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Bugs: Recent Topics Paging, Uploading Images & Preview (11 Dec 2020)

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× A place to talk about stuff that doesn't belong anywhere else.

An American Lawn Tragedy

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05 May 2017 07:38 - 05 May 2017 09:32 #247852 by Mr. White
Replied by Mr. White on topic An American Lawn Tragedy
Cool. Glad we have a lawn care thread now.

A few weeks ago, I noticed a series of small holes in the branches of some of the trees around our house. These seem to be small, symmetrical looking the size and shape of bb shot. A little research and it seems it could potentially be from a 'shot borer' insect that lays eggs in trees under stress. Seems this is a newer bug to Texas coming from California in the past 5 years or so.



Anyone have any experience treating this pest? Any other ideas what it may be? No way are these woodpecker holes.
Last edit: 05 May 2017 09:32 by Mr. White.

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05 May 2017 09:25 #247858 by Cranberries
You should report it so they can track the spread.

agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/

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05 May 2017 09:52 #247862 by RobertB
Replied by RobertB on topic An American Lawn Tragedy
Little holes are shot hole borers. They like stone fruit trees. They killed my cherry and plum trees. The extension offices say, "Chop off infested branches and burn them." If they're in the trunk...sorry?

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05 May 2017 10:48 #247866 by barrowdown
Replied by barrowdown on topic An American Lawn Tragedy
We have heavy clay soil in our area too. The first year we lived in our house we tore out the front yard, replaced the top eight inches with top soil and planted a ton of bulbs. It was a pointless grass area that would have needed a lot of care to not be completely dead or weed infested.

There were a number of pointless grass areas that were here originally that I have since obliterated in some manner. I have narrowed it down to the back yard and a side yard at the moment. We've been considering eliminating the side yard and replacing it with a native plant rock garden to further reduce need to care for the area. That will probably require me to figure out the exact property lines because that yard butts up against the common green space area and I do not want to end up with a strip I still have to take care of when I am done.

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05 May 2017 11:01 #247869 by the_jake_1973
We have very sandy soil in our yard and there was a 25x30 section by the basement door that I am converting to a gravel pad. It will be used for kayak storage, bocce, washer pits (integrated cups). No more mowing the weeds back there.
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06 May 2017 11:21 #247919 by SuperflyPete

cranberries wrote: Maybe I could borrow a goat and stake it in the front yard so it could eat all the greens.


Or, kill them and feed them to the goat.

You did proclaim this a Fargo-esque, Fiasco playset

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06 May 2017 11:23 - 06 May 2017 11:26 #247920 by SuperflyPete

Mr. White wrote: Cool. Glad we have a lawn care thread now.

A few weeks ago, I noticed a series of small holes in the branches of some of the trees around our house. These seem to be small, symmetrical looking the size and shape of bb shot. A little research and it seems it could potentially be from a 'shot borer' insect that lays eggs in trees under stress. Seems this is a newer bug to Texas coming from California in the past 5 years or so.



Anyone have any experience treating this pest? Any other ideas what it may be? No way are these woodpecker holes.


Woodpecker holes appear in rings. They circle the tree. All of my pear trees look like they went punk and have rows of circles around the entire circumference of the trunk.

Try shooting WD-40 into the holes. That shit melts all bugs and is harmless. That's how I killed the emerald ash borers and bazillion carpenter bees that lived in my deck and gazebo. LIVED.

It's intensely satisfying to see a carpenter bee crawl out of their hole, wingless and foaming, buzzing and screaming in inaudible bee language "No my queen! This human has sent us on a one way trip to Destination Fucked!"
Last edit: 06 May 2017 11:26 by SuperflyPete.
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06 May 2017 15:15 #247926 by Black Barney
Some foreign bug infested all seven of my ash trees and I had to chop them all down this Spring :(

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07 May 2017 23:02 #247970 by Shellhead
Replied by Shellhead on topic An American Lawn Tragedy
I spent four hours this weekend pulling up dandelions, as well several hours on recent weekends. I am currently clinging to the belief that after another 3 hours, I will have won the war on dandelions. I live on a corner lot, so I only have two neighboring lawns. The bad neighbor travels a fair amount and the whole family hates yardwork, so the only thing that they do about their dandelions is mow them down with their lawnmower. And they only mow twice a month. The good neighbor keeps trying to loan me this vaguely pogo stick looking device that supposedly quickly extracts dandelions. Instead, it works maybe once or twice and then gets hopelessly clogged with mud.

Instead, I use a big slot head screwdriver. I stab into the ground on either side of the base of the dandelion, then twist and pull. Half the time, the root breaks off maybe one inch down, but at least all the surface stuff comes out in one handy clump. Other half the time, the whole damn taproot comes out nice and easy.

Last fall, I finally realized that the violets in my yard were really creeping charlie. I pulled some last fall and more in recent weeks, but decided that it was lower priority than the dandelions.

I am doing my first garden this year. For the last five years, I have been composting grass clippings, veggies, fruit, and ash from my grill, so I have roughly 50 cubic feet of high quality soil ready to deploy. But there are a lot of rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels in the area, so I am going to protect my garden. Sometime this week, I should be receiving a delivery of a kit that provides the frame for a 6' cube with a door and a peaked roof. Instead of covering it with a roof and side panels, I will be protecting it with chicken wire secured with staple/nails. I will plant the seeds tomorrow evening and then construct the frame next weekend.

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08 May 2017 02:13 #247974 by Nodens
Replied by Nodens on topic An American Lawn Tragedy

Shellhead wrote: Half the time, the root breaks off maybe one inch down, but at least all the surface stuff comes out in one handy clump. Other half the time, the whole damn taproot comes out nice and easy.

Good luck with your garden!
Be warned that if the root stays in, it'll grow back. Maybe think about getting one of these:

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08 May 2017 11:53 - 08 May 2017 11:54 #247981 by Cranberries

Shellhead wrote: I spent four hours this weekend pulling up dandelions, as well several hours on recent weekends. I am currently clinging to the belief that after another 3 hours, I will have won the war on dandelions. I live on a corner lot, so I only have two neighboring lawns. The bad neighbor travels a fair amount and the whole family hates yardwork, so the only thing that they do about their dandelions is mow them down with their lawnmower. And they only mow twice a month. The good neighbor keeps trying to loan me this vaguely pogo stick looking device that supposedly quickly extracts dandelions. Instead, it works maybe once or twice and then gets hopelessly clogged with mud.


I have one of those plugger.com plug/weed things. In fact, mine was clogging so I contacted the manufacturer and he said a lot of it depends on using the thing when the soil is relatively dry. I just dropped $35 on one of these, and trust the 5,000 reviews on Amazon:


Good luck with your garden!
Be warned that if the root stays in, it'll grow back.


I'm tempted to fill a spray bottle with WeedBGone and squirt it down the hole. Fun fact: Bees love dandelions
Last edit: 08 May 2017 11:54 by Cranberries.

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08 May 2017 12:15 #247983 by barrowdown
Replied by barrowdown on topic An American Lawn Tragedy
I ignore the dandelions in my yard until mid-May or early June, depending on weather. We do this specifically for the a lot of pollinators.

After that, they get attacked with a vengeance.
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08 May 2017 17:17 #248000 by Cranberries

barrowdown wrote: I ignore the dandelions in my yard until mid-May or early June, depending on weather. We do this specifically for the a lot of pollinators.

After that, they get attacked with a vengeance.


I have a side yard that is mostly weeds that I have been neglecting. I should plant a meadow there.

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08 May 2017 22:14 #248019 by dysjunct
Replied by dysjunct on topic An American Lawn Tragedy
I'm glad I have real low standards for my lawn.
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09 May 2017 08:45 #248027 by Chaz
Replied by Chaz on topic An American Lawn Tragedy
I don't care about dandelions, really. Should I?

We've got really sandy soil, so it doesn't hold water real well. Last year, we had a drought, so everyone's lawn that doesn't have a sprinkler system was super brown. On the one hand, neat that I only had to mow a handful of times all season. On the other hand, half the damn lawn died. I've also got pine trees along both sides of the property that drop a bunch of needles. Of course, the only way to deal with those is to rake them up, which I tend not to, so there goes another big patch of grass.

Long story short, our lawn is probably 50% dust bowl, which I hate, but not enough to invest in top soil, seeding, and regular watering that it'd take to not have that. This year, I think I will try and install a 10x10 or 15x15 pad of pavers at the base of the back steps. With the dogs in and out all day, that spot's never growing grass, and not having it be bare dirt would be nice.

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