Should I be worried?

A few of my Thugias have small sections like this. Any advice? Two have it at ground level and one has it in the middle of the side. They are in different beds with different soils.

Is a dog watering it there regularly? That's a common cause of that sort of damage.

PS spellcheck: Thuja.

Resin

Thanks, Resin. No dogs that I know of.

A different Thuja!

Can moles cause this? This bed always has some.

What about ferel cats? They spray.

Thanks, Resin. After reading the PF, I remember that I bought 4 of these together as Biotas. I'm particularly fond of their bright color and form and don't want to lose them. No dogs or cats have ever been seen here. Just squirrels, bunnies and moles.

Don't know if moles might be the cause, but possibly. Squirrels and bunnies, probably not.

Resin

Ooops - forgot to say, Biota is an old synonym of Platycladus, same thing.

Resin

Thanks, Resin, Today, while watering this bed, a VOLE ran over my foot. What's next, Locusts???

Do you know anything about skimmia? I have another thread open about my poor male.

You are a godsend XXXOOO!

Resin, After close inspection, I've found that virtually every shrub in my front beds has this, even Skimmia. Later on I noticed open topped tunnels in the mulch forming links from shrub to shrub. After MUCH searching I found pictures of such damage and tunnels on 2 different websites discussing evidence of vole infestation.

This year, I lost an azalea and a rhododendron in those beds and am nursing a severely damaged Laurel there. The websites say the creatures eat the lower branches of the conifers and they eat the roots of the EG broadleafs. The voles have been there since I moved in 3 years ago. I've been putting down vole poison every day for two weeks and still find fresh evidence of them daily!!!!!

Skip the poison. Far better to allow a natural balance of predators (kestrels, hawks, owls, etc.), they'll do a much better long-term job. Putting down poison kills the predators as well as the voles, but the voles can come back much more quickly.

Resin

Resin, My predators, and there are many, must be very lazy, inept or too sated as I have hugh quantities of voles now in every bed. Last week I had a large spongy section of ground collapse in my back yard bed right around the remains of a red twig dogwood that had been eaten from the roots up. The balance is definitely out of whack, the voles are well ahead of the predators.

stormyla,
My husband and I built a cabin in the country in KY 4 years ago. We live full time in Chicago but go to KY at least once a month. We started building garden beds. Everything looked so beautiful. Then things started wilting and turning yellow. I thought -- too much water? Decreased the timing and water (soaker hoses and timers). . Then things started turning brown. I increased the watering That didn't work. Things were looking weak so I thought too much water. Cut back watering. Things still looking weak. You could pull plants out of the ground and they had no roots whatsoever. For 3 years and thousands of dollars later, I couldn't figure out what the heck was happening. There were burrows but I didn't make the connection. Didn't even know what a vole was. Well I saw one. Checked the internet. Knew I was in big trouble. How do you convert all those beds to raised beds when you're not there full time. So I started building beds, lining them with hardware cloth and lining them with stones. Voles can't climb.
In the midst of this, I did see a baby snake. I thought I'm going to leave him alone - maybe he'll have some fine dining. We started to cut the grass short and eliminate any tall grasses at the back of the property. That was last year. This spring I pull up to the property and didn't expect anything to be growing. What a surprise. Things were looking so good. The next couple of months, checked the property and the burrows were almost non existent. One day, around 7 p.m. I go out and see a big black snake slither at the back of the yard. I now love black snakes. I know this snake that I left alone is one of the reasons my KY garden is coming back to life. I'm still going to continue to the raise the beds but I don't have to rush the process anymore. Maybe I don't even have to do any raised beds.
Good luck with your garden.
Rose

That's great Rose. I just have way too much flower bed to cover to make all raised beds. I'm so glad it worked for you. If you want some fun "critter" reading, go to MidAtlantic gardening and look up Gitagal's thread called "Too Many Ravenous Bunnies this year". See you there. Tell your story.

My latest defense:

Stormy, it's so funny how we often develop on our own the same strategies!
I have been constructing wire cages to protect my plants for years!
My wife complains that our yard looks more like a construction zone than a garden!
I have often felt there should be some commercial product available, since they're a hassle to construct.
2 years ago, I found a product meant to be planted around the roots of new plants to protect from gophers ('gopher cages').
I of course use them to cover plants instead of to protect the roots.
I now buy them by the case instead of constructing my own.
I also buy landscape staples by the case to secure the cages to the ground.
I took a photo this AM showing two sizes they offer.
My success rate with new plantings is much, much better with a year or two of cage protection.
I admit they look a little ridiculous, but they work really well to keep Bambi and Thumper at bay.

Stormyla,
I like your latest defense. I can't say for sure my snake is going to take care of everything. I still have a whole lot of beds to raise which takes a lot of time, not to mention the expense. And to be honest, I'm not crazy about the look.We wanted country gardens not raised beds. When I lost my canadian hemlock that should have clued me in that something was wrong. Then the mugo pine - completely brown. But we have replaced the mugo pines. And we tried something else I forgot to mention, voles don't seem to like gravel. The pic I posting is a little strip of stuff I planted but underneath is gravel and to the one side is gravel so they have a hard time getting to the plants. Burrows were running along the one side but they haven't made it into the plants - Yet.

Weerobin, those cages look great. Where did you get them? My DSO says my garden looks like I'm growing tin men.

Roserairie, someone told me to mix gravel in with the dirt when planting. I think I have the wrong kind of gravel. I know that moles have sensitive paws, not sure about voles. But either way, the gravel has to have sharp edges. All I have is pea gravel.

Catching up with this thread has given me some new ideas. I found vole tunnels around one of my dwarf parvifloras - literally within six inches of the trunk. I'm going to amend the area with a bunch of the sharp large sized chicken grit I use to increase drainage for the potted plants and I have a bucket of landscape rocks I'm also going to put down. We'll see if that works to keep the bugger away.

I use the 25 year guarantee landscape fabric around all of my other conifers, but can't do that with this parviflora because there are lily bulbs and echinacea planted around it, so it would not be really feasible. It seems the critters cannot burrow through the 25 year fabric (and I know they are trying).

elizabeth

Elizabeth, I'm in the same situation. There are bulbs and poppies planted among all of my shrubs. Also, the landscape fabric makes it harder for the mulch to break down and enrich the soil.

Stormyla, we have the bigger gravel. The voles have a hard time digging thru it but they still try. I put down mulch too last year. My neighbor told me that was the worse thing I could do because it's like bedding for them. The voles love mulch.

Rose, boy did I find that out too late!! My DSO must have put it down 4 and 6" deep. I really need the enrichment from the mulch. When I moved here 3 years ago, there was not 1 worm to be found anywhere. Can you imagine such dead earth? The compost and mulch have worked their magic and now there are lots of worms. Are you using a gravel mulch?

In my beds around the house, I really need the mulch to keep down the weeds. In my large back bed, maybe something else would work. Any suggestions? Everyone of my beds are full of bulbs.

Elizabeth, I have been wanting to try some chicken grit, but it's not readily available around here. I'll look for an online source.

I had enough landscaping rocks to put a 2' circle around the base of my parviflora. I had less chicken grit left than I thought I did, so sprinkled it around the circle. I think I'll have to head to the farm store for another 50# bag (costs around $9). I also like to use the grit to landscape in hypertufa and pots - I planted a pinus mugo 'valley cushion', ginkgo biloba 'green pagoda', and a sempervivum last night in a 'tufa that I made back in April, then spread a thin layer of the grit and it looks very good! Funny, because after the tufa cured I thought it was the ugliest thing on earth. I left it outside to cure for several months on an old tree stump, then decided to leave it there when I planted it.

I am originally from NYC, so the ease of purchasing things for the garden in Iowa is much appreciated. If I was the type of person who had the proclivity to swing a cat, I could not do so without hitting a farm store! As a caution, there is probably a farm store somewhere near you that sells chicken grit - even a one hour drive round trip with gas prices as they are would probably cost a lot less than trying to mail order a bag. They are HEAVY.

Elizabeth

Hi Elizabeth, I made a trip to the farm store last week to look for some. They didn't carry it. This store is becoming more of a rugged landscaping place

. When all of the farmland disappears, so go the farm stores!!!! It's such a shame. This was all farm land 20 years ago, each year the drive to the country gets further and further away.

A 3 hour round trip drive is too much time away from the garden on a weekend, so I'd rather pay for the shipping. I got a 2 large carton delivery last week from Snow Pond Farm. It would have taken hours of driving and calling just to find the stuff!!! My niece lives in Manhattan, so I know of what you speak.

Cat swinging, now there's an idea for a new Olympic Sport!!!

Stormyla, The soil at our cabin in KY is Red clay. When I first started there was not a worm in sight. But plenty of grubs. I've been trying to amend but not being their full time doesn't help. The mulch helped me get some worms - it was the shredded wood kind. cedar I think. One more thing I tried against the voles is pvc sewer pipes. And I lined the bottom with window screen. But the hardware cloth sounds like a better idea.

Roserarie, What did you do with the PVC pipes? Were they able to eat through the window screening?

Stormyla, I cut out a square of window screening and tucked it into the pvc pipe - making like a screened bottom. It was a very snug fit. My husband made a few differently from mine. I think he used that silver tape and attached the screen on the outside. I dropped what was left of my plants in the pipe. Filled it with soil. Last time around July 4th, things were still alive. I have my fingers crossed that things are working. We did those pvc pipes last summer. So it's been a year. My fear is that the plants are not going to like their environment and not do very well.
Rose

I see. Well, only time will tell. It doesn't sound any different than planting the pot in the ground with the bottom cut away, which many people do. Maybe the screening might keep the roots from expanding. If you have two of the same plant, you might try digging one up & putting it into a hardware cloth "Pot" and comparing the prosperity of the two. They may all be fine. Let's hope for the best.

Hey, guys, the 'gopher cages' pictured in my post above (about a week ago) are actually meant to be placed in the planting hole with the plant planted inside the cage. The cage of course is to protect the core of the roots from the underground critters, yet allows roots to expand through the wire. I invert them and cover the tops of my plants with them, since top-browsers are more of a threat in my yard. I think the smallest size is 1 gallon, so you have to dig a big enough hole to accomodate it. They come by mail order by the case. (They are flattened for mailing, but they're easy to expand.) I'm looking for the name of the place I got them from this year (my source for prior years quit doing retail). I found my receipt, but unbelievably, the name of the place isn't on it. I'll see if I can find my credit card receipt.

Thanks, Weerobin! My fingers are getting pretty beat up making these cages!