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Town Gardeners THE ALTON HILLS HOMESTYLE Saturday November 10 Page Garden pests hardy souls By TOM CAVAN Garden Centre Every spring I field questions on how to control rodents in the garden The usual statements like My lawn looks like the Pans railway map or Is there anything I can do for my fruit tree it has been girdled by mice come in the door as steady as the cluster fly in fall The hardest part about helping these poor souls is that prevention takes place in the fall not spring There ore many ways you can clean your garden of these pests but you will never eradicate them per manently Mice rats moles voles rabbits and deer can be controlled but you never give up the battle to be successful at overwintering your garden It is really discouraging to plant a specimen only to wake up in spring and discover that you served a delicary to some little vermin SANITATION Sanitation is the first place you must concentrate your efforts in order to root their nesting areas With mulches you pull the material away from the stem and paint the bark with rodent repellent Obvious nesting areas like the compost must be over turned regularly and keep the grass cut down near these areas Keep all pet foods and livestock feed in metal containers Piles of prun can also provide nesting areas for rodents so clean and rotate these you dont become the hot spot for your local garden variety pests Rake leaves and burn them with a permit then spread the ashes around plants you wish to protect They dont like fire or the smell of it My grandfather told me farmers used to catch them and torch them on a stick and prop them up to ward of any rodent relatives seeking out refuge in their barns I guess back in those days one became resourceful in order to survive TRAPS AND POISONS By disturbing the nesting areas or runs they travel they will become disoriented and be more likely to take poison bate is a good way of luring them to eating the poison bate I have tried this method with traps to rid my kitchen of a tough mouse we nicknamed Maytag since it was identified sneaking around the dishwasher The little mouse wouldnt touch the trap so placed cream cheese on a cracker to fatten him up then one day I replaced the with a typical mouse trap and Maytag was history Alternatives to poisons are deter rents like Scoot which is a paint you put on the bard When a mouse or rabbit take a bit they dislike the taste and move on to neighbors house for their mid winter snack Scoot can also be applied by spray ing it on the foliage of yews a favorite of deer Tree collars and wraps will physically keep them out providing the snow line ex the area your protecting Bloodmeal is an organic source of nitrogen that has repeatedly proven itself effective at repelling rodents because it has the scent of death and they will back down no matter There is one downfall to you must apply it regularly to be fective Organic controls tend to work that way thus the reason why their arent harmful to the environ they disspiate easily Other wise try a cat I did If you have any gardening tions call 5198332117 or write co Town Garden RR 2 Erin Ont Entertainment area IN YlrKTVMIYI a J nil p trill raiigr lur ink mil Jrmt llur it Ir I- in 111 linnli In In 111 in mil nil mill rnnm mid ir DO COME TRUE When you find your DREAM HOME in the HALTON HILLS HOMESTYLE REALTORS Our HOMESTYLE Real Estate Guide reaches over homes every week including Georgetown Acton Erin and the surrounding rural communities EXCEPTIONAL RATES SUPERIOR SERVICE GIVE US A TRY Call Kim Haryott at