Thursday, July 10, 2008
Fencing out varmints
John Arbogast
Landscape consultant John Arbogast answers your questions every Thursday. Send questions about your lawn, garden, plants, or insects to:
Dear John
5102 Greenfield St. SW
Roanoke, Va. 24018
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Q: We have a number of small animals such as groundhogs, skunks and the like that are digging up the shrubs apparently looking for insects. I have to check on a daily basis on the hot days or the plants will die. We have tried red pepper, moth balls and other products that are sold at home improvement stores, all with no lasting results. Do you have any other ideas?
A: Even though this solution will require a lot of your time to construct and probably won’t look great in your landscape, install a 5-foot high fence of galvanized chicken wire around your shrubs. Dig a wide, 1-foot deep trench around the landscape beds to be protected. Bend out the bottom few inches of this chicken wire to form an “L” and insert this as the bottom of this fence into the trench to prevent the wildlife from tunneling under the fence in search of something to eat. The fence above ground must be secure but wiggly. Leave a loose overhang at the top of 20-24 inches. The purpose of this shaky wire is to keep heavy animals like raccoons from climbing over to help themselves.
A second strategy, even though not as reliable as the first suggestion, is to treat all the soil around the shrubs being dug up with an insecticide in hopes of disappointing and frustrating hungry varmints. The 2008 Pest Management Guide from Virginia Tech suggests applying a home landscape and ornamentals insecticide with the active ingredient called “Imidacloprid.” Drench it around target plants and landscape beds. Be sure to read the label because certain plants might be injured by this ingredient. Also, drench the soil during a cooler part of the day. Chemical sprays should not be applied when the temperature is above 85 degrees.
Q: I am very new to lilacs and gardening in general. My partner broke many roots while digging up a 6-foot tall thin lilac. There's also damage to the bottom bark from the shovel. A few days later, I replanted it and noticed bloom areas that weren't opened. (Not smart moves I now know, but it had to be moved immediately, so we offered to "take it in.") I filled a hole with loam and compost, planted it, watered it, planted bulbs around it, mulched it, and re-watered it. When it was wilting, I cut the bloom areas off, hoping the energy and water would go into the plant itself and roots. As time went on, the leaves and 6- to 8-inch tips turned dark brown and also wilted. My neighbor encouraged me to cut of these sections. As this continued, I worried that I was watering it too much and stopped. I also stopped cutting it, though it is now about half the size it was and still has wilted brown sections all over the top. The bottom of the plant looks perfectly fine so long as I don't cut off the tops. Can this lilac be saved? If so, what do I do to make that happen?
A: The bottom of this lilac looking perfectly fine encourages me to say that yes, your plant can be saved. I’ll explain some symptoms and make recommendations.
The wilting and browning of the tip growth, which on most woody plants is the most sensitive growth part, are typical symptoms of a lack of sufficient working roots present and/or root failure caused by too much water in soil. This situation can also be caused by too much organic matter in the planting soil, which could be the loam and compost you added.
Or, you may have planted the lilac too deeply; no more than 5 or 6 inches of soil should cover the roots. If so, carefully remove some of the dirt and organic matter near the trunk. Water no more than once a week or only when the soil is dry.
To see if the upper part of the plant will live, gently scrape small scattered spots of bark there to check for green color under the bark. And stop pruning if you see new leaves.
