I mowed the Eaton Rapids orchard yesterday. Short grass makes it easier for predators to hunt mice and voles.
All of the baits I placed out were eaten, so I do have lots of rodents. I need to replenish the sets.
The tall, pale-tan grass you see between the trees is primarily Giant Foxtail (Setaria faberi) which is grown as grain (millet) in some places. The birds love it but it is also quite a wind-fall for mice and voles.
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| A quince bush that has not dropped its leaves. |
Gooseberry twigs
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| Ribes cynosbati, presumed to be very resistant to browsing by deer |
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| Hybrid gooseberry, also resistant to deer. Whitetail Deer are like 9 month-old humans and puppies, they explore the world by putting things in their mouths. |
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| Tixia, a "European" gooseberry. Resistance to deer browsing is unknown. |
So you're putting poison out for the rodents but cutting the grass for the predators? Ya' know that stuff kills the predators when they eat the poisoned rodent.
ReplyDeleteLife is messy.
DeleteThe poison is to knock back the rodent population before the snow flies. The biggest loser will be possum which are carrion eaters and they will find dead mice even if they are out of sight. The only risk to raptors is for the brief period when a woozy mouse might go staggering out into the open.
Canines and coons are a bit like possum while felines are more like raptors.
Hey Joe. You should be careful posting photos that reveal your fingerprints. From a web page discussing this caution: " Posing for a picture while giving a thumbs up, or holding your hands up in a peace sign, for example, could pose a security threat because hackers can use them to lift your prints and unlock anything you own that has a fingerprint ID system – including phones, computers and tablets."
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving!
Thanks for the heads-up.
DeleteEverything photo I post to the web is first compressed on my end to a maximum of 1200 pixels in the longest direction. Then Googleplex compresses it further to minimize their storage costs.
None of my devices or accounts are keyed to my biometric data. One reason is to stay out of databases to avoid spurious-identification situations. The other is that facial recognition would still work even if my head was no longer connected to my neck and I don't want to incentivize unauthorized disconnecting.
What have you found that is an effective poison? We have an infestation of voles under our chicken coop and my adjacent shed.
ReplyDeleteMy wife has tried several, but it doesn’t seem to be impacting the population. The most effective thing thus far has been my black mouth cur But he can only get so many.