Crocus December 2009

[Michael J Campbell]

Just trying to help Maggi.

[Maggi Young]

I know, Michael, so was Mark.... but on behalf of the SRGC, I must remind folks that there may be laws about this !

[mark smyth]

I got banned from Gardenweb many years ago for trying to get a grass herbicide from the US. Maggi I'm on my knees with hands held close to my chest begging

[Michael J Campbell]

Maggi,there probably are EU laws about this ,they seem to have laws about everything else except  the things they should have laws for,  Banks,politicians expenses.etc.

[Maggi Young]

I was , perhaps, erring on the side of caution myself: I see that it seems perfectly possible to buy such products by mail order, so the regulations governing such things may not be so draconian as I had thought or feared. 

[Lesley Cox]

While we have a few mice here and the occasional rat -this is the countryside after all and surrounded by farm and cropping land - I've never had a problem with mice among bulbs so I am deeply shocked at the damaged to your pots Arthur. I do hope you find a solution very soon and can stop further damage. I also hope you'll keep us all informed of how it goes. Best wishes for the battle to come.

[jnovis]

Arthur,               
 I also have the same problem with grey squirrels planting acorns in pots and digging up bulbs. Have had to resort to covering with alm. mesh over pots outside and plastic netting over the bulbs in the garden. Unfortunately, I have two large oak trees full of acorns in the garden, which attracts the squirrels. James.

[Gerry Webster]

I don't have any problem with rodents and we don't have grey squirrels,just red ones, and they stay in the wooded areas. They greys never managed to cross the Shannon river.

Lucky you Michael. Greys are simply vermin.

[Janis Ruksans]

Arthur,
I think it is mice, may be squirrel, too, but it is not pest in Latvia, but I saw how it damages bulb plantings in USA, where in some districts bulbs must be put in cage at planting time. So you must to put rodent poison pellets in greenhouse between pots, it will help against rodents. Modern poisons has taste very favourable by rodents so they can't withstand temptation to eat poisoned food. Traps are good, but they can kill small birds, so I prefair poisons. The second - put over the bed the wire net, if holes are small - it will protect against rodents, but in combination with poisons you can use larger size to keep away squirrels. All windows in my greenhouse is closed by large size net to protect against cats who likes to go in, sleep on pots and to use beds or boxes for toilet. When I only started growing in greenhouse the cats selected just the long bed with rarest Juno seedlings for toilet. As it happened at period when bulbs go to summer rest I didn't visited greenhouse and found it only when came to harvest bulbs. Insted of bulbs I found 10 m long terribly smelling bed without labels and only few Juno's alive so strong manure. Now all windows and doors are closed by wire net, too. By the way - once my dog (Colly) decided that the best place to hide bones is just my large seedling boxes. 5 boxes felt as victims before I found it and covered outside placed boxes with large wire-net frames.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

I'm attaching a pair of pictures showing protection against cats.
Storm is very good poison, I think produced in Norway. It is quite expensive, but you must remember that you must place few pellets in greenhouse and to replace them not earlier that 3-5 days after rodents eat them. Modern poisons kills rodents only 3 days after they eat "present" for they forgot association between illness and food. So new portion you must put only for newcomers.
Janis

[Diane Whitehead]

I haven't used mouse traps, but regularly use rat traps.

I position them inside a tunnel made of two pieces of wood
with a piece of plywood for the roof - I make this tunnel high
enough to allow the snap part of the trap to operate.
This keeps birds away and prevents the rat from sneaking bait
safely from the side of the trap.

For the first couple of days I do not set the trap, but put a little bit
of bread and peanut butter on it so the rat gets used to feeding there.

Then I tie a short piece of wool around the little raised triangle
that is meant to hold the bait, and rub peanut butter on the wool.
The rat expects to get some food, but can't just grab and run now.
It pulls on the wool, and that sets off the trap.

[art600]

I am taking every precaution to ensure that only the mice are killed.  The bulb house door is closed, and the windows on the lowest setting.

Mouse traps seem very ineffective so hope the sophisticated poisons work.

Thank you everyone for your help and advice.

[Susan Band]

A plastic milk bottle does well for putting the bait in, don't worry the mice have no problem getting in the top.
Susan

[Hendrik Van Bogaert]

I'm attaching a pair of pictures showing protection against cats.
Storm is very good poison, I think produced in Norway. It is quite expensive, but you must remember that you must place few pellets in greenhouse and to replace them not earlier that 3-5 days after rodents eat them. Modern poisons kills rodents only 3 days after they eat "present" for they forgot association between illness and food. So new portion you must put only for newcomers.
Janis

Hi Janis,
Nice picture of you! Your greenhouse looks very clean!
Indeed Storm is one of the best rodenticides; it's based on flocoumafen; owner is BASF and producer is Sorex Ltd in Great Britain.
Your description how to use it is 100 % right - it's really a single feed anticoagulant (one ingestion is fatal). Brodifacoum (Klerat) is another single feed poison and as strong as Storm.
Best wishes
Hendrik

[Oron Peri]

Today i went once more to the Golan Heights [mostly Syrian teritory occiupied by Israel] and Mt. Hermon, the area is home to a large number of bulbous plants including 5 species of Crocus: hermoneus hermoneus, cancellatus cancellatus, pallasii pallasii, aleppicus and ochroleucus.

There is another form growing in the south Golan which was described in the past [ Prof. Feinbruniae] as C. hermoneus ssp palaestinus, others think it is C. cancellatus.

My aim today was to cross the Golan from the South up to the North where it meets Mt. Hermon in order to check the variuos populations. this time to check the bulbs because it is almost impossible to distinguish the forms by the flower alone.

The result is in the lower photo where after 90km i have maneged to collect all the three form involved.
My conclusion is that the form described from the S. Golan as hermoneus palaestinus is an intermediate form between cancellatus and hermoneus.

Now, is it a natural, fertile hybrid or an intermediate form between the two species?
Or, can it be cancellatus damascenus [by the form of the corm]?
Any suggestions?