Replies to This Discussion

PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Graeme @ BGS on December 1, 2009 at 18:23

Have Emailed you Richard.

Just a note but I am sure everyone knows.

Badgers and their setts are protected under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, which makes it illegal to kill, injure or take badgers or to interfere with a badger sett. Interference with a sett includes blocking tunnels or damaging the sett in any way.

Permalink Reply by Richard Lilley on December 1, 2009 at 20:15

My first thought was worms because of the time of year, dampness etc but the extent of damage is similar to that caused by badgers going after grubs. Badgers are meant to "slurp" for worms and tear up the turf looking for chafers. I think it is too late to find chafers near the surface but guess I won't know until I get there.
Anyway, I have carbendazim to control the worms and Admire for the Chafers. Fully tooled up!!

Graeme @ The BGS Group said:

Have Emailed you Richard.

Just a note but I am sure everyone knows.

Badgers and their setts are protected under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, which makes it illegal to kill, injure or take badgers or to interfere with a badger sett. Interference with a sett includes blocking tunnels or damaging the sett in any way.

PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Graeme @ BGS on December 1, 2009 at 21:00

Best to have a check tomorrow and assess the possible cause.

We had a badger family in one of the rental propeties last year and ended up calling the local badger trust (bearded bloke who smoked a pipe - you get the picture). He was most helpful and depending upon location and circumstances they can re-home them but normally highly unlikely.

Old Brookfrom Wind in the Willows isn't so cute once you seen the damage these bad boys do! A survey of badgers was undertaken a few years back and it was estimated there were 50,000 social badger groups in Britain or 315,000 adult badgers. Guess you must be unluck to have one!!

Permalink Reply by Richard Lilley on December 2, 2009 at 15:25

Went to site this morning and it looked like a battlefield. 60 sqaure metres of newly laid turf in pieces.

IThe rootzone below the turf was relatively unscathed. I dug looking for chafers and found nothing so I guess the juicy worms were near the surface or just undfer the turf. Anyhow, the client is in pieces and doesn't know whether to re-turf or, and I don't know if this is right, remove the turf, lay a bed of sand and spray worm killer on it to deter the badgers? That sounds a bit odd to me. What do you think?

Relocating the badgers seems unlikely as she is near Wimbledon Common so there will always be more to replace her original bad boys.

Anyway, I left her to consider her options and maybe I'll get a nice big job in the Spring, either hard landscaping or turf. Maybe a mixture of the two.

PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Graeme @ BGS on December 2, 2009 at 17:01

Could be wombles?? :-)

PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Phil Voice on December 2, 2009 at 17:12

Graeme @ The BGS Group said:

Could be wombles?? :-)

Like it:)

PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Graeme @ BGS on December 2, 2009 at 17:21

Showing my age Phil

Permalink Reply by Richard Lilley on December 2, 2009 at 18:00

If it's Wombles, what is the treatment? Dance music to lure them away from the garden!

PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Graeme @ BGS on December 2, 2009 at 18:19

You are not taking this seriously Richard:-)

Permalink Reply by Richard Lilley on December 2, 2009 at 18:37

There's not enough lawn left to spray iron sulphate onto. Probably a good idea if they decide to re-turf

Pro Gard said:

I loath badgers, I get this problem regularly but have almost prevented it by regularly spraying with iron sulphate thus driving the worms down deep. Also low electric fence along the boundary may be a good solution.

If you can find the path they are using then poacher alarm mine trip wires work well to put them off....or so I'm told! (not 100% sure of technical legality of this)

You can get them from solway feeds.

Permalink Reply by Richard Lilley on December 2, 2009 at 18:38

I'm open to all suggestions as to how to get rid of badgers!!

Graeme @ The BGS Group said:

You are not taking this seriously Richard:-)

PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Graeme @ BGS on December 2, 2009 at 19:26

Place lots of tin dog food in next doors garden :-)

I would kill the worms or at least use iron to drive them down and hopefully off lawn.

Might be prudent to treat the soil with a product based on Chlorpyrifos as this would sort out any leatherjacket larvae if they are there somewhere. This can be applied now but before end of March and will last about 3 - 4 months in the soil so will catch the little chaps when they hatch. Nematodes would be another option but too late to apply this year!

Then reinstate the lawn, re-seed or turf. I would suggest roping off the area (kind of cris/cross the lawn) - it worked for me when we laid a new lawn. The badgers can out the next day to snigg around and done a little damage but after roping it for a few days they never bothered coming back.

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