Is this the place for grounds maintenance/problems/solutions?

[needmoredirt]

Thinking not, give me a direction if so, if this the place, any help would be much appreciated.

Seems I have all the farm problems w/out being a farmer.

I'm not out to build a 2 or 4 acre golf course, but a nice yard where applicable would be a win and pretty much is. Plenty of toads eating up the june bugs, maybe they are a bit fat and more bugs than needed.

Grassy around the houses, manage it with irrigation systems (one does need attention after installing a patio, had to cap 1/2 of it off. Need to dig new trenches, add lines, valves, heads etc. Tractor should be some help there w/right implement(s) I probably don't have

The stuff that gets water is great, bermuda, sprinkled with moles here, there and crap, they're everywhere. Eating grubs is good, too much aeration tho. That herd needs to be be reduced/eliminated. One of the dogs help, if the addition of a dog digging is an improvement (doesn't seem that way w/rich sandy loam - LOL).

Tons of crickets and grasshoppers, they're everywhere when it warms up, except near chickens. I think the insects are the smarter between the two.

Now with these things living in harmony, it attracts the ones I DON`t live in harmony with. Tarantulas, black widows, scorpions, copperheads and probably a rattler here or there.

We manage to keep coons, skunks, chicken predators at bay. Chickens will help w/grasshoppers, probably crickets and bad spiders but those bugs know to stay away from the little dinosaurs. Good snakes should be careful.

I'm thinking nuke the food source and the problems work themselves out. How to do that, I have no idea, let alone a better one? Sticker burrs are a royal PIA, need to do something there too! Poor dogs at times.

Have ZT, Deere lawn tractor and 2501, I'm open to buy what ever tools needed. Have 2G electric sprayer I use Suspend around the house(s), shop and pump house.

LMK how you handle these things. Thanks!

 

[mikester]

yup

 

[EarPlug]

You might want to try this Lawn Care & Landscaping

 

[CliffordK]

As far as moles and gophers, cats seem to be able to catch a quite a few. Probably better hunters than your dogs.

I've seen a neighbor that would dig up a hole and shove the exhaust from a 4-wheeler down the hole. I think it helped.

We have very few rattlers around here. I keep hoping that more gopher snakes (bull snakes) will move in.

 

[ponytug]

I think that keeping the rodent population down (cats, terriers, ferrets, etc.) helps keep their predators like rattlesnakes farther out. We've had generally good luck with that, in contrast to my neighbors who don't have cats. A barn owl box helps with the smaller rodents, too.

If you can put up nesting boxes, or ledges, for swallows, swifts, or purple martins (if you have water), they make a real dent on the insect population. For us, when we stopped using insecticide, the birds moved in and have really gotten the insect levels down to not really noticeable, which is a big difference for us. Plus, it is all pretty low maintenance, just dry kibble for the cats, and stopping to watch the swallows and swifts have fun. YMMV...

All the best,

Peter