Is Something Munching Your Yard for Lunch?
By Valerie Blaine
Q. We live in Aurora by Fermilab with the Illinois Prairie Path right behind our house. We are having problems with rabbits eating our flowers and now over the winter, it seems that they have even eaten some small new leafy bushes that we just planted in our front yard. The bushes are totally gone with all that is left being some small stems poking out of the ground. There are rabbit feces all around where the bushes were, so I can positively conclude that it was rabbits that did the damage. Currently, I have some “lovely looking” chicken wire surrounding some perennial flowers in my front- yard landscaping. If it was not for that, the rabbits probably would have eaten what is left of those plants, too! Anyway, is there something we can use to keep the rabbits away or is there some kind of decorative type of fencing that we can use other than the gaudy looking chicken wire in our front yard to keep the rabbits out of our landscaping? Also, would noise from a wind chime tend to scare them off or some other wind-sensor type of device placed among the landscaping work?
– Debbie Spadafora, Aurora
A. Just to be sure you’ve got the right culprit, check the scat (droppings). If the scat is round like miniature marbles, it’s rabbit. If it’s oval like jellybeans, it’s deer. Both animals are herbivores, and either (or both!) could be munching on your plants.
Deer browse higher on the plant, where the ends of branches will be shorn off. Rabbits will gnaw low to the ground.
If rabbits are indeed the guilty party, rest assured that you are not alone in your gardening challenge. The man vs. rabbit stand-off has been going on since Farmer McGregor and Peter Rabbit in the brier patch.
Rabbits, more accurately Eastern cottontails, are known for their eruptive population booms. When they are abundant, you see them everywhere. And you see their effects everywhere, particularly in your garden.
Noise is not likely to have an effect on rabbits – only on your neighbors – and repellents have varying effectiveness. Contact repellents work by making the plants taste nasty to the herbivore. Area repellents smell bad to the animal. Check with a local garden supplier for availability. Be sure to select a repellent that is environmentally safe for you, your plants, and other animals in your garden.
The most effective method for reducing the rabbit population is a hungry predator or two. A red-tailed hawk and a coyote will do a fabulous job at rabbit control. If your area is lacking in predators, you may have to keep up with the chicken wire cages around your plants. Look at it this way – chicken wire is chic and ecologically correct. Good luck!
Q. I saw something at my bird feeder and my husband thinks it was a flying squirrel. It looked like a small squirrel with a flat tail, white underside, and big eyes. Not afraid of me being a foot from it. We live in a wooded area. Is he right?
– Sue Brown, St. Charles
A. Yep. The northern flying squirrel is a common mammal in our area, but one that is seldom seen. They are handsome little guys, and they are not bashful at all. Mostly nocturnal, flying squirrels race up tree trunks at night and launch from branches to glide back down. I watched a group of flying squirrels on a moonlit night at Tekakwitha Woods, and they seemed to be playing this game purely for fun. In fact, they were busy foraging for seeds. I am told they are fond of sunflower seeds and will readily accept invitations to come to bird feeders stocked with such.
Q. The roads and parking lots are white with salt. Sometimes I can taste it in the air. What impact does this have on the environment?
– Jim Huntsha, St. Charles
A. The National Research Council reports that 8 to 12 million tons of de-icing salt in the form of sodium chloride are used each year in the United States. It’s very effective in making our roads safer, but it comes at a cost to the environment.
Road salt, most commonly in the form of sodium chloride (NaCl), seeps into our groundwater when the snow melts. It percolates into the soil and changes the soil chemistry. And, as you can tell from your white-coated windshield, it becomes airborne and dusts just about everything in sight with a white powder.
If you’re a plant living in a salt marsh, a little salt won’t hurt – but our native plants suffer from salt in the water, in the air, and in the soil. According to the report “Environmental Impact of Road Salts and Alternatives” in the Journal for Surface Water Quality Professionals, high salt levels alter the chemistry of water inside and outside of plant cells. This in turn impairs the plant’s ability to absorb water and bring in nutrients, thereby reducing overall plant growth in many species.
“NaCl can cause severe injury to the flowering, seed germination, roots, and stems of roadside plant species,” reports the journal. “Damage to vegetation can occur up to 200 m from roadways that are treated with deicing salts.”
Wildlife takes a hit from road salt, too. Some animals are attracted to salt and will lick salt off roadways. Besides increasing the probability of getting hit by a car, this habit can lead to toxic salinity for animals.
“Many animals tend to overshoot their salt deficit and then drink salty snow melt to relieve thirst,” according to the journal’s report, “which increases salt toxicity in blood and tissues.”
Amphibians (frogs, toads, and salamanders) are particularly vulnerable to salt damage. They have permeable skin which absorbs just about anything they come in contact with. High salt concentrations in roadside ditches have contributed to the decline in frog populations. New York-based scientist Nancy Karraker has studied amphibian populations and found that “high salt concentrations affected the ability of wood frogs and spotted salamanders to survive, with eggs and embryos dying in experiments when subjected to the high end of salt concentrations she saw in the wild.”
The Morton Arboretum in Lisle is conducting studies on the effects of airborne road salt on vegetation. (Ironically, the Morton Salt Co. is a major producer of road salt.) Arboretum researchers have studied the effects of barrier walls along the North-South and East-West tollways. They have found that airborne salt can travel above and beyond these barriers. Another similar study has been conducted along Lake Shore Drive in Chicago.
Ecologist Wayne Lampa has examined the effects of road salt on wetlands and found that salt is accumulating in areas a great distance from highways.
“I think some of our high-quality wetlands could be in jeopardy in another 10 years or so,” reports Lampa in the magazine Chicago Wilderness. “The prospect is pretty frightening.”
Thus, road salt has a big impact on our groundwater, native vegetation and wildlife. Doug Wilcox of the U.S. Geological Survey says “Road salt is nasty stuff and nobody pays much attention to it.” It’s time to pay attention.
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