DEAR JOAN: Your column final week talked about constructing cages for excluding rats. Additionally they maintain out different animals and birds.
Our backyard mattress cages are used 12 months spherical. Now we have a tall one for tomatoes, and with average effort, the tall cages could be moved to no matter mattress the tomatoes are in, which, in fact, we modify 12 months to 12 months.
The cage for the fruit tree is up solely when there's fruit. It's made with panels which are bolted collectively, and this unit can simply be taken aside for storage. One panel is hinged to supply an entry door.
As you say, these cages are costly, however they're very efficient. We can not justify their value in meals, however we view the cash spent as the price of having fun with the gardening course of. One can simply spend a lot cash on nonproductive actions and hobbies. Gardening does have some tangible return for cash spent.
The one drawback we now have not solved is that one thing, most likely rats, is chewing on the irrigation tubing, thus requiring weekly repairs. We try pepper spray however the tubing is throughout our yard and maintaining is a problem.
Phil and Sue Grover, Harmony
DEAR PHIL AND SUE: What a neat setup you’ve bought, and whereas I’m positive it was pricey to accumulate and took some effort to construct, it’s satisfying to have it in place and able to go. It’s actually simpler on the blood stress as combating the rodent wars can turn out to be an all-consuming bundle of frustration.
I've a few concepts on defending your irrigation traces. The primary is to bury them beneath the soil or beneath a layer of mulch. This would possibly find yourself being a brief repair as a result of rats or squirrels intent upon attending to your traces will dig them up. You additionally might need irrigation traces that aren’t appropriate for going underground, and this might lead to clogged traces.
The rodents are chewing on the tubing for a few causes. One, they’ve found the traces have water inside, and so they’re thirsty. Two, rodents have to gnaw as a way to maintain their tooth from rising too lengthy.
You would possibly have the ability to spare your irrigation traces by offering the rodents with one other consuming supply — a shallow bowl of water — and one thing extra substantial to chew on, equivalent to outdated beef bones, antlers or a salt block.
Conversely, you may attempt to discourage the rodents from visiting by eliminating meals, water and shelter, which isn’t straightforward as a result of rats and squirrels aren’t choosy, and so they simply don’t know the way to take a touch.
DEAR JOAN: I let my hummingbird feeder soak each time earlier than I put out contemporary refreshment.
Just lately I had 4 or 5 birds flying across the feeder, and three or 4 have been on it for the primary time ever. Do hummingbirds keep in mind individuals who feed them yearly or 12 months spherical? I really feel like they do.
Franchesca Campos, Windsor
DEAR FRANCHESCA: Thanks for being a pal to the hummingbirds. I don’t know in the event that they acknowledge faces, however they do keep in mind all of the feeding spots, together with retaining monitor of the blooms they’ve visited. Their recollections are astounding.
Contact Joan Morris at jmorris@bayareanewsgroup.com.
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