I recently posted here about drip irrigation lines eating urban wildlife. Over the years, I've seen squirrels, skunks, raccoons, and opossums in my yard, but I've learned that even coyotes can bite through those soft plastic water pipes.
Mick Boersma, gardener at La Mirada, wrote to me:
“Night visitors are a problem that we have to deal with. In addition to a family of raccoons that roam the streets at night, there is a healthy and curious family of squirrels in the nearby park.
I remember with horror the first time I saw our system's channels go dark. The price of 50 cents each didn't excite me. Realizing that it probably wasn't a plasticicide-obsessed criminal gang (is that a word?), I wondered if they were using the squirrels as an opportunity to pull out some teeth. I suspect the real culprits were the same creatures that think there are fish in my well: raccoons.
After searching the internet for ideas, what worked for me was simple. I made pepper tea using pepper powder and other products I had at home. After a nice long soak, I let it cool, strained it, put it in a spray bottle and sprayed the mixture widely from the nozzles. It was applied every few days for a while as the watering cycle weakened the effect, but eventually the problem was resolved. I haven't had to reapply for months. But to be on the safe side, I now buy cheaper transmitters from our local hardware store. Live and learn.”
Jonathan Zimmerman stopped chewing IVs using an innovative approach described below:
“ I managed a 600-tree drip-irrigated orange grove in Moor Park and spent many mornings repairing damaged irrigation pipes. I thought maybe the animals were thirsty and chewing on the water pipes, so I installed a transmitter that dripped into a pie pan at the end of each pipe, and for the most part it worked. The main chewing problem was solved, but I still got occasional bites from what looked like small teeth . I thought the young ones might be chewing on the fishing lines, so I cut old plastic irrigation pipes into 4-inch sections and scattered them around the garden. The problem is solved. No more escape routes and lots of seemingly happy coyote pups.
These recommendations suggest that wildlife is particularly interested in chewing the drop rather than the drop itself, as that is where the water is most easily absorbed. Downspouts like mine, whose emitters are in a row, are therefore the hardest to repair where wild animals roam; Access to the transmitters must be via the main line itself.
Enter Gene Goldstein. He has a lot of experience with drip irrigation and chose 1/4-inch spaghetti pipes that can be connected to the main line where a sprinkler system is needed. While most of us think of transmitters at ground level, its DIG Micro Spray (or Spray Jet) transmitters are placed 10 cm in the air, although 13-inch posts from the same manufacturer are typically used to mount these transmitters. You screwed the wire transmitter into the spaghetti tube before attaching it to the bracket. To protect the tubes and transmitter from being chewed by animals, Goldstein wraps them (along with the spikes) in a "pet net," a thin mesh that can be purchased at hardware stores. He cuts the net with tin snips and creates a cylinder that fits over the spaghetti tube, transmitter and dowel; Zippers keep the ball in place.
Goldstein emitters can spray up to one meter and are available in full, half-round, quarter and narrow band applications. It must be said that the advantage of placing sprinklers on poles is that you can immediately see if they are working. When sprinklers pour water directly onto the ground, it is very difficult to ensure that they are working and not clogging, and of course sprinklers often clog.
At Banning, Susan Savolainen suggested that those affected by this problem "try to have buckets of water available so the animals can get water without damaging the IVs." After learning that coyote pups like to chewing on sprinkler heads and elevators, chewing on the bones helped. He also suggests, " If you're chewing on a tube of turrin , you can wrap it in wire mesh (with thick metal mesh)." Yes, it's expensive, but replacing dead plants and repairing the drip line is expensive too.
Jenny Iyer, who works in the demonstration garden at the Riverside Land Management Education Center, also has coyotes, squirrels and opossums place chewing cups with drip lines near the drip lines to give the animals easy access to water while the irrigation system is running. . He warned that containers should be cleaned and emptied regularly to prevent disease and keep mosquitoes away. Animals should also not drink from such containers, otherwise they could become ill.
California Weekly : Cape Mendocino reed (Calamagrostis foliosa) is a beautiful fountain, forming a mound one foot high and two feet wide. It grows best on the coast in full sun where it is exposed to wind and spray, but it also does well in warmer inland areas with some shade. The leaves are blue-green with purple veins. “Attractive, short, curved, silver-purple flower heads appear from mid-spring to early summer, eventually turning an attractive golden wheat color in the fall.” The preceding words are a description of the San Marcos Growers ( smgrowers.com ) nursery stock of the breeder. This species should not be reduced as such practices would hasten its extinction. Instead, unsightly dead shoots can be removed with a rake. In any case, it is a grass that does not live longer than seven years, often less. However, you can divide it into small pieces during this time to plant them in suitable places in the garden.
Do you have any gardening tips that can save you money? If so, please send it to joshua@perfectplants.com . Your questions, comments and recommendations are always welcome. Horizontally taken photos of unusual plants with a minimum size of 1 MB (1000 KB) are also welcome for publication in the section.
