to do?? Identify the culprit before acting. Most insects on your lawn are beneficial. Don't be fooled by voles that survive under the snow by chewing turf.
Starlings devour many grubs with little damage to turf.
If the grass is dead, overseed with a mixture including ryegrass, fescues and / or clover (that resist grubs), or consider alternative ground covers.
Nematodes are tiny, delicate worm-like creatures that kill grubs. Buy them at gardening supply centres and follow directions very carefully. "Failure" of nematodes may be because they did not survive transport or application, or perhaps pesticide residues from previous years harmed them.
Chinch bugs live in a layer of dead plant material. "Thatch" is a problem on chemically treated turf that lacks micro-organisms to process clippings. Organic lawns degrade thatch rapidly, recycling the nutrients. Topdress with compost in May to smother nymphs and to supplement micro-organisms. Good success is reported with one-time vacuuming up of beetles, nymphs and eggs from brown patches and a margin around affected areas.
Earwigs are the cockroaches of the garden. They eat anything, and seemingly the more you value the plant, the tastier it is to them.
Gardeners with lush, established gardens find earwigs do not do too much harm. There is enough food to go around, and other organisms keep them in check. However, the hapless gardener who builds up bare soil with a good load of their own compost, laden with earwigs and earwig eggs, then plants a few seeds or seedlings, will find the 'wigs eat the beans and basil faster than they can grow.
What to do? Trap them! Earwigs hide in tiny dark spaces. They will gather between boards, in rolled up newspapers or lengths of old hose, and can be shaken into soapy water. Lay traps in the shade, or gather 'wigs in the early morning.
A fatal attraction is a small container set into the ground, with sugar water and a bit of yeast, topped with a film of oil. Set these away from your prize plants to avoid attracting earwigs to an assortment of delicacies, lest they choose the wrong one! Place traps by compost piles. This strategy works best if you can keep this tasty treat from larger critters such as squirrels, racoons, skunks and pets.
Diatomaceous earth, razor-sharp dust, scratches insects' waxy coating so they dry out and die. Sprinkle a little of this about problem areas (more is not better!). This affects all insects crawling over it. Cover your mouth and nose to avoid inhaling the dust. You should see results within a week.
Get Rid of Grass!
Grass is the commonest ground cover throughout Ottawa. However, it has to be mowed, watered and worried over.
There is a trouble-free alternative for areas you don't walk on -- daylilies (Hemerocallis). No lawn mower. No sprinklers. No hassle!
They grow over a foot high, with long slender pure green leaves. They handle full sun, drought, bugs - the lot. They even have colourful flowers (yellow, orange or red) during June/July, and they fight off every weed going, including grass, as long as they have an hour or more of sun per day.
Start daylilies in a corner and let them spread naturally. Each year you will have less grass to mow. Visit your local garden centre to get some.
For those dark places where grass struggles - Lily of the Valley (Convallaria). They grow about 15 cm high, with broad, pointed deep green leaves, and delicate, white, fragrant, bell-shaped flowers every June.
Lily of the Valley thrive in mid-sun to deep shade, and resist pests and diseases. With just a bit of moisture, they smother every weed.
If you need to walk in the area, scatter patio stones -- Lily of the Valley will spread around them.
Loving Lilies
Now is the time for pest prevention in the lily bed. Love is stirring in the hearts of red lily beetles, which will have their babies hatching just in time to munch the tender tops of asiatic lilies as they emerge.
Scratch the soil. Find and squash, or dump in a dish of soapy water, the beetles. Check often. Watch for red eggs on leaf undersides, then eventually the rather repulsive larvae (gloves may be handy).
For more information on the red lily beetle (a recently imported pest in Ottawa): http://www.concordma.com/magazine/july98/lily.html
What's in my yard? A Shrew?!
Okay, okay, so you think you saw something furry darting behind the barbeque,through the daffodils, and disappearing into a teeny, tiny hole under the composter - but you are not sure, right? All you were doing was raking that pile of dead leaves, grass-clippings and sticks you didn't quite get to last fall! You start moving that old, wet wood along the fence and - there it goes again! You got a better look at it this time - your gut instinct said "mouse"- but darn, you couldn't see a tail worth mentioning, no ears to speak of, and a pointy-like-a-pencil snout, the body almost charcoal in color - what was THAT?
Now, get down off the picnic table, put your shovel down, your baseball bat away (you are much bigger than it is!). You may have just seen a shrew, in all likelihood a short tailed shrew or a masked shrew. You are lucky to have seen one, let alone being fortunate enough to have them on your property. You want slug, grub and bug control that doesn't come in a can, jug or truck, that doesn't come with that worrisome skull and cross-bone DANGER-POISON symbol on it? Then shrews are for you! But just one thing: if you use pesticides for your lawn and garden, or have lawn care pesticide applications, then don't expect to see these fascinating and secretive little mammals. Lawn pesticides that kill bugs also kill the shrews that live and survive on the bugs.
So what is a shrew, anyway? Shrews are insectivores. They eat insects, all kinds of insects. They are small and furry, but they are NOT rodents. All rodents have buckteeth. Shrews have pointed incisors, specifically designed to catch, hold and eat white grubs, slugs, earthworms, beetles and other slimy company. In fact, shrews are lean, mean bug-eating machines, hunting and eating bugs, slugs 'n grubs virtually 24 hours a day, with the odd earthworm for dessert.
So don't be alarmed if you see a shrew, be thankful and rejoice. They are doing your lawn and garden bug control for you, unseen by you. Shrews don't drive lawn care trucks, they don't ask you for money, they won't leave pesticide signs on your lawn, and you don't have to keep your kids, yourself and your pets off the lawn. Lawn and garden pesticides are designed to kill, but insectivores can't read labels, signs and material safety data sheets. Just let them do their job, naturally.
So what's a Mole?
Moles are from a group of mammals called Insectivores (Order Insectivora). As the name implies, moles eat insects and their larvae, including grubs and slugs, and they are a beneficial source of insect control for lawns and gardens. Moles are one of the most subterranean of mammals; they are rarely seen, spending much of their life underground. Distinctive mounds of soft earth, most common during wet weather, are pushed up as the moles make their tunnels. These mounds usually indicate the presence of moles, which in turn, usually indicates the presence of subterranean insects.
The most common mole in this part of Ontario and Quebec is the Star-nosed Mole (Condylura cristata). Averaging 150 - 200 mm in length(6-8"), with a long hairy tail and enlarged digging forelegs, the mole's black fur is velvety and grainless. This allows them to move backwards as easily as they move forward in tight, underground burrows. Although their hearing is acute, they are extremely light-sensitive and virtually blind. The fleshy and sensitive star-shaped tentacles on the end of their nose are their 'eyes' in detecting and capturing their prey underground.
Moles also provide other benefits to a landscape, besides insect control. Their deep tunneling activities, while a nuisance in some areas, can be beneficial to many lawns because they aerate the soil, allowing rain to penetrate and thereby reducing erosion. Once the subterranean insect supply has been exhausted, the foraging mole will move on. The soft raised mounds on the lawn can then be easily tamped down and the surface raked and re-seeded. Because moles benefit the environment, no pesticides are registered for use in controlling this mammal.
If you notice the distinctive signs of mole-mounds on your lawn or in your garden, do not use pesticides! Instead, be patient and let the moles work underground for you. Monitor the area for signs of any new mounds or tunnels. If you do not see any newly turned earth for three or four days, the mole has probably moved on. And you can be flattered that this odd-looking mammal has chosen to aerate your lawn and control the insects naturally!
What's a Vole? A rodent -- i.e. a field mouse. For more info, click here.
: 
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This webpage contains links to other Internet sites and/or companies only for your convenience. CHO is not responsible for the availability or content of these external sites and/or companies, nor does CHO necessarily endorse, warrant or guarantee the products, services or information described or offered by the above listed service providers. Also, please review our Legal Notice.
Community Web.
