plant disease

QuestionHi Mike, I live in West Covina California. My gardenia plant has a serious problem. I have tried several soutions to no avail. The leaves appear to be dusty, turn yellow and at times very

tree and ants

Questionhi Mike, thanks for your time I just got a home for the first time. it has a large (for me) lime tree (or are they lemons? cant tell, too green and small). that shows you how ignor

Chipmucks

QuestionWe have a problem we have a couple of chipmucks that has dug a hole in the side of our house, now what we want to know is what damage can they do to the inside. AnswerHi, Rodents chew on things. One of the

Mountain Lions on property

QuestionI have horses that go ballistic every time a mountain lion uses my 3-acre property as a pass-through at night to get to the deer in the forest area behind me. I live on the border of the Stanislaus Nat

grubs & raccoons

QuestionHi I live in The San Francisco Bay area of Calif. I think I have a grub & Racoon problem. My lawns have been dug up, I believe by a Racoon, and I have see grubs in the past. I found some paw prints that look

getting rid of skunks

Questionhow do i get rid of skunks under neath my house when they come in under the underpinning AnswerHi Sue, Sometimes a few mothballs where they enter will be enough to cause abandonment. They are poison so be

wood pecker problem

QuestionI have recently noticed some areas of my wood siding that has quarter or bigger size chips taken out of it. I was thinking it was some sort of insect but upon closer inspection I noticed that the holes did n

Getting rid of Beavers

QuestionHow can we get rid of Beavers and/or Muskrats? They are damming up our stream and causing to much water back-up in our yard! AnswerI will answer the beaver question as muskrats dont dam streams. Trapping

Coyotes

QuestionWe live in a rural (OK so we DID move into their area) and recently the coyotes have become such a nighttime problem. We are in the middle of a milk far of 350 acres on one side and fattening farm on o

Woodpecker damage (Fall nesting in NJ)

QuestionHow do you eliminate a woodpecker from pecking through a stucco finished home and nesting in the Styrofoam? This is my neighbors home , which looks like swiss cheese as he tries various suggested measures (

sweet violets

QuestionI think my plants caught a bug called leaf curl. It started as little yellow spots, progressed until the whole leaf often turned yellow. Some leaves developed tiny brown speckles. All the leaves

drilling sound in my attic

QuestionHelp me! I continue to hear a drilling sound in my attic; mostly above the master bedroom. Ive also heard it as if it migrated to the front bedroom, my office. It is driving me nuts. My c

Gecko/lzzards in the house

QuestionIHello Mr. Stephen Vantassel ! I am writing to you from India. I think you can help me in getting rid of the domestic lizzards. I think they are also commonly called Gecko. They look like harmless but do cau

mole control

QuestionPlease list some mole devices that trap the mole live, rather than stab them. Thank you. AnswerNot sure why you want to catch them live. Capturing moles alive is very difficult. But you can bury a large wid

impatiens

QuestionHi Mike, I have some impatiens planted in outside in a mostly shaded area. They grow very large and with little prompting. Lately I have noticed that they seem very limp, unable to stay upright on the

Moss on Patio

QuestionMoss growth on my brick patio (on concrete slab on grade) keeps me power washing it off and it only makes the hand made brick more porous. How can I kill the moss for extended periods of time? AnswerDavid,

Pesty Mice

QuestionDan, I have another question for you. Since the mice are in my attic, and bedroom wall and there are no signs of them inside the living space or the garage, where do you think they might be getting th

garden pest

Questioni have a large lilac tree it has been invaded by an orange grub with a black head,it is about 1.5ins long and has a fairly hard skin(well it crunched when i stood on one!) it has tunneled through the center

Arachnophobia

QuestionJim I hope you can help. I am a severe arachnophobic. Thank God my wife isnt. We have noticed a lot of spiders around our home and they have made their way into my garage. We have sprayed with off the shelf

Corn; Low Yield

QuestionHi I planted a high yielding disease resistant variety of corn, proper land preparation and pest and disease control measures were used. At harvest the yield obtained was 50% less than I expected. What are t