Two foot piece of rhizome lying in the yard this morning

[dependable]

I generally apply pest controls on an as needed basis. The exception might be roses and fruit trees. I believe these mole products suggest you keep an eye on adjacent areas in case the treatment only drives them off a bit. Maybe treat all of your bamboo of that is practical. I would put it in and around holes rather than just broadcasting it all around like you would on a lawn, if area is small, I might do both. I have not found that I have to re apply that much. It may have a residual smell or the critters have good memories.

[jpluddite]

Thanks Dependable.

jp

[needmore]

If I can ever find a decent source of it, I'll use granulated castor that I've seen in catalogs in large bags. The oil does seem to work but I would prefer the granulated as I think it will last longer, be easier to apply, and perhaps not get the ground oily looking as the spray oil does.

My vole IQ has increased by learning that I can't plant near the edge of the woods where there is naturally deep leaf litter, and not to mulch anywhere near the naturally occurring leaf litter. Farther out in the open in areas I've mowed for years I seem to have no problems but in large pastures that don't get mowed regularly (even w/o leaf litter) I've known them to be a problem as well so open field are not necessarily vole free. I also suspect that using straight cedar mulch might be fine as it can be unhealthy for small mammals plus the smell - curious that cedar shavings are used for pet rodents, I think the shavings may not be as bad as mulch, I think it is the dust that is bad for them.

I also try to wait as long as possible to fill the greenhouse as they'll move in there for the winter and eat bamboo so I leave the door open so the cats can get in and wait until it has been cold long enough that they hopefully have found other nesting sites. I know of 2 nurseries that had them nearly wipe out greenhouse inventory of bamboo.

[dependable]

Cats are a good control measure. They helped curb the chipmunk population that was chomping some of my berm plantings. There are still some around, but the boo can more than compensate for their damage at this point. Both of the products I mentioned earlier in this thread are bonded to a dry agent. I have even seen it pelletized for broadcast spreader (maybe the Bonide).

[Tarzanus]

Damn vermin. I just opened the mulched and protected Phyllostachys aurea and noticed it's most likely top killed up to the mulch pile level. I've noticed one more thing, the dense lush foliage that existed when I tarped it this fall - is no more. It looks like one branch out of 3 still looks healthy, but other 2/3 were eaten by mice, voles or something like that. Some of the leaves have bitemarks, but it seems that whatever nibbled on bamboo, took whole small branches with leaves attached and took them somewhere. I haven't found any holes in the soil, which is still frozen. It looks I won't have to trim it, the parts that were saved from cold winds are being eaten by rodents.

Hopefully they missed the rhizomes...

[jpluddite]

Needmore,

Does the granulated caster have a brand name, or can search for it as 'granulated caster'.

jp