Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're eight three eight two five five, Good morning. I
(00:03):
am Ron Wilson, your personal yard boy, talking about yarding.
Kind of a special Saturday show today because we have
our first in house guests since COVID and we moved
studios at the same time, it made it a little
bit different as far as getting people into the studios,
and so we just kind of we just haven't had
the opportunity to do it. Well. He is back with us,
(00:24):
and he used to join us in the studio quite
a bit at one time. Ron Roth, it's the arbor
doc and of course we have him on a regular
basis keeping us updated not only on the weather, but
on trees occasionally as well, but mostly for the weather.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
And I have my entourage with me this morning.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
You do you brought a couple of young folks that
are just bored as heck right now. Exactly.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
So for some reason, they just don't get as excited
about trees and gardening as we do. I don't understand it.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I don't think they get excited about radio like my
grandsons could. I think care less. It's like they don't
listen to radio anyway. If we were.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
YouTube different, Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
But they don't. They listen to the radio. So does
you know you want to come down something?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
No, YouTube influencers, that's the word I was looking for.
We need to be YouTube influence.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
We need you need to you have the face for YouTube.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I have the face for radio.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Everybody has a face for YouTube because everybody's on it anyway.
Talking about yarding and if you'd like to join us,
if you've got especially if you've got a tree a question.
H We got the expert in the house, Ron rothis
and again his website arbordoctor dot com. As a matter
of fact, let's go to Fennytown. We're talk to Scott. Scott.
Good morning, Good morning, how are you sir? Good good.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I've got a quick question about a maple tree.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Sure, uh, the mature tree.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I first moved into this place about fourteen years ago,
and I had this big limb that you know, these
like massive limb that shot across my front yard. So
I walked it off. But you know, as a rookie
as I am, I cut.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
It too close.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
And you know you're supposed to leave a little out
so the tree could close back up. I don't know.
I cut it probably about five inches away from the
base of the tree, the main trunk of the tree,
and it's closed up over all these years, but this
one spot it didn't close up. They don't close up
all the way, and like some black ants got in
(02:19):
there and started burrowing a little hole and stuff. I
was wondering as a way I could like burrow that
out and then put a patch on there they got
like a tree patch or whatever.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
No, it's actually better to just more or less leave
that alone. What a tree does is it puts up
chemical barriers to the spread of decay. And if you
go in there and start trying to clean that out
or and put something in there, a lot of times
it will actually end up punching through those chemical barriers
(02:55):
and causing the decay to spread deeper into the tree.
So you're actually better off just leave it alone and
let the tree kind of take care of itself. Those
ants get into the already decaying heartwood, but they're not
going to get into the live parts of the tree.
They're not like bores like emerald ash boar or clear
(03:17):
wing boar or something like that that get into the
live tissue of the tree. They really just stay in
the dead tissue of the tree and kind of increase
the rate of hollowing, and even treating the ants can
get a little bit complicated. Buggy Joe Boggs has shared
with me that if you try to kill the ants
(03:40):
sometimes they'll produce more queens and actually produce more colonies,
So it can actually get kind of complicated trying to
get rid of them as well.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Gotcha, So leave it alone and it'll clear.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah. And you know, just for other people who are listening,
and even for you, if you have this situation on
this tree or another tree, it's really best to not
make larger diameter printing cuts near the main trunk of
the tree. It sounds like from your description you actually
kind of did what I would prefer, and that's to
(04:20):
not cut back all the way to the main branch.
With a larger diameter printing cut, we're actually sometimes if
it's more than say six inches in diameter, we're often
leaving a stub of a couple feet, so that any
decay that's happening is happening out there somewhere and not
right by the main trunk. With a smaller diameter cut,
(04:44):
you do want to cut back to, but not into
the collar at the base of the tree, but for
the larger ones, leaving a little bit of a stub
is actually recommended.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Now, right, That's what I heard. I know I'm saying
to We're close to the house. It ain't really bothering anything,
but I didn't know what I should just go and
watching or whatever. I appreciate you answering.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
My question, Appreciate the call. Appreciate listening to the show
as well. Scott, good luck with that. You know that
talk about during the break we were talking about how
things change over the years, and I was telling you that,
you know you today, if I ever retired from my
job full time, retired from my job at what I
do answering questions and uh working with the retail and
(05:30):
all that kind of stuff where I'm not in touch
with what's going on in the industry and up to
updating myself with the trends and research and all, I
would stop doing the show because I think, you know,
things change and more and more research all the time,
changing some of our old theories, busting some of our
old myths that are out there, one of you know,
and again one of which is like this as far
(05:53):
as that pruning, you know, we used to cut. You know,
you cut right back to that any size at one time,
any size try or a branch diameter, you go right
back to just above that branch collar and take that
thing off. Now the theory is, nope, you leave that.
Like you were saying, what about a two.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Foot Yeah, on larger diameter cut.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
We're talking yeah, big to think about it that we're
talking six to eight inches trunk or branch diameter. Yeah,
So we're talking big.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
And even then, you know that's only if there's no
other real alternative. Ideally, if you have a larger diameter
branch and maybe it's gotten too much end weight on
it or something like that, the first probably the first
choice would be to go out toward the end of
the branch and do what's called a reduction cut, which
(06:40):
is a small diameter cut. Maybe you're going to make
two or three or four reduction cuts on that branch
where you're cutting some of the small diameter growth back
to other branches. So you're taking maybe several hundred pounds
off of that branch. But you don't have any cuts
that are large diameter that would be ideal. But if
you have a branch they partially has died or for
(07:02):
some reason has to be has to be removed because
there's just nothing left out there, or who knows it's
too low over a parking lot or cycle exactly. Then
that's when you do this stub type thing. So we're
not saying, you know, just go around and willing to
only leave trees with thirty or forty stubs all over
(07:23):
the place. This is just really when when that's about
the only alternative, it's like the the the best of
two choices, which aren't ideal, but but the better choice
would be to make a reduction cut further out on
the on the branch.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
And again that just shows how research and time and
what you know, what they're doing today has changed a
lot of the practices. And you know that's why you
do so much training yourself to stay up up with that.
You know you were talking earlier about you know, one time,
if a lot of suckers started to come out of
the center of the tree, you know, we'd go in
there and clean all those out. Now, fruit trees different
story obviously, right, but you know, in shade trees or whatever,
(08:02):
And now new research is showing that no, you leave
those alone and let them do their thing.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, sprouts are good. That was what was drilled into
us at classes with doctor ed Gilman from University of Florida.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And we're not talking suckers around the base of the tree.
We're talking up in the tree.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Right right, But even on the trunk of the tree,
they're not necessarily bad. If you do have a printing
cut where the trees forming that wound tissue around the cut,
very often it will have a sucker to come out
of that area where the cut was made. That sucker
has leaves that are photosynthesizing, and photosynthesis is how a
(08:39):
tree makes basically food or nutrients for itself, so that
sucker is actually feeding the production of wound tissue around
that wound. So when you have a sucker coming out
of a wound area, a lot of times you want
to leave that sucker how long, well, you don't want
it to get too large a diameter, but maybe for
(09:00):
a couple of years, something like that. In a few years,
but once it gets up to half inch or an
inch in diameter, you want to you know, if it's
not an appropriate place, you would want to take it off.
But at least for a few years. We've actually seen
where you have basically a round printing cut with rounded
wound tissue, and you'll see a bulge out into the
(09:22):
wound area adjacent to where that sucker is because of
the increased production of photosynthets right around where that sucker
is growing.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Interesting, all right, just take a quick break, Karen, hang on,
we're going to come right to you after the break.
Talk with ron Rothis the arbor Duck. Got a question
about trees. Ronald, of course, a full of great information
about your trees, and then give us a call it
eight hundred eight two three eight two five five. Coming
up at the bottom of the hour, we're going to
continue talking about trees. We're going to talk about an
event that we had happened this spring with the cicadas.
(09:52):
There's a huge event in some areas of our area,
in some areas around the state as well. There's always
been the question, and we'll talk about cicada da damage,
the question about populations of moles. Do the populations of
moles go up when there's a heavy brutus the cada
is getting ready to emerge, and then go back down again. Well,
we're gonna find out because we're going to the source
We're gonna have the moleman join us at the bottom
(10:15):
of the hour. Ron rothis the tree dock, the moullman
at the bottom of the hour, you and me talking
yard He get eight hundred eight two three eight two
five five here in the garden with Ron Wilson number
eight hundred eight two three eight two five five talking
about yardning, also talking about trees. We've got Ron rothis
with us this morning, the arbor doc. And he's full
(10:35):
of great new information as well. He's uh. I think
he does more training and more certification than anybody I
know when it comes to arborius. And that's why he's
so full of great information. Karen and Cincinnati, Good morning,
Good morning.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
Right, I have a question about a maple tree. Okay,
it has black bark putting far up the tree. Is
it dying or is that natural?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
It's kind of natural. It's a it's a fungus called
sooty mold, and it can be associated with scale insects.
It can also be associated with aphids. It can be
associated with woodpeckers that get into the tree and induce
sap flow and and and sap that kind of drips
(11:26):
down on the trunk and then kind of gets drawn
down by by rainfall and things like that. So there
are a lot of different things that can cause it.
I have it does seem and this is just kind
of experiential for me that it seems that trees that
have that going on sometimes are a little bit more stressed.
(11:49):
So sometimes I like to, you know, just kind of
give them a little bit of an extra tension from
a standpoint of making sure that they're mulched properly, and
that would be with a coarse textured mulch out several
feet from the trunk of the tree. Make sure that
they get watered occasionally during dry spells one inch per
(12:09):
week during the growing season, may through November. And we
don't want to drown it because especially sugar maples don't
want to be sitting in water all the time. But
if you do get a long dry spell, a little
bit of watering can help. So just little things like that.
What you don't want to do with an older maple tree,
or really any older tree is to overreact and start
(12:32):
really dumping a lot of fertilizer on them, especially high
nitrogen fertilizer that can actually exacerbate the situation. A little
bit of fertilization where you may be feeding the microbes
in the soil and things like that can be good,
but you really want to be kind of conservative on
older trees when it comes to fertilization.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Hey, Karen, as you stand back and look at that
maple tree, compared to the past, they'll past two or
three or four years, still looking good, have full sized leaves,
still lots of new growth coming out.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
Yeah, well the new growth is kind of kind of
whinding down, but it's it's so pretty in the fall.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
M all right. But look, yeah, absolutely want to save
that tree. But looking at it from the spring till
right now, you would say it looks nice. And for
the most part, the trop looks good and healthy, and
leaves are full size and look good. Otherwise we're seeing
the black on the trunk, but otherwise the tree is
looking pretty good.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Well, it's skinny anymore, it hasn't. Yes, it has has
some growth, but not as much as.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
It used to.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
And they'll slow down as they get older. And there's
no doubt.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Oh do you know if it do you know if
it's a red maple or a sugar maple, you know it's.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
It's that kind of rough bark.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
So I don't know what kind of fall color you
get yellow yellow, Okay, sounds like maybe sugar.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
Okay, oh okay, okay, Yeah. I love the tree because
my whole yard is nothing but pine.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
So it's the lone tree out there.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah, well, you know, and again as Ron and I
and we appreciate the call. As Ron and I talk
all the time. You know, anytime you have a larger
tree like that or the solo tree or whatever and
you've got issues, you know, Ron's here today to help
answer some of those questions, but also having an arborist
come on site, a certified arbist, registered consulting arbist, to
take just an on site look. And obviously there's a
(14:33):
fee to have somebody come out and do that, There's
no doubt. I mean they got to pay the gas
to come there, but it's worth that. It's so different
than going to your doctor. Let them take a look
at that mole or whatever that thing is on you
and just to making sure you're okay or if something
else needs to be done. And that's again where the
importance of not just a tree service, but making sure
whoever you come out as a registered arbist, certified consulting arborist.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah. And you know what you really had be careful
of is there are a lot of people out there
who do tree pruning and tree cutting, and I wish
they weren't there, but they are that just they their
first reaction is cut it down. And so you really
want someone who does have the certification, who does have
(15:18):
the knowledge, who specializes more in giving an opinion on
the tree, rather than just someone who's going to make
their money from telling you the tree has to come
down whether it needs it or not. I just run
into that way too often.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Jim and Cincinnati. Jim, is it a quick question? We
got about a minute and a half to go.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Yeah, it's it'll be It'll be quick, okay, Okay, Hi Ron,
Hey listen, I got some maple trees here on my
property and they've been they're probably maybe twenty years old,
and they keep growing up and the roots keep getting
exposed to the point where when I run around it
to cut the grass, I really have to use a
push more just chopp into the roots. Is it okay?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
If I go.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Ahead and level the area around there with dirt to
raise that up, to cover those roots up. Or is
that something bad to do?
Speaker 2 (16:11):
It is okay if you put just a little bit
of dirt down. The problem is that the roots are
gonna come right back up through that. What I recommend
is within five or six feet of the trunk to
just have mulch there and then you won't to worry
about it anymore with the lawnmower.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah, or a little groundcover out there or something like that.
But you know the problem is you put that down,
it's a temporary fix because next thing you know, they're
right back up at the top again. Yeah, And you
can't keep bad in the soil forever at one time. Shot.
All right, quick break, we come back. What about the
cicadas that we had earlier on? Were there moles extra
moles this year or the last couple three years because
(16:48):
of the cicada populations. We're gonna find out. We're gonna
talk to the mole man here in the garden with
Ron Wilson. Welcome back here in the garden with Ron Wilson,
talking yardening, talking trees, talking moles and what you say
you're talking moles? Well, I got Ron rothis with us
in the Inn studio today talking about trees and along
with those trees. Obviously, we had the brood fourteen that
(17:10):
come out about a month and a half ago and
did a pretty good number in isolated areas on some
of our trees. See we'll flagging out there right now,
a natural fruiting process. Thank you, mister, missus cicada, right,
missus cicada exactly, Not mister, But the question I had
several folks say, you know, we used to talk about
this all the time, but I don't hear brought up
too much anymore. Do the mole populations go up right
(17:35):
before we have a huge brood of cicadas emerge? Do
we see the populations go up? We used to think
they did and then go down afterwards. As a matter
of fact, the pickle guy Tom Tim Dwyer asked me
about that the other day, and I said, you know what,
I'm going to find out because we're going to have
the man who knows more about moles than moles know
(17:55):
about moles themselves. His website is themoleman dot com. He
has been our consultant for taking care of moles for
thirty years. He I mean, he's even done videos and
books about it. He even says moles make lousy pets,
ladies and gentlemen. The Clint Eastwood of mole trappers, and
he is a Clint Eastwood of mole trappers. Mister Tom Schmidt,
(18:17):
Good morning.
Speaker 6 (18:18):
Sir, Good morning, mister Wilson.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
You still have that Clint Eastwood or about you when
you walk on to the properties.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
I look like Clint Eastwood anymore.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
With you, well, I don't know. I thought you did.
And you got a little cigar out the side and
a cowboy had on you would be mister Clint Eastwood.
So good to happen.
Speaker 6 (18:39):
I wish it was easy.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Good to have you on what It's been a while,
and we stay in touch with email every now and then.
But and I recommend your website still an awful lot,
the moleman dot com. But this question did come up
and typically in the past, and we have talked to
you about this because of course you've got a lot
of experience about moles obviously in mole population. Then you
has said, interestingly enough, you've gone through three brood fourteen
(19:05):
emergencies since you've been dealing with moles and become the
mole professional. So what does happen do the mole populations
go up in According to the cicada.
Speaker 6 (19:16):
Broods, it's not just it's not just the year of emergence.
It can start four to five years before because all
the cicada are full grown, they just don't come out
of the ground. So it's a big food source for moles,
and the male population can actually start to double five
years before the emergence, and then every year it's an
(19:38):
exponential growth. And that's actually what happens. Starting in maybe
four years before or something, it can increase. I mean
the number of moles that we catch on the same
yards can increase thirty five percent. And the biggest jump,
of course, would be well, actually it's the year before
(20:00):
emergency is the biggest jump. And then and that's that's
trapping throughout the year. But actually after the end of
May of this year, the cicada work on and so
that population would automatically start to drop. And it actually
can drop. It can drop eight percent on what we catch.
(20:21):
But it just means a lot of moles. And you're
right about the cicada. Uh, that's the only reason we
talk about it here in the city. Uh, you know,
if it wouldn't be for our we have two cicada broutes,
you know, Brew Cannon, Brew fourteen. So somebody is always
talking about mole problems and stuff like that. But some
places once Cicada come up the year after, maybe a
(20:43):
year or two after. If you live in the woods,
you'll see moles in that. But then eventually you can
get maybe maybe eight years, ten years no molls, no conversations,
no calls to run Wilson.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Or no emails to Tom Schmid to come out and
take care of these moles.
Speaker 6 (20:58):
On my problem, Well, we have some places, a lot
of properties that we've done just for years, or cemetery
out and Indian Hill in places like that. They just
don't want any any mole hills or tunnels out there,
and so we checked that throughout the year for them
and stuff like that. So it doesn't mean that you
don't catch any moles. That you just catch fewer, but
(21:21):
you have to look. It's not for want of looking,
and you can't trap it if you're not checking the properties.
And then that's pretty much what we do.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Talking with mister Tom Schmid, he is the Moleman and
his website is the moleman dot com. As a matter
of fact, a tip sheet that I send out the folks.
That's the first thing I give you is his website
because a lot of the information came from Tom Schmid.
As a matter of fact, that cemetery you're talking about
out an Indian Hill, if you remember, is where I
met you and spent the day travel around with you
(21:50):
and trapping moles. And I learned more about moles that
day than I've ever learned about moles.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
Well that I think that was something around maybe nineteen
ninety one or ninety two, right, Yeah, they had Brewde
fourteen out there in nineteen ninety one. Yep, so that
would be. And again it wouldn't you know, I'm busier
because of the cicada and stuff like that, and then
you hear about me or we talk or something like that.
(22:18):
But I mean, it's interesting. I think we also went
to the ball field out there. We did, Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
You took me around, and I thought what was interesting
When we were at the cemetery, you were showing about
some of the headstones that had started to lean, and
you know, you explained to me and you dug around
it and showed me where the moles were working the
outside of those headstones because the insects with the moisture,
and they all were right there against the headstone. So
(22:47):
the moles were work in that because it was a
great source of food.
Speaker 6 (22:50):
Well it's a big block of marble and again it
would hold moisture or just the same as a foundation
in the house. But it's funny that. I mean, they're
not a lot of trees in that cemetery, but but
they can get a lot of all activity and people
walk around in there, and so they don't want to
take a chance. We still do that my daughter Sarah,
And Sarah works as cemetery and and she's out there
(23:13):
at least once a week walking the whole perimeter and
you know, looking for any kind of activity and kind
of nip it in the bud.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Now, when Sarah was little and you were out there
and carrying all those mole traps, running your car in
the all nine yards, and she does shake her head.
And now she's a part of the of the system.
Speaker 6 (23:31):
I think maybe she thought it was a little bit strange,
but just she had to have somebody reliable. And so
I asked she was working another job or something. I said,
my brother Dick, and I could really usual to uh
to get you know, back us up a little bit,
and and that actually could have been you know, more
(23:52):
towards Brute Can over on this side of town.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Interesting and you know, and we're talking with Tom Schmid,
he's the mall man as well site themoman dot com
at that site. And I think we went to the ballpark.
They had the wooden posts in the ground to keep
where you parked and you pulled up against the wooden post.
You also took me there and showed me how they
traveled from post to post, doing the exact same thing
that they were doing around the headstones.
Speaker 6 (24:18):
M they actually they probably have deep tunnel there. You know,
moles have been around for ten thousand years, so a
lot of the tunnel would be deeper, you know, long
before there was ever a cemetery there or a ball field.
And you know, it seems like they sort of pop
up out of nowhere. People think moles have to walk
(24:38):
in all the time, and they don't. That's all they
have to do is come up and they can come out.
And sometimes this time, you know, if you live out
in the wooded area and you're watering or not watering
this year. Actually, part of our problem is the rain
we've had it's just the grass has been so high
keeping it under control. A lot of the crews just
can't cut in that, and it just makes spo mole
(25:00):
tum tunnels a little a little harder. But we're, you know,
keeping up with it. I'm I'm just I'm aging out
of it. I don't know. I still I still answered
the phone, and I answered, and I remember these properties.
I remember the customers, so I remember talking to them
a lot more. But but Sarah and Dick and Jim
do the bulk of the word. Tommy Mahers, he's out.
(25:21):
And Montgomery's been the heaviest this year, uh as far
as Mole count uh Indian Hill, but Montgomery especially and
actually were they go. This brood has gone over into
parts of Amberley. And and Amberley actually gets two brutes.
They get brew ten and they get brewed fourteen. So uh,
you know where Sharonville kind of meets Amberley east east
(25:45):
side of Amberley. Were catching some houses there. You would
you would think they, I know, they had brew ten
And all of a sudden, you're catching a bunch of
moles this year.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Interesting, We're gonna take a quick break. Tom hang with us.
Uh and I got more questions for you. I do
want one last comment. You even showed me on that
day where a mole came up on one side of
the road, came across and went back down. You could
you found both those areas where it comes up, went
across the road and came back down on the other side.
(26:14):
Totally blew me away. Tom Schmid, the Moleman. His website
is the Moleman dot Com. More questions about moles after
the break Here in the Garden with Ron Wilson. Welcome back.
You're in the Garden with Ron Wilson. The special guest
in studio is Ron Rothi's the arbor Duck and honestly
phone with us A real good friend, known him for many,
(26:34):
many many years. Mister Tom Schmidt, he is the Moleman
in his website is the Moleman dot com. And the
mole still make lousy pets.
Speaker 6 (26:44):
Right they sure do? They sure do. Sometimes, you know,
I just tell some sometimes it's not the end of
the world. You know, there's not a lot of damage,
you know, and you can fix the damage. You don't
have to trap moles. But but when you get near
the cicada, you you're get an awful lot of moles.
Now that the cicada are out of the ground, you've
(27:05):
got a lot of hungry moles. And you know you
were talking about moles. Moles will cross the road. I mean,
the food's gone. You think about you know, cicada will
say feeding a thousand moles, and all of a sudden,
all the food's gone, and these moles have to find
food and start or starve, and most of them will
starve out even the first year. But you know, if
(27:26):
you're hungry enough, you walk across the street. The sheriffs
out in Indian Hill used to tell me because they
patrol at night in the country roads out there and
they would see them waddle across the street.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Isn't that interesting talking with Tom Schmid, the mole man.
You know, you know you're talking about the food source
and all. And of course, over all the years and
you've learned all and obviously you teach everybody about this
and half for years. But you know when folks sometimes
will go out there and treat the lawn for grubs
because they have moles, obviously is not the answer. And
you know you only treat your lawn for grubs if
you have grub problem that are causing problems with your turf.
(28:03):
It's it's trapping the moles. And again, there's repellents available today.
You're probably still not a big advocate of repellents and never.
Speaker 6 (28:10):
Have been, right, I haven't seen any advantage to having it.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (28:15):
It just it's putting an awful lot of chemical down
uh that that you may not need, you know. And
I know there are people that spray the yard in
case they get moles, or you take an aspirin in
case you get a headache, but you know it's probably
something that you don't necessarily need. People just fuss. And
then there are a lot of a lot of trappers,
(28:35):
not mole trappers, just regular trappers, uh, you know, saying
they do moles and stuff like that, and they give
you all this scary information and the sidewalks are gonna
collapse and all this stuff like that. Moles do aesthetic damage,
only they just they just get you upset. And again,
you're trying to grow stuff, if you're buying plants and
watering them and stuff like that, and you kind of
(28:57):
hate to see something get in there, you know, like
a mole. But like I said, right now, there's a
lot of hungry moles around, and they're probably going to
be hungry for another couple of months and then they're
going to have to be living on grubs and whatever.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
But and the earthworms, obviously they I mean, that's still
a lot of yeah, major source for them. But but
point being is, you know, and I took take it
away from you, is the fact that the only short
cure is physical removal. And that's a not just a
one time trapping, but typically when you get involved, it's
a it's a year round trapping.
Speaker 6 (29:29):
Well again, if you're not going to kill the tenth one,
don't kill the first one, right, It gets to be
that way. But like I said, you can repair damage.
They can't do anything that you can't take care of.
But now you get a lot of seniors that they
can't get out and stuff like that. But but it's
a lot of especially as much rain as we've had,
these mole tunnels are easy to push down. They're not
(29:52):
really browning out. We've we've had enough rain that the
roots kind of stay moist enough where the grass doesn't
really turn brown. If we go through a drought, if
we go you know, maybe a couple of weeks without rain,
you'll see some of those tunnels start to turn brown.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Now you know, as far when it comes to the
trapping that you know you are obviously going after most
of the time, I think those search tunnels that are
at the top of the ground. But there's also tunnels
obviously that you showed me that are down deeper in
the ground, which are basically their highways that they move
from around the property.
Speaker 6 (30:24):
Correct exactly, they'll go around the foundation and that and
again there are enough pillbugs and ants around the you know,
in the in the shrubs and worms and things like that.
But different times during the year you'll see tunnels coming
out from from around the foundation. Generally they'll have tunnel
all the way around the foundation. They'll have it. But again,
(30:46):
and if they're not running tunnels, sometimes you don't even
know they're they're but I know that they almost have
to be. So if you dig down sometimes not real
deep around the house, maybe six inches down, but those
tunnels don't show from.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Above ground, right because you we went to an area
where there was no mole activity. Surface tunnels, which are
their feeding tunnels right where they're looking at the insects,
and there were none there, but yet you knew where
to dig down, and you found one. It was about
six or eight inches below the ground. It looked like
a PVC pipe. The inside of a PVCA pipe, nice
and smooth, except for the side where they had used
(31:20):
those huge paws to move themselves. And I think you
explained to me the way their hair is, it moves
back and forth. They can go almost as fast forward
as they can backwards.
Speaker 6 (31:30):
They actually can. But they can also flip around.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
They can turn around.
Speaker 6 (31:34):
Yeah, the muscles are all in the upper upper chest area,
so it's it would be like a golf ball with
with hind legs, but anyway, it can flip around. And
and I'm amazed at how much you remember about what
we talked about out there, because there are a lot
of people. Don't you paid attention.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
To put it that way, Hey, when you're hunting with
Clint Eastwood, the Moleman, you remember, well, I mean we've
we've had a lot of conversations on this show and
uh and again talking with each other, and so I
just I'm amazed at your your information. As a matter
of fact, you you know, there was a time there
and of course there's more info out there about moles today,
but there was a time you were these sources. You
(32:13):
were the only person that actually went out and did research.
And of course you you know the book about the
the I forget the book you gave me all about moles.
And then of course your video you did of moles
make Lousy Pets was super information. Nobody knew about truly
about moles. And one of my point is that I
again share from you telling me that, and it makes sense,
(32:36):
is you got to learn about the mole and understand
the mole and their their habitat, and then it makes
it a lot easier to either accept them or to
figure out how to trap them or what to do
about them.
Speaker 6 (32:48):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
And I think that's you know, all key, and that's
why I sent many people to your website to learn
just learn more about them before you attempt to do anything.
By the way, great story. You were not always the
mole man that trapper. You used to make candy. You
were a candy maker, correct, Yes, I was, And they
got you got involved with it because you had moles
and you couldn't get rid of them in your yard.
(33:09):
And if I'm not mistaken, you almost burnt your car
up using the old exhaust pipe method.
Speaker 6 (33:15):
I think I did well. I messed up the timing.
It was an old V eight that would road run
on natural gas, unleaded gas or excuse me, leaded gas.
And it was an old Buick V eight. Yeah. Now
I put that pipe down on the ground and blew
all the couplings off, the off the hose. That god,
the hose got so hot, you know, I tried everything
underneath the sun. Like I said, sometimes even if you're
(33:38):
a trapper, if a homeowner is a good mold trapper,
sometimes you're can repair the damage in half the time
it would take to set a mole trap. So it's
not the end of the world. Sometimes you push that
stuff down, it stays down. I always tell people, they said,
it's you know, it's like if you go out in
the front yard and you see a pile of horse
manoir and you go get a gun looking for a horse,
pick up the manure. You may never see it again.
(34:00):
You know.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
I love it. Talking with Tom Schmidt the mole Man.
His website is the Moollman dot com. I'll tell you
one of the I thought the greatest, one of the
greatest days, the things of that day that you and
I trapped together. Is when that one mole stuck his
head out, you looked at him and said, go ahead,
make my day.
Speaker 6 (34:15):
Yeah right, yeah, I have a thirty eight in my hands.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
I love it all right, Tom, I appreciate you spending
time with us this morning. Uh, we really do great
information Again the moleman dot com. Check it out and again,
physical removal if they if they're a real problem in
your yard is the best answer. And learn more about
him at the mollman dot com. Sir, always a pleasure,
appreciate talking with you.
Speaker 6 (34:40):
You take care of yourself.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
All right, Take care, Tom Schmidt, the mole Man. The
website is the Moleman dot Com. You ever work with
trees and dig him up and find cicadas all attached
to the trunks early roots.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I mean, I've found cicicadas in the ground, but I
can't say that I've ever.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Actually seen them attached to that.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Yeah, I haven't done that.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
But what's interesting is they don't cause problems to the
tree's health.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Yeah, they've adopted to each other over many many, you know, centuries.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Yeah, what a life. Huh, seventeen years underground in the darkness.
Suck it on a tree route, Come up, you emerge,
you come out, you mate, and you die.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
That's why they make so much noise and get so
excited when they come out.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
I mean, what a life, I tell you. Ron Roths
is in the house. He's the arbor doc. His website
is arbordoctor dot com. We're gonna take a break, we
come back. We're gonna continue to talk about trees. If
you've got questions eight hundred eight two three eight two
five five, don't forget our website, Ron Wilson online dot com,
Facebook page. In the Garden with Ron Wilson. A little
bit more after the break Here in the Garden with
(35:47):
Ron Wilson
You're eight three eight two five five, Good morning. I
(00:03):
am Ron Wilson, your personal yard boy, talking about yarding.
Kind of a special Saturday show today because we have
our first in house guests since COVID and we moved
studios at the same time, it made it a little
bit different as far as getting people into the studios,
and so we just kind of we just haven't had
the opportunity to do it. Well. He is back with us,
(00:24):
and he used to join us in the studio quite
a bit at one time. Ron Roth, it's the arbor
doc and of course we have him on a regular
basis keeping us updated not only on the weather, but
on trees occasionally as well, but mostly for the weather.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
And I have my entourage with me this morning.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
You do you brought a couple of young folks that
are just bored as heck right now. Exactly.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
So for some reason, they just don't get as excited
about trees and gardening as we do. I don't understand it.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I don't think they get excited about radio like my
grandsons could. I think care less. It's like they don't
listen to radio anyway. If we were.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
YouTube different, Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
But they don't. They listen to the radio. So does
you know you want to come down something?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
No, YouTube influencers, that's the word I was looking for.
We need to be YouTube influence.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
We need you need to you have the face for YouTube.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I have the face for radio.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Everybody has a face for YouTube because everybody's on it anyway.
Talking about yarding and if you'd like to join us,
if you've got especially if you've got a tree a question.
H We got the expert in the house, Ron rothis
and again his website arbordoctor dot com. As a matter
of fact, let's go to Fennytown. We're talk to Scott. Scott.
Good morning, Good morning, how are you sir? Good good.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I've got a quick question about a maple tree.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Sure, uh, the mature tree.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I first moved into this place about fourteen years ago,
and I had this big limb that you know, these
like massive limb that shot across my front yard. So
I walked it off. But you know, as a rookie
as I am, I cut.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
It too close.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
And you know you're supposed to leave a little out
so the tree could close back up. I don't know.
I cut it probably about five inches away from the
base of the tree, the main trunk of the tree,
and it's closed up over all these years, but this
one spot it didn't close up. They don't close up
all the way, and like some black ants got in
(02:19):
there and started burrowing a little hole and stuff. I
was wondering as a way I could like burrow that
out and then put a patch on there they got
like a tree patch or whatever.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
No, it's actually better to just more or less leave
that alone. What a tree does is it puts up
chemical barriers to the spread of decay. And if you
go in there and start trying to clean that out
or and put something in there, a lot of times
it will actually end up punching through those chemical barriers
(02:55):
and causing the decay to spread deeper into the tree.
So you're actually better off just leave it alone and
let the tree kind of take care of itself. Those
ants get into the already decaying heartwood, but they're not
going to get into the live parts of the tree.
They're not like bores like emerald ash boar or clear
(03:17):
wing boar or something like that that get into the
live tissue of the tree. They really just stay in
the dead tissue of the tree and kind of increase
the rate of hollowing, and even treating the ants can
get a little bit complicated. Buggy Joe Boggs has shared
with me that if you try to kill the ants
(03:40):
sometimes they'll produce more queens and actually produce more colonies,
So it can actually get kind of complicated trying to
get rid of them as well.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Gotcha, So leave it alone and it'll clear.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah. And you know, just for other people who are listening,
and even for you, if you have this situation on
this tree or another tree, it's really best to not
make larger diameter printing cuts near the main trunk of
the tree. It sounds like from your description you actually
kind of did what I would prefer, and that's to
(04:20):
not cut back all the way to the main branch.
With a larger diameter printing cut, we're actually sometimes if
it's more than say six inches in diameter, we're often
leaving a stub of a couple feet, so that any
decay that's happening is happening out there somewhere and not
right by the main trunk. With a smaller diameter cut,
(04:44):
you do want to cut back to, but not into
the collar at the base of the tree, but for
the larger ones, leaving a little bit of a stub
is actually recommended.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Now, right, That's what I heard. I know I'm saying
to We're close to the house. It ain't really bothering anything,
but I didn't know what I should just go and
watching or whatever. I appreciate you answering.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
My question, Appreciate the call. Appreciate listening to the show
as well. Scott, good luck with that. You know that
talk about during the break we were talking about how
things change over the years, and I was telling you that,
you know you today, if I ever retired from my
job full time, retired from my job at what I
do answering questions and uh working with the retail and
(05:30):
all that kind of stuff where I'm not in touch
with what's going on in the industry and up to
updating myself with the trends and research and all, I
would stop doing the show because I think, you know,
things change and more and more research all the time,
changing some of our old theories, busting some of our
old myths that are out there, one of you know,
and again one of which is like this as far
(05:53):
as that pruning, you know, we used to cut. You know,
you cut right back to that any size at one time,
any size try or a branch diameter, you go right
back to just above that branch collar and take that
thing off. Now the theory is, nope, you leave that.
Like you were saying, what about a two.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Foot Yeah, on larger diameter cut.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
We're talking yeah, big to think about it that we're
talking six to eight inches trunk or branch diameter. Yeah,
So we're talking big.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
And even then, you know that's only if there's no
other real alternative. Ideally, if you have a larger diameter
branch and maybe it's gotten too much end weight on
it or something like that, the first probably the first
choice would be to go out toward the end of
the branch and do what's called a reduction cut, which
(06:40):
is a small diameter cut. Maybe you're going to make
two or three or four reduction cuts on that branch
where you're cutting some of the small diameter growth back
to other branches. So you're taking maybe several hundred pounds
off of that branch. But you don't have any cuts
that are large diameter that would be ideal. But if
you have a branch they partially has died or for
(07:02):
some reason has to be has to be removed because
there's just nothing left out there, or who knows it's
too low over a parking lot or cycle exactly. Then
that's when you do this stub type thing. So we're
not saying, you know, just go around and willing to
only leave trees with thirty or forty stubs all over
(07:23):
the place. This is just really when when that's about
the only alternative, it's like the the the best of
two choices, which aren't ideal, but but the better choice
would be to make a reduction cut further out on
the on the branch.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
And again that just shows how research and time and
what you know, what they're doing today has changed a
lot of the practices. And you know that's why you
do so much training yourself to stay up up with that.
You know you were talking earlier about you know, one time,
if a lot of suckers started to come out of
the center of the tree, you know, we'd go in
there and clean all those out. Now, fruit trees different
story obviously, right, but you know, in shade trees or whatever,
(08:02):
And now new research is showing that no, you leave
those alone and let them do their thing.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, sprouts are good. That was what was drilled into
us at classes with doctor ed Gilman from University of Florida.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And we're not talking suckers around the base of the tree.
We're talking up in the tree.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Right right, But even on the trunk of the tree,
they're not necessarily bad. If you do have a printing
cut where the trees forming that wound tissue around the cut,
very often it will have a sucker to come out
of that area where the cut was made. That sucker
has leaves that are photosynthesizing, and photosynthesis is how a
(08:39):
tree makes basically food or nutrients for itself, so that
sucker is actually feeding the production of wound tissue around
that wound. So when you have a sucker coming out
of a wound area, a lot of times you want
to leave that sucker how long, well, you don't want
it to get too large a diameter, but maybe for
(09:00):
a couple of years, something like that. In a few years,
but once it gets up to half inch or an
inch in diameter, you want to you know, if it's
not an appropriate place, you would want to take it off.
But at least for a few years. We've actually seen
where you have basically a round printing cut with rounded
wound tissue, and you'll see a bulge out into the
(09:22):
wound area adjacent to where that sucker is because of
the increased production of photosynthets right around where that sucker
is growing.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Interesting, all right, just take a quick break, Karen, hang on,
we're going to come right to you after the break.
Talk with ron Rothis the arbor Duck. Got a question
about trees. Ronald, of course, a full of great information
about your trees, and then give us a call it
eight hundred eight two three eight two five five. Coming
up at the bottom of the hour, we're going to
continue talking about trees. We're going to talk about an
event that we had happened this spring with the cicadas.
(09:52):
There's a huge event in some areas of our area,
in some areas around the state as well. There's always
been the question, and we'll talk about cicada da damage,
the question about populations of moles. Do the populations of
moles go up when there's a heavy brutus the cada
is getting ready to emerge, and then go back down again. Well,
we're gonna find out because we're going to the source
We're gonna have the moleman join us at the bottom
(10:15):
of the hour. Ron rothis the tree dock, the moullman
at the bottom of the hour, you and me talking
yard He get eight hundred eight two three eight two
five five here in the garden with Ron Wilson number
eight hundred eight two three eight two five five talking
about yardning, also talking about trees. We've got Ron rothis
with us this morning, the arbor doc. And he's full
(10:35):
of great new information as well. He's uh. I think
he does more training and more certification than anybody I
know when it comes to arborius. And that's why he's
so full of great information. Karen and Cincinnati, Good morning,
Good morning.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
Right, I have a question about a maple tree. Okay,
it has black bark putting far up the tree. Is
it dying or is that natural?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
It's kind of natural. It's a it's a fungus called
sooty mold, and it can be associated with scale insects.
It can also be associated with aphids. It can be
associated with woodpeckers that get into the tree and induce
sap flow and and and sap that kind of drips
(11:26):
down on the trunk and then kind of gets drawn
down by by rainfall and things like that. So there
are a lot of different things that can cause it.
I have it does seem and this is just kind
of experiential for me that it seems that trees that
have that going on sometimes are a little bit more stressed.
(11:49):
So sometimes I like to, you know, just kind of
give them a little bit of an extra tension from
a standpoint of making sure that they're mulched properly, and
that would be with a coarse textured mulch out several
feet from the trunk of the tree. Make sure that
they get watered occasionally during dry spells one inch per
(12:09):
week during the growing season, may through November. And we
don't want to drown it because especially sugar maples don't
want to be sitting in water all the time. But
if you do get a long dry spell, a little
bit of watering can help. So just little things like that.
What you don't want to do with an older maple tree,
or really any older tree is to overreact and start
(12:32):
really dumping a lot of fertilizer on them, especially high
nitrogen fertilizer that can actually exacerbate the situation. A little
bit of fertilization where you may be feeding the microbes
in the soil and things like that can be good,
but you really want to be kind of conservative on
older trees when it comes to fertilization.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Hey, Karen, as you stand back and look at that
maple tree, compared to the past, they'll past two or
three or four years, still looking good, have full sized leaves,
still lots of new growth coming out.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
Yeah, well the new growth is kind of kind of
whinding down, but it's it's so pretty in the fall.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
M all right. But look, yeah, absolutely want to save
that tree. But looking at it from the spring till
right now, you would say it looks nice. And for
the most part, the trop looks good and healthy, and
leaves are full size and look good. Otherwise we're seeing
the black on the trunk, but otherwise the tree is
looking pretty good.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Well, it's skinny anymore, it hasn't. Yes, it has has
some growth, but not as much as.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
It used to.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
And they'll slow down as they get older. And there's
no doubt.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Oh do you know if it do you know if
it's a red maple or a sugar maple, you know it's.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
It's that kind of rough bark.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
So I don't know what kind of fall color you
get yellow yellow, Okay, sounds like maybe sugar.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
Okay, oh okay, okay, Yeah. I love the tree because
my whole yard is nothing but pine.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
So it's the lone tree out there.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah, well, you know, and again as Ron and I
and we appreciate the call. As Ron and I talk
all the time. You know, anytime you have a larger
tree like that or the solo tree or whatever and
you've got issues, you know, Ron's here today to help
answer some of those questions, but also having an arborist
come on site, a certified arbist, registered consulting arbist, to
take just an on site look. And obviously there's a
(14:33):
fee to have somebody come out and do that, There's
no doubt. I mean they got to pay the gas
to come there, but it's worth that. It's so different
than going to your doctor. Let them take a look
at that mole or whatever that thing is on you
and just to making sure you're okay or if something
else needs to be done. And that's again where the
importance of not just a tree service, but making sure
whoever you come out as a registered arbist, certified consulting arborist.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah. And you know what you really had be careful
of is there are a lot of people out there
who do tree pruning and tree cutting, and I wish
they weren't there, but they are that just they their
first reaction is cut it down. And so you really
want someone who does have the certification, who does have
(15:18):
the knowledge, who specializes more in giving an opinion on
the tree, rather than just someone who's going to make
their money from telling you the tree has to come
down whether it needs it or not. I just run
into that way too often.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Jim and Cincinnati. Jim, is it a quick question? We
got about a minute and a half to go.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Yeah, it's it'll be It'll be quick, okay, Okay, Hi Ron,
Hey listen, I got some maple trees here on my
property and they've been they're probably maybe twenty years old,
and they keep growing up and the roots keep getting
exposed to the point where when I run around it
to cut the grass, I really have to use a
push more just chopp into the roots. Is it okay?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
If I go.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Ahead and level the area around there with dirt to
raise that up, to cover those roots up. Or is
that something bad to do?
Speaker 2 (16:11):
It is okay if you put just a little bit
of dirt down. The problem is that the roots are
gonna come right back up through that. What I recommend
is within five or six feet of the trunk to
just have mulch there and then you won't to worry
about it anymore with the lawnmower.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah, or a little groundcover out there or something like that.
But you know the problem is you put that down,
it's a temporary fix because next thing you know, they're
right back up at the top again. Yeah, And you
can't keep bad in the soil forever at one time. Shot.
All right, quick break, we come back. What about the
cicadas that we had earlier on? Were there moles extra
moles this year or the last couple three years because
(16:48):
of the cicada populations. We're gonna find out. We're gonna
talk to the mole man here in the garden with
Ron Wilson. Welcome back here in the garden with Ron Wilson,
talking yardening, talking trees, talking moles and what you say
you're talking moles? Well, I got Ron rothis with us
in the Inn studio today talking about trees and along
with those trees. Obviously, we had the brood fourteen that
(17:10):
come out about a month and a half ago and
did a pretty good number in isolated areas on some
of our trees. See we'll flagging out there right now,
a natural fruiting process. Thank you, mister, missus cicada, right,
missus cicada exactly, Not mister, But the question I had
several folks say, you know, we used to talk about
this all the time, but I don't hear brought up
too much anymore. Do the mole populations go up right
(17:35):
before we have a huge brood of cicadas emerge? Do
we see the populations go up? We used to think
they did and then go down afterwards. As a matter
of fact, the pickle guy Tom Tim Dwyer asked me
about that the other day, and I said, you know what,
I'm going to find out because we're going to have
the man who knows more about moles than moles know
(17:55):
about moles themselves. His website is themoleman dot com. He
has been our consultant for taking care of moles for
thirty years. He I mean, he's even done videos and
books about it. He even says moles make lousy pets,
ladies and gentlemen. The Clint Eastwood of mole trappers, and
he is a Clint Eastwood of mole trappers. Mister Tom Schmidt,
(18:17):
Good morning.
Speaker 6 (18:18):
Sir, Good morning, mister Wilson.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
You still have that Clint Eastwood or about you when
you walk on to the properties.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
I look like Clint Eastwood anymore.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
With you, well, I don't know. I thought you did.
And you got a little cigar out the side and
a cowboy had on you would be mister Clint Eastwood.
So good to happen.
Speaker 6 (18:39):
I wish it was easy.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Good to have you on what It's been a while,
and we stay in touch with email every now and then.
But and I recommend your website still an awful lot,
the moleman dot com. But this question did come up
and typically in the past, and we have talked to
you about this because of course you've got a lot
of experience about moles obviously in mole population. Then you
has said, interestingly enough, you've gone through three brood fourteen
(19:05):
emergencies since you've been dealing with moles and become the
mole professional. So what does happen do the mole populations
go up in According to the cicada.
Speaker 6 (19:16):
Broods, it's not just it's not just the year of emergence.
It can start four to five years before because all
the cicada are full grown, they just don't come out
of the ground. So it's a big food source for moles,
and the male population can actually start to double five
years before the emergence, and then every year it's an
(19:38):
exponential growth. And that's actually what happens. Starting in maybe
four years before or something, it can increase. I mean
the number of moles that we catch on the same
yards can increase thirty five percent. And the biggest jump,
of course, would be well, actually it's the year before
(20:00):
emergency is the biggest jump. And then and that's that's
trapping throughout the year. But actually after the end of
May of this year, the cicada work on and so
that population would automatically start to drop. And it actually
can drop. It can drop eight percent on what we catch.
(20:21):
But it just means a lot of moles. And you're
right about the cicada. Uh, that's the only reason we
talk about it here in the city. Uh, you know,
if it wouldn't be for our we have two cicada broutes,
you know, Brew Cannon, Brew fourteen. So somebody is always
talking about mole problems and stuff like that. But some
places once Cicada come up the year after, maybe a
(20:43):
year or two after. If you live in the woods,
you'll see moles in that. But then eventually you can
get maybe maybe eight years, ten years no molls, no conversations,
no calls to run Wilson.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Or no emails to Tom Schmid to come out and
take care of these moles.
Speaker 6 (20:58):
On my problem, Well, we have some places, a lot
of properties that we've done just for years, or cemetery
out and Indian Hill in places like that. They just
don't want any any mole hills or tunnels out there,
and so we checked that throughout the year for them
and stuff like that. So it doesn't mean that you
don't catch any moles. That you just catch fewer, but
(21:21):
you have to look. It's not for want of looking,
and you can't trap it if you're not checking the properties.
And then that's pretty much what we do.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Talking with mister Tom Schmid, he is the Moleman and
his website is the moleman dot com. As a matter
of fact, a tip sheet that I send out the folks.
That's the first thing I give you is his website
because a lot of the information came from Tom Schmid.
As a matter of fact, that cemetery you're talking about
out an Indian Hill, if you remember, is where I
met you and spent the day travel around with you
(21:50):
and trapping moles. And I learned more about moles that
day than I've ever learned about moles.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
Well that I think that was something around maybe nineteen
ninety one or ninety two, right, Yeah, they had Brewde
fourteen out there in nineteen ninety one. Yep, so that
would be. And again it wouldn't you know, I'm busier
because of the cicada and stuff like that, and then
you hear about me or we talk or something like that.
(22:18):
But I mean, it's interesting. I think we also went
to the ball field out there. We did, Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
You took me around, and I thought what was interesting
When we were at the cemetery, you were showing about
some of the headstones that had started to lean, and
you know, you explained to me and you dug around
it and showed me where the moles were working the
outside of those headstones because the insects with the moisture,
and they all were right there against the headstone. So
(22:47):
the moles were work in that because it was a
great source of food.
Speaker 6 (22:50):
Well it's a big block of marble and again it
would hold moisture or just the same as a foundation
in the house. But it's funny that. I mean, they're
not a lot of trees in that cemetery, but but
they can get a lot of all activity and people
walk around in there, and so they don't want to
take a chance. We still do that my daughter Sarah,
And Sarah works as cemetery and and she's out there
(23:13):
at least once a week walking the whole perimeter and
you know, looking for any kind of activity and kind
of nip it in the bud.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Now, when Sarah was little and you were out there
and carrying all those mole traps, running your car in
the all nine yards, and she does shake her head.
And now she's a part of the of the system.
Speaker 6 (23:31):
I think maybe she thought it was a little bit strange,
but just she had to have somebody reliable. And so
I asked she was working another job or something. I said,
my brother Dick, and I could really usual to uh
to get you know, back us up a little bit,
and and that actually could have been you know, more
(23:52):
towards Brute Can over on this side of town.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Interesting and you know, and we're talking with Tom Schmid,
he's the mall man as well site themoman dot com
at that site. And I think we went to the ballpark.
They had the wooden posts in the ground to keep
where you parked and you pulled up against the wooden post.
You also took me there and showed me how they
traveled from post to post, doing the exact same thing
that they were doing around the headstones.
Speaker 6 (24:18):
M they actually they probably have deep tunnel there. You know,
moles have been around for ten thousand years, so a
lot of the tunnel would be deeper, you know, long
before there was ever a cemetery there or a ball field.
And you know, it seems like they sort of pop
up out of nowhere. People think moles have to walk
(24:38):
in all the time, and they don't. That's all they
have to do is come up and they can come out.
And sometimes this time, you know, if you live out
in the wooded area and you're watering or not watering
this year. Actually, part of our problem is the rain
we've had it's just the grass has been so high
keeping it under control. A lot of the crews just
can't cut in that, and it just makes spo mole
(25:00):
tum tunnels a little a little harder. But we're, you know,
keeping up with it. I'm I'm just I'm aging out
of it. I don't know. I still I still answered
the phone, and I answered, and I remember these properties.
I remember the customers, so I remember talking to them
a lot more. But but Sarah and Dick and Jim
do the bulk of the word. Tommy Mahers, he's out.
(25:21):
And Montgomery's been the heaviest this year, uh as far
as Mole count uh Indian Hill, but Montgomery especially and
actually were they go. This brood has gone over into
parts of Amberley. And and Amberley actually gets two brutes.
They get brew ten and they get brewed fourteen. So uh,
you know where Sharonville kind of meets Amberley east east
(25:45):
side of Amberley. Were catching some houses there. You would
you would think they, I know, they had brew ten
And all of a sudden, you're catching a bunch of
moles this year.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Interesting, We're gonna take a quick break. Tom hang with us.
Uh and I got more questions for you. I do
want one last comment. You even showed me on that
day where a mole came up on one side of
the road, came across and went back down. You could
you found both those areas where it comes up, went
across the road and came back down on the other side.
(26:14):
Totally blew me away. Tom Schmid, the Moleman. His website
is the Moleman dot Com. More questions about moles after
the break Here in the Garden with Ron Wilson. Welcome back.
You're in the Garden with Ron Wilson. The special guest
in studio is Ron Rothi's the arbor Duck and honestly
phone with us A real good friend, known him for many,
(26:34):
many many years. Mister Tom Schmidt, he is the Moleman
in his website is the Moleman dot com. And the
mole still make lousy pets.
Speaker 6 (26:44):
Right they sure do? They sure do. Sometimes, you know,
I just tell some sometimes it's not the end of
the world. You know, there's not a lot of damage,
you know, and you can fix the damage. You don't
have to trap moles. But but when you get near
the cicada, you you're get an awful lot of moles.
Now that the cicada are out of the ground, you've
(27:05):
got a lot of hungry moles. And you know you
were talking about moles. Moles will cross the road. I mean,
the food's gone. You think about you know, cicada will
say feeding a thousand moles, and all of a sudden,
all the food's gone, and these moles have to find
food and start or starve, and most of them will
starve out even the first year. But you know, if
(27:26):
you're hungry enough, you walk across the street. The sheriffs
out in Indian Hill used to tell me because they
patrol at night in the country roads out there and
they would see them waddle across the street.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Isn't that interesting talking with Tom Schmid, the mole man.
You know, you know you're talking about the food source
and all. And of course, over all the years and
you've learned all and obviously you teach everybody about this
and half for years. But you know when folks sometimes
will go out there and treat the lawn for grubs
because they have moles, obviously is not the answer. And
you know you only treat your lawn for grubs if
you have grub problem that are causing problems with your turf.
(28:03):
It's it's trapping the moles. And again, there's repellents available today.
You're probably still not a big advocate of repellents and never.
Speaker 6 (28:10):
Have been, right, I haven't seen any advantage to having it.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (28:15):
It just it's putting an awful lot of chemical down
uh that that you may not need, you know. And
I know there are people that spray the yard in
case they get moles, or you take an aspirin in
case you get a headache, but you know it's probably
something that you don't necessarily need. People just fuss. And
then there are a lot of a lot of trappers,
(28:35):
not mole trappers, just regular trappers, uh, you know, saying
they do moles and stuff like that, and they give
you all this scary information and the sidewalks are gonna
collapse and all this stuff like that. Moles do aesthetic damage,
only they just they just get you upset. And again,
you're trying to grow stuff, if you're buying plants and
watering them and stuff like that, and you kind of
(28:57):
hate to see something get in there, you know, like
a mole. But like I said, right now, there's a
lot of hungry moles around, and they're probably going to
be hungry for another couple of months and then they're
going to have to be living on grubs and whatever.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
But and the earthworms, obviously they I mean, that's still
a lot of yeah, major source for them. But but
point being is, you know, and I took take it
away from you, is the fact that the only short
cure is physical removal. And that's a not just a
one time trapping, but typically when you get involved, it's
a it's a year round trapping.
Speaker 6 (29:29):
Well again, if you're not going to kill the tenth one,
don't kill the first one, right, It gets to be
that way. But like I said, you can repair damage.
They can't do anything that you can't take care of.
But now you get a lot of seniors that they
can't get out and stuff like that. But but it's
a lot of especially as much rain as we've had,
these mole tunnels are easy to push down. They're not
(29:52):
really browning out. We've we've had enough rain that the
roots kind of stay moist enough where the grass doesn't
really turn brown. If we go through a drought, if
we go you know, maybe a couple of weeks without rain,
you'll see some of those tunnels start to turn brown.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Now you know, as far when it comes to the
trapping that you know you are obviously going after most
of the time, I think those search tunnels that are
at the top of the ground. But there's also tunnels
obviously that you showed me that are down deeper in
the ground, which are basically their highways that they move
from around the property.
Speaker 6 (30:24):
Correct exactly, they'll go around the foundation and that and
again there are enough pillbugs and ants around the you know,
in the in the shrubs and worms and things like that.
But different times during the year you'll see tunnels coming
out from from around the foundation. Generally they'll have tunnel
all the way around the foundation. They'll have it. But again,
(30:46):
and if they're not running tunnels, sometimes you don't even
know they're they're but I know that they almost have
to be. So if you dig down sometimes not real
deep around the house, maybe six inches down, but those
tunnels don't show from.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Above ground, right because you we went to an area
where there was no mole activity. Surface tunnels, which are
their feeding tunnels right where they're looking at the insects,
and there were none there, but yet you knew where
to dig down, and you found one. It was about
six or eight inches below the ground. It looked like
a PVC pipe. The inside of a PVCA pipe, nice
and smooth, except for the side where they had used
(31:20):
those huge paws to move themselves. And I think you
explained to me the way their hair is, it moves
back and forth. They can go almost as fast forward
as they can backwards.
Speaker 6 (31:30):
They actually can. But they can also flip around.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
They can turn around.
Speaker 6 (31:34):
Yeah, the muscles are all in the upper upper chest area,
so it's it would be like a golf ball with
with hind legs, but anyway, it can flip around. And
and I'm amazed at how much you remember about what
we talked about out there, because there are a lot
of people. Don't you paid attention.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
To put it that way, Hey, when you're hunting with
Clint Eastwood, the Moleman, you remember, well, I mean we've
we've had a lot of conversations on this show and
uh and again talking with each other, and so I
just I'm amazed at your your information. As a matter
of fact, you you know, there was a time there
and of course there's more info out there about moles today,
but there was a time you were these sources. You
(32:13):
were the only person that actually went out and did research.
And of course you you know the book about the
the I forget the book you gave me all about moles.
And then of course your video you did of moles
make Lousy Pets was super information. Nobody knew about truly
about moles. And one of my point is that I
again share from you telling me that, and it makes sense,
(32:36):
is you got to learn about the mole and understand
the mole and their their habitat, and then it makes
it a lot easier to either accept them or to
figure out how to trap them or what to do
about them.
Speaker 6 (32:48):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
And I think that's you know, all key, and that's
why I sent many people to your website to learn
just learn more about them before you attempt to do anything.
By the way, great story. You were not always the
mole man that trapper. You used to make candy. You
were a candy maker, correct, Yes, I was, And they
got you got involved with it because you had moles
and you couldn't get rid of them in your yard.
(33:09):
And if I'm not mistaken, you almost burnt your car
up using the old exhaust pipe method.
Speaker 6 (33:15):
I think I did well. I messed up the timing.
It was an old V eight that would road run
on natural gas, unleaded gas or excuse me, leaded gas.
And it was an old Buick V eight. Yeah. Now
I put that pipe down on the ground and blew
all the couplings off, the off the hose. That god,
the hose got so hot, you know, I tried everything
underneath the sun. Like I said, sometimes even if you're
(33:38):
a trapper, if a homeowner is a good mold trapper,
sometimes you're can repair the damage in half the time
it would take to set a mole trap. So it's
not the end of the world. Sometimes you push that
stuff down, it stays down. I always tell people, they said,
it's you know, it's like if you go out in
the front yard and you see a pile of horse
manoir and you go get a gun looking for a horse,
pick up the manure. You may never see it again.
(34:00):
You know.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
I love it. Talking with Tom Schmidt the mole Man.
His website is the Moollman dot com. I'll tell you
one of the I thought the greatest, one of the
greatest days, the things of that day that you and
I trapped together. Is when that one mole stuck his
head out, you looked at him and said, go ahead,
make my day.
Speaker 6 (34:15):
Yeah right, yeah, I have a thirty eight in my hands.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
I love it all right, Tom, I appreciate you spending
time with us this morning. Uh, we really do great
information Again the moleman dot com. Check it out and again,
physical removal if they if they're a real problem in
your yard is the best answer. And learn more about
him at the mollman dot com. Sir, always a pleasure,
appreciate talking with you.
Speaker 6 (34:40):
You take care of yourself.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
All right, Take care, Tom Schmidt, the mole Man. The
website is the Moleman dot Com. You ever work with
trees and dig him up and find cicadas all attached
to the trunks early roots.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I mean, I've found cicicadas in the ground, but I
can't say that I've ever.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Actually seen them attached to that.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Yeah, I haven't done that.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
But what's interesting is they don't cause problems to the
tree's health.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Yeah, they've adopted to each other over many many, you know, centuries.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Yeah, what a life. Huh, seventeen years underground in the darkness.
Suck it on a tree route, Come up, you emerge,
you come out, you mate, and you die.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
That's why they make so much noise and get so
excited when they come out.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
I mean, what a life, I tell you. Ron Roths
is in the house. He's the arbor doc. His website
is arbordoctor dot com. We're gonna take a break, we
come back. We're gonna continue to talk about trees. If
you've got questions eight hundred eight two three eight two
five five, don't forget our website, Ron Wilson online dot com,
Facebook page. In the Garden with Ron Wilson. A little
bit more after the break Here in the Garden with
(35:47):
Ron Wilson
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