Well treerats! I didn't get to vote. My bamboo pests are seasonal.
This time of year the deer are in rut, and the bucks spar with small plants, trees, and bamboo (bamboo seems to be their favorite as it puts up a good fight). Stupid bucks trashed my prize pseudosasa japonica variegata, and have scratched dozens of culms rubbing their antlers on them. I do get to take revenge on them. I took the first of several bucks to the meat processor today, and I donate the meat to Hunters For The Hungry. They distribute the meat to missions, and soup kitchens, so in the end the deer do lots of good.
Good, I did get to vote and it made me feel better
David Arnold
Middle Tennessee Bamboo Farm
USDA zone 6b
Bamboo wise it would have to be humans in the form of my HOA
Why? what have they said about your bamboo?
Nothing yet, but my tallest is only about 15' tall right now. In the past we have gotten letters about my son's wagon being on our walkway by the front door. They definitely have struck the fear of God in me, so when I was deciding on which bamboos to plant I shied away from several that I feared would be too tall (most Dendrocalamus for example). Hopefully I'm just being paranoid and I won't run into trouble, but better safe than sorry.
Location: Harlingen, TX Zone 10, Sunset Zone 27. 33' above sea level. 27 inches of rain/year. 22 Miles to the Laguna Madre. 27 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. 17 miles from Mexico. Lower Rio Grande Valley - Deep South Texas
The rabbits cause my bamboo the most harm. They like to eat the bamboo and my palms. I have to install fences around each one until they are about 1" in diameter... and then the rabbits leave them alone. This is at my farm.
At my house in the city, it is definitely squirrels. I have two live oak trees that drop thousands of acorns. The squirrels like to "plant" them in almost all of my pots. They constantly dig in my pots.
Last year, I had cat problems in town. They were using my pots as a toilet. They later had kittens in my pots.
I know what you all mean by neighbor problems. That is why I escape to the farm as much as possible to get away from neighbors. I built a 10 foot tall 45 feet deep berm that is over 800 feet long to block my neighbors out there. Now I don't see them. I added trees on top of the berm to make sure I don't even see their houses. They are loud and rude. One of them mooned my wife and I at the farm... that is when I built the berm. Between the fences and berm, I haven't heard from them in a while. The berm also makes a nice wind break.
Location: Harlingen, TX Zone 10, Sunset Zone 27. 33' above sea level. 27 inches of rain/year. 22 Miles to the Laguna Madre. 27 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. 17 miles from Mexico. Lower Rio Grande Valley - Deep South Texas
I added trees on top of the berm
Allen, I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE that you planted TREES, on top of your berm.. When you have ALL those gorgeious bamboo's at hand that you could have planted..... Once the "trees' grow up, those neighbors will be peeking around the trunks.
I REALLY think you should have planted that Boo, with the LONG thorns:: And grins..
My wife shoots the squirrles with her BB gun ...all I do is laugh at the whole situation.
Now more serious stuff....
Humans talk to much (like on the radio)
All bamboo does is make music (like when the wind blows)
Exscuse me my 'feelings' are showing...and thats not MANLY .... so never mind.
A couple of years ago a friend of mine had possoms eating his chickens at night .
So he trapped a few of them and tossed them in a freezer for a couple of days.
Then every now and then he would 'blend' one up in his blender (an industrial size one) and feed it back to his chickens. The possoms soon got the message & left the chickens alone .... This is a true story.
Bill Howard wrote:A couple of years ago a friend of mine had possoms eating his chickens at night .
So he trapped a few of them and tossed them in a freezer for a couple of days.
Then every now and then he would 'blend' one up in his blender (an industrial size one) and feed it back to his chickens. The possoms soon got the message & left the chickens alone .... This is a true story.
This is a true story
Except for this part:
The possoms soon got the message..
--------------------------
Roy Rogers
Southern Tampania de la Floridana Universidad (STFU)
STFU Motto: All Bamboos are not Created Equal; @ STFU, the Search Continues
********** ROY'S BAMBOO LIST
Bill Howard wrote:My wife shoots the squirrles with her BB gun ...all I do is laugh at the whole situation.
Now more serious stuff....
Humans talk to much (like on the radio)
All bamboo does is make music (like when the wind blows)
Exscuse me my 'feelings' are showing...and thats not MANLY .... so never mind.
Hey, humans make music too when the wind blows. We just have to eat a bowl or two of beans!
Hey, humans make music too when the wind blows. We just have to eat a bowl or two of beans!
Also try sunchoke. Very low in digestibility and will reak havoc. They are basically worthless. I guess its a blessing that the voles are destroying all of them.
I am also a little worried about Mantis... he keeps saying he is in my grove stealing my boo.
Usually the one claiming "to steal' is the most honest person in the room.
My sig stems from a recent internet fad... I have a .gif of what I'm talking about but it is too big to load it into my photobucket account, so I had to resize it. After resizing it looks poor, but you'll get the idea:
Laughed out loud at Mantis' "I'm in ur" photos. And after that, who cares what else might be posted? I voted for the rabbit, but don't know for sure what eats the boo shoots in the spring, since we also have cats, rats, (bats - are you kidding? Do bats bother boo?), voles, possums and squirrels. Have had one small plant root ruined by voles, but I do stress out in the spring about the new shoots, and I'm pretty sure the rabbits are to blame. Might have to borrow a shotgun next spring, and shoot something to give the boo shoots a sporting chance.
And ANTS. I didn't get to cast a vote at the ants. There's an evil synergy with these two(voles and ants). It's not that the 'Boo gets et, but living down there, in all those pots, they create voids, nay, chasms, that become de-humidifiers that shrivel the top growth. My weapon is the sweeper nozzle, a laser beam of high pressure water; I've seen a section of potting soil the size of a breadloaf collapse into itself; bigger pot or not, the drain holes are the minimum size necessary for admittance to the voles, the ants (black) move in when I blink.
They definitely have struck the fear of God in me, so when I was deciding on which bamboos to plant I shied away from several that I feared would be too tall (most Dendrocalamus for example). Hopefully I'm just being paranoid and I won't run into trouble, but better safe than sorry.
