Yard care queries

By Don Davis
Published: April 8, 2008

Questions about yard care were sent to me by e-mail in recent weeks. Here are some examples.

Fall would be best for transplanting a fairly good-sized nandina, I suppose, but could I get away with it now also? It’s about 3 feet tall, a volunteer I discovered on my property. — S.P., Lynchburg
The times to transplant nandina and other shrubbery are early spring and throughout the fall. Nandina is a particularly tough plant where transplanting is concerned, and yours is small enough to transplant at almost any time of year.

We have three sweet bay magnolia trees that we planted here at Stonegate three years ago. They are not doing well, and I thought perhaps you could give us some guidance to increase growth. They are very sparse in branches and have very few leaves. They have had blooms in past years, but the number of branches and leaves does not increase. Any suggestions you have would be appreciated.
— J.F., Lynchburg
Sweet bay is a native tree adapted to soil that is moist, wet and even swampy. Its other name is swamp magnolia. Rainfall in the last couple of years has been too low to suit sweet bay trees, and that could be why yours are stunted. One solution to the problem is to transplant the trees to a watery environment near a stream. Another is to make more moisture available in their current location by flooding the ground twice a month. Be sure to eliminate all grass near the trees’ root zone and apply sulfur to the soil when needed to maintain acidity. Keep their root zone covered in a thin layer of mulch.

I hope you can help me. Something, probably moles, is tunneling all around my house. These tunnels are mainly in the mulch beds around the house. All tunnels seem to lead to the bird feeder in the back yard. There are holes in the ground around the bird feeder. I thought moles ate grubs or animal products, not birdseed. My house is a year old. We started getting this problem in the fall. I have put down a castor oil and garlic repellent, but it does not seem to have driven it or them away. Is the bird feeder attracting whatever it is? Should I get rid of the bird feeder? — N.B., Lynchburg
The tunnels you mentioned indicate mole activity, and these animals eat primarily grubs and earthworms, not birdseed. Moles are territorial, and there is room in the average yard for just one mole. Over the years, people have tried many methods of mole control and nothing works very well. Rodents such as meadow mice (voles) eat birdseed, and they could be digging holes around your bird feeder. Deep holes are typical of voles, while shallow holes are more likely to be dug by squirrels.