405 Q&A: Who's Eating My Melons? Growing Fava Beans.

Q&A: How to Grow Fava Beans as a cover crop or an edible.

Controlling Roof Rats in the Garden (good luck!)

Farmer Fred's Ride for the Kids!

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Pictured: Melon Damage from Rats?

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Chapters

• 0:45 Growing Fava Beans
• 12:52 Farmer Fred's Ride for the Kids!
• 15:21 Controlling Rats in the Garden

Transcript

405 TRANSCRIPT Q&A How to Grow Fava Beans; Thwarting Rats in the  Garden

Farmer Fred

 Today, we delve into the email bag and answer some garden questions. For instance, how do you grow fava beans? Hey, who's eating the fruit in my orchard? And we have details about Farmer Fred's Ride for the Kids, a 100-mile charity bike ride, also known as the Sacramento Century Challenge. It's in support of the Sacramento Children's Home. It's episode number 405 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. We're barking… We're podcasting from Barking Dog Studios here in the beautiful Abutilon jungle in suburban purgatory. Let's go. 

HOW TO GROW FAVA BEANS

Farmer Fred

We like to answer your garden questions here on the Garden Basics podcast. We get a question from Atlanta, Georgia. And Lynn asks, “I bought some broad Windsor fava bean seeds to plant in my fall garden. We are in zone 8A here in Atlanta. I am an experienced gardener of over 20 years, but have never eaten or grown fava beans. Do you have any experience with overwintering them? I'm not sure how many weeks before my first frost to plant them. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks for all you do. Love listening to your podcasts every week.” 

Well, thank you, Lynn. I appreciate that. Yes, experimenting with a new crop is fun. I've grown my fair share of fava beans over the years, and most of the time I'm growing it as a cover crop. However, sometimes you do like to grow it for the fava beans themselves.

Farmer Fred

 If you're going to use it as a cover crop, then you would plant in late summer or early fall. If you are growing them as an edible crop, you could start them in February or March, and they would be ready for harvest probably by June. Having said that, you can plant them in September to grow the edible bean as long as the winter weather cooperates where you live. Fava beans are hardy down to about 21 degrees. To grow them as a cover crop, you chop the plants down as soon as you see flowering, and then you till in the chopped plants to keep the nitrogen in the soil. If you want to grow it as an edible crop, here's a little bit more information. They are mainly a cool season crop. They thrive in mild temperatures between 65 and 75 degrees. They can tolerate temperatures as low as 40. And short periods of cold down to 21 degrees. 

Farmer Fred

When grown for seed production, fava beans take four to five months to mature, depending upon the planting date. However, they struggle in excessive hot temperatures, and they become more susceptible to disease. Fava beans need full to partial sunlight. They require at least six hours of direct sunlight a day. Well-drained soil is crucial, and while a loose, loamy soil with a slightly acidic to neutral pH, they can tolerate a variety of soil types. According to the University of Georgia, testing your soil is the first step towards successful gardening, and that's true anywhere you live for that matter. To plant your fava beans, you can directly sow the fava bean seeds in the garden in early spring after the last frost or in the fall for a spring harvest. Again, September is a good month for planting fava beans in USDA Zone 8 or USDA Zone 9. The ideal soil temperature for germination is between 42 and 70 degrees. And here's a tip for sowing those fava bean seeds. Soak them first. Soak fava bean seeds for about 12 to 24 hours before planting, and that'll help speed up germination. You want to plant the seeds about 1 to 2 inches deep and 6 inches apart in rows spaced 2 to 3 feet apart. Keep the soil consistently moist, but avoid soggy conditions.

Farmer Fred

Germination takes its time, usually in one to two weeks. Once the seedlings emerge, thin them to four to six inches apart to prevent overcrowding and reduce the risk of disease. Consider using supports like stakes or canes to prevent taller varieties from flopping over as they become heavy with pods. That's if you're growing them for food. Fava beans, they are legumes. They fix nitrogen in the soil and typically don't require additional nitrogen fertilizer. That, according to the University of California, Ag and Natural Resources. However, incorporating compost in the soil before you plant can improve growth, especially in nutrient-poor soils. Consistent watering is important, particularly during germination and during pod formation. Pinch out the top shoots as the plant begins to bloom can help deter the black bean aphid, which favors the tender new growth if black bean aphids are a problem in your area. For harvesting fava beans, you can harvest the small tender pods when they're about two to three inches long and eat them whole, similar to green beans. But for mature beans, wait until the pods plump and become glossy. You'll need to shell the beans from the pods, which can be a rather time-consuming process, So you may want to invite friends over and have a fava bean pod peeling party because you do need to shell the beans from the pods (at that stage).

Farmer Fred

Harvesting the first pods encourages further pod development. For dried fava beans, leave the pods on the plant until they're dry and shrivel, and the beans are thoroughly dry inside.

Farmer Fred

 Aphids, I mentioned the black aphids, are a common pest of fava beans. There are diseases like chocolate spot that can affect fava beans, especially on stressed plants. Again, proper watering and good air circulation can help prevent diseases. Rotating your fava beans with other vegetables can help reduce the buildup of soil-borne diseases. as well. Growing fava beans is pretty easy. You can successfully grow fava beans in Georgia, and you'll be enjoying their unique taste and nutritional benefits. Now, if you're growing fava beans as a cover crop, you might be interested in preserving the nitrogen in those chopped up plants for the soil. How do you do that? Well, we talked with Master Gardener Gail Pathour at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center back in March of 2024, and here's what she had to say.

Farmer Fred

We get questions here on the Garden Basics podcast. Tanya writes in and says, I have three raised beds. I planted a cover crop in one of them last fall. I was going to crimp the cover crop to slow the release of nitrogen, and I'm wondering if I can just do this by hand in my raised bed.  Just sort of crimp them and then work them in. Is this idea crazy? Well, actually, it's late winter. If you've got a cover crop, is the perfect time to do something to make sure the nitrogen stays in the soil and doesn't escape. In fact, here at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center on this Saturday in March, I'm witnessing Master Gardener Gail Pothour cutting it down and it and the flowers of the plant Gail have just barely started opening, right? 

Gail Pothour 

We like to cut down the cover crop as it's flowering if you let it continue to grow and those flowers get pollinated and the beans start to develop, then that is taking some of that nitrogen into the development of that being. So we want to cut down the cover crop just as it's flowering so we get it at its most nitrogen nutritious state. 

Farmer Fred

And what you're doing here is you're cutting off about six inches at a time and literally just tossing it beneath the plant. Now, once you get all these plants down, cut up into itty bitty pieces, what will you do then? 

Gail Pothour

Well, it depends. This bread is pretty crowded with fava beans, and it will probably be too much green material for this one bed. So we will cut it up in small pieces and place it in two other beds that didn't have any covered crop. And we'll turn it under and it becomes organic matter. If we have too much still, we can just give it over to the compost folks and they can put it in their compost pile. 

Farmer Fred 

Or there were mints or there were bin. 

Gail Pothour

Yeah, they need to have organic matter for both the compost and the vermin composting. Yeah, but we can also just leave it on the soil and act as a mulch. But what we typically do is we'll cut it into small pieces and turn it under and let it start decomposing in about 4 to 6 weeks later than we could plant. 

Farmer Fred 

I recall one master gardener saying that after you cut down a cover crop, you want to cover it with mulch or something like that just to help stop the nitrogen from escaping into the air. 

Gail Pothour 

Right. Because the nitrogen can volatiles into the air. So either turn it under right away or yes, go ahead and cover it that way. You keep the nitrogen there. And then plus we have fava beans, which are a legume, and hopefully they have nitrogen fixing nodules on their roots. And so you can leave those roots in the soil as well, and they can be used by the next crop that you grow. 

Farmer Fred

Yeah, easy peasy. And peas are a legume too. But yeah, that's the unfortunate part of cover crops. They can produce flowers and in the case of fava beans, some edible beans, but it doesn't do your soil any good. If your goal with a cover crop is to feed the soil, you got to feed it before it fully flowers. And then you want to chop it into pieces. Now, as far as crimping goes, if you just took an entire stem and just bent it over, yeah, I guess you could. But I think it would take longer to break down because like you're doing chopping it into little six inch pieces, it's going to break down and feed the soil a lot quicker. 

Gail Pothour

Right. And fava beans are pretty they have a pretty hefty stock. It's kind of a square stock. It's hollow, but it's there's a lot of Bulk There. And so it takes a while for it to decompose. And so that's why we're cutting it in small pieces. Yeah. And the crimping I'm not familiar with the term crimping of a cover crop, so if it means just bending it over, you still would need at some point to come back and cut it down, I would think. I don't know. 

Farmer Fred 

That's right. But cutting it put those pruners to work and you can be feeding your soil at very low cost. Gail Barth, our master gardener, Sacramento County here at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center. Cover cropping. Okay, thank you, Gail. 

Farmer Fred 

Here's a bit more information about crimping a cover crop. It's called a roller crimping in the Midwest and back east on big farms, roller crimping cover crops has been utilized as a way to terminate cover crops and they've been doing it for many years. Roller crimping offers a viable option to managing cover crops in a no till cropping system. The cover crop is roll in crimped when the plants have reached maturity, the mature plant is flattened to the soil. Surface added stems are crimped. The crimping action helps crush the walls of the stem to facilitate drying down of the plant. Now this is a big machine. There are several different types of roller campers available. They are units that mount on the front of the tractor, the rear of the tractor, or even on the planting unit itself. The benefits of incorporating roller crimping onto a farm. Well, first, the use of a roller crimper program helps to leave biomass on the soil surface, and that drastically reduces the risk of soil erosion and helps preserve soil moisture during the summer. The biomass on the soil surface will also keep the soil cooler during the summer. It reduces evaporation and heat stress on the cash crop. Rolling down high biomass cover crops also provides an excellent way to work towards improving soil health. The use of the roller crimper will also suppress weeds early in the growing season, but there are several considerations when implementing roller crimping technology on the farm. And remember, we're talking farms here, not gardens where you may be thinking of crimping by hand. First is increased pest pressure in Vermont, slugs and armyworm infestations are more prevalent on fields with more biomass. Field scouting is also a must with roller crimping. Second, there is a greater risk of lower final stand populations due to planting row crops into a heavy mat of biomass and proper planting depth must also be maintained. The operator has to be sure the seed is placed at the correct depth to account for that biomass on top of the soil surface. So if you have a farm, not a garden, then investing in roller crimping equipment might make sense. But for the backyard gardener, you just might be better off mowing or weed trimming or your chopping by hand, your cover crop into small pieces and incorporating that into the soil or covering with a mulch. This information comes courtesy of the University of Vermont Extension Service. 

FARMER FRED’S RIDE FOR THE KIDS ( https://bit.ly/4lmr09E )

Farmer Fred

 Coming up on Saturday, October 4th, I'm going to be riding my bike. Well, what's so unusual about that, you might be asking yourself? Well, October 4th is the date of the Sacramento Century Challenge. That's a 100-mile bicycling event that goes along the Sacramento River. It starts in downtown Sacramento and heads south through the Delta Farmland region and loops back. And yes, cycling 100 miles is part of the challenge. Also part of the challenge is myself. I'm 74 years old for heaven's sake. And no, I will not be riding an electric bike. I have plenty of acoustic bikes to choose from.

Farmer Fred

Adding to the challenge will be the route itself. It's infamous for pothole-filled river levee roads, as well as ferocious northerly headwinds that are usually in your face while you're pedaling on the way back. Now, I'm doing this for a very good cause. I'm helping out the Sacramento Rotary Club raise money for the Sacramento Children's Home Crisis Nursery. The Sacramento Children's Home Crisis Nursery is the only program of its kind here in Sacramento County. It directly prevents child abuse and neglect by supporting families with small children at times of crisis.

Farmer Fred

The nursery allows parents to bring their children, ages newborn to five, for emergency hourly or overnight care and protection during difficult times at home. Their goal is to keep families together and reduce the number of children entering foster care. We're calling this Farmer Fred's Ride for the Kids, and we'll have a link in today's show notes with more information on how you can donate to help out the Sacramento Children's Home Crisis Nursery and urge me onward. So how about it? Maybe you could pledge 10 cents a mile. That would be $10 along with a hearty you-go, Fred, or maybe a more generous $1 a mile. That's $100 to help give me the mental endurance for this all-day ride. And at my age, I'll have you know, I will take my time, thank you, and enjoy the farmland scenery and, of course, try to stay upright on the bike. Again, please support Farmer Fred's Ride for the Kids. Look for the link in today's show notes ( https://bit.ly/4lmr09E ) or at GardenBasics.net. Your support will help provide a safe place for local small children in need.

Farmer Fred

 Thank you for your support. Let's go.

WHO’S EATING MY FRUIT?

Farmer Fred

 We had garden questions from Lisa, who lives here in Northern California in El Dorado Hills, which is east of Sacramento in the foothills. And she says, “I’m hoping you can help me figure out what is eating my baby melons. They're growing in raised beds that are completely enclosed. There's even chicken wire below the enclosure and the beds. There's less than a one inch gap between the doors and the frame. I'm heartbroken and hope to still get a few melons that get to full size. Thank you.”

 Well, Lynn, that's a beautiful structure you've built there. The picture of your garden prison, if you will, definitely will keep out the deer and the birds. But the one inch mesh is big enough for a rat to get in. And that would be my guess, looking at some of the thorough chew marks on one piece of the fruit of the picture you sent. My guess would be that they can easily fit through the space of less than an inch gaps that you might find if you use the chicken wire. or that gap under the door. You've built a beautiful garden protective structure, though. It's covered on the side. It keeps the deer out. It keeps the birds out on top.

Farmer Fred

 Roof rats, though, would, again, find it pretty easy to squeeze or chew through that netting. Well, here's one detective trick you can try, and that would be to sprinkle kitchen flour in a thin layer around any openings and do that in the evening and then check for footprints in the morning. And you just might discover who your culprit is.

Farmer Fred

 You want more information about battling roof rats in the garden? We had a conversation with retired University of California Farm Advisor Rachael Long back in episode 335 about roof rats in the orchard.

Farmer Fred

A lot of homeowners are getting concerned and asking the question: who's eating my citrus? And it's not just eating the fruit, it's just eating the rinds, which is very unusual. And some of the culprits are being traced back to, include roof rats. Guess what? Roof rats are now in orchards. They're in pistachio and other nut orchards, as well.  They're burrowing and nesting in the ground, chewing on irrigation lines, causing extensive damage and a lot more. We're talking with Rachael Long UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor based in Woodland, California. And Rachael, why aren't these roof rats in roofs? What are they doing in the field? How did they get there? 
 

Rachael Long

That's a good question. And so roof rats  just live everywhere. They're very opportunistic and  when they find a food resource, they'll just go for it. So this year in particular has been a really big year. It's the year of the rat , certainly. And and all of these rodents do have cyclical populations. 
 

Some years we just do get outbreaks of voles or we get outbreaks of roof rats and other rodents. And I think what happened is last year was such a wet winter and we had tons of weeds that were growing everywhere, producing a lot of seeds, and just provided ideal food resources for that roof rat. 
 

And as a result, these other populations just rapidly built up. These roof rats, each female can have three to five litters per year and five to eight young per litter. And so that could be like 40 offspring per rat. And so you can just see that how quickly a couple of rats can build up to hundreds  in a short time. 
 

Farmer Fred

You've been the pest detective on this one, so talk a little bit how you came to the conclusion it was roof rats, because I would imagine that the first suspect would be other rodents or squirrels.
 

Rachael Long

that's what I thought too. So when I got a call to look at a pistachio orchard, I just thought for sure it's gonna be ground squirrels. 
Because that's usually what it. And I went out there and and just didn't see any ground squirrels. ground squirrels are diurnal, so they're active during the day and I just didn't see any. And when I looked at these holes in the ground they were also way too small for a ground squirrel. 
 

So ground squirrel holes will be about four inches or more in diameter. And then you usually see a squirrel somewhere. But there was no squirrel, and these holes were about two to three inches in diameter  with a little  pile of nuts around it. And and so I knew that it could not have been deer mice or voles because it was too big for that. 
 

The deer mice and voles tend to have holes one to two inches in diameter, and these were three and ground squirrels are four. So I just was really scratching my head going, what on earth is this? Because it just was very confusing; it was just somewhere in between. And so I thought about rats. 
 

But  I just didn't know what a roof rat would be doing underground, burrowing underground. I did talk to a colleague and she assured me that that roof rats in the country can burrow underground and nest underground. They're above ground and can nest in ground and of course, they’re nocturnal, feeding at night. 
So that's why I didn't see any.  
 

Farmer Fred

For people who grew up on Bugs Bunny cartoons, they may have thought rabbits might have been the culprit in this situation. But actually rabbits don't dig burrows, do they?  
 

Rachael Long

No, they don't. So that was the question. we actually put out a game camera as well, because we thought maybe we could pick something up. 
But all we picked up were were rabbits and birds. These roof rats are just sneaky. They're really smart and They hide. And basically if you don't see anything, but you see the damage, then suspect rats. But rabbits, jack rabbits and cottontails, they don't dig and burrow underground. 
they may just create a little nest like in that and such, but they're not digging and burrowing underground.  
 

Farmer Fred

And then you have the case of citrus trees. And I understand in some situations the roof rats are nesting in the citrus trees, which must be quite a surprise to anybody out there picking fruit.
 

Rachael Long

Wouldn't that be awful to reach in and have a rat jump out at you? So yeah, roof rats are opportunistic and if you have cover year round, like an orange tree, then that can form just the perfect protection for the roof rats during the wintertime. 
Unlike something like a pistachio orchard  or almonds where the leaves drop in the wintertime, and so they don't have any cover, and that's probably why. Then they'll go underground and burrow and nest underground. But in citrus trees they will nest  in the tree itself. And  what we also see is that not only do they feed on the fruit and typically you'll just find sometimes the hole and then the entire inside of the fruit is eaten. 
 

And you're just left with a shell. And same with pomegranates. There's been damage by rats and pomegranates, but the worry worrisome thing about rats in the in like orange trees is what they're doing is they're actually stripping the bark off of limbs of trees. And so there's, a sweetness to that. 
 

Basically the bark has the sugar conducting part of the of the tree. And the rats are feeding on. But when they strip it they're girdling the tree. And and so you can still have, water conducting up and down but when you take off the park, that, that take, it just basically girdles the tree. 
 

And a lot of the the trees that rats are nesting and feeding in then have branches that are dying back. And that's a problem because then you lose production for  years.  
 

Farmer Fred

Have you seen any evidence in a mixed planting situation of the roof rats, basically following the crops? 
When they're done with citrus, they'll move to the next crop that's ripening, be it a nut crop or another fruit.  
 

Rachael Long

Certainly they can move around in fields. And we've seen that. I see that more in something like an alfalfa field where if you disc the field, then the rodents will just, of course they're gonna move out. 
 

So you're gonna have gophers and voles that are just dispersing everywhere. And I think that you have two things that certainly lead to some natural mortality. When the food resource declines, then the rat population will go down. But I definitely think that they're going to be moving too. 
I have a colleague that told me he caught in Woodland, that he caught something like 50 rats so far in the last six months. In his in his backyard. And I'm like, Lordy, that's a lot. And so I think they do disperse and once the food is gone, then they'll move somewhere else. 

 

Farmer Fred

The University of California Ag and Natural Resources Department put out a publication about four years ago called, Managing Roof Rats and deer Mice in nut and fruit orchards. What is the difference between a roof rat and a deer?  
 

Rachael Long

So the roof rat is big and much bigger than a than a mouse. 
 

but they they both can do damage in an orchard. So again, the roof rat, the hole will be about three inches, whereas the deer mouse much smaller, like a house mouse and the holes will be one to two inches in the ground. but they both actually can cause damage. the roof rats really do move up and down trees  and are feeding on the tree and on the fruit. And  then in the ground they're just burrowing underground, not necessarily causing any damage underground. But  the deer mice, they're everywhere too. And they can actually scramble up and down trees, And also feed on  nuts such as almonds, both in the trees and also on the ground. So that kind of surprised me  that actually deer mice can go up and down trees and I'm always surprised by the number of, wildlife that does, move around and go, up and down on, on trees as well. 
Sometimes I see lizards and trees and I'm like, what are you doing up there? Yeah. So wildlife actually the mice and rodents. So they can move around and certainly cause damage to tree crops and it's rather expensive.  
 

Farmer Fred

I know there was a study done, I think back in the year 2000, about the cost per acre that deer mice can do, and they pegged it at over $20 per acre to almond orchards in Fresno County due to deer mice damage. 
 

Rachael Long

So they can certainly be damaging. The really critical issue here is that  what I really wanted to let people know about, Is how to identify these different rodents out in our crops so that we can get a jump on them early and control them early before outbreaks occur. 
 

So that was my intent on putting out a news alert on these, on the rats, was just to say, Hey, this is what the damage looks like. Recognize that. If you can just trap, use snap traps to catch those those rodents and keep them out, keep those populations low because once you get a massive infestation in there, then you can really get a lot of damage, and then control becomes incredibly challenging. 
So this is just a really a heads up that rodents are out there and just keep an eye on 'em and know how to look for them. Look for the signs of their activity and then control 'em early on to prevent damage. And I always suggest also, barn owl boxes are good to put up for helping to control gophers. and barn owls will also feed on rats, so they can take a lot of rodents and help us out naturally. 
So that's one suggestion is to put up a barn owl box and use your snap traps and just monitor and know what's out there.

Farmer Fred

Let's talk about some less toxic methods for controlling roof rats and deer mice. how effective is flooding, if at  
all?

Rachael Long

Oh, certainly for gophers and for ground squirrels it definitely helps to to suppress the rodents. but now we've really shifted a lot towards the drip irrigation and the subsurface drip. and there you do have rodent problems. Because there you can't flood 'em out. And that's why you have to certainly get in there early and manage 'em and certainly trapping works well.  
 

Farmer Fred

And that  brings up another added cost. If you're fighting a rodent problem, that drip irrigation tubing becomes a target of thirsty rodents, right? 
 

Rachael Long

Yeah, they do. And in particular sometimes after harvest, like a sunflower seed crop for, that hybrid seed that you're producing, that after harvest and everything is so dry, you do get some cracks in the soil. And  then you have seed out there and you have, voles and deermice and house mice  that are incredibly opportunistic and they just race out and they're feeding on that seed and they drop into the holes, into the cracks, and feed on that drip line. 
 

And then they cause little leaks that  then have to be repaired. And that's costly, actually trying to fix all those leaks. So it is a challenge. And then one of my colleagues is looking at ways  to put a little bit of water in the line, maybe after harvest, just to seal up those cracks and and keep the rodents from dropping down and feeding on and nibbling on those lines, because fixing these rodent leaks and those drip lines is expensive and time consuming. 
 

Farmer Fred

you mentioned flooding as a possible control for certain rodent pests. . And you mentioned snap traps for roof rats and deer mice. Are there any other less toxic alternatives?  
 

Rachael Long

So, you do have traps for for gophers as well. 
 

And there's a lot work being done on gopher control in particular, and ground squirrel contro. These different units that use carbon dioxide or something,  that goes down the hole and takes care of these rodents. 
So there are our options for many of our rodent pests and  some of these are registered for organic control as well.  I wish there were more options. Some people talk about  releasing cats. My concern about cats, certainly, is that they eat everything so well. 
 

They may eat some rodents, but they're gonna eat birds and lizards and  snakes or anything out there as well. So that concerns me. people are promoting cats, but cats are not specific on controlling just the rodents. So I wouldn't go that route. But  certainly the traps.
And some people use barriers, they'll put a fence down and bury it so that and put it like a foot above ground so the gophers and such can't can't go in. Certainly for us, for some habitat plantings or plants, they'll put something around the root so that so it protects it more from the  rodents. You've got tree tubes. So there's multiple ways of trying to control the rodent.  
 

Farmer Fred

So when it comes to roof rats though, there are limited options if you want to try to avoid rodenticides.  
 

Rachael Long

The big thing is with roof rats and rats in general is they are smart, they're very clever, they're shy of anything new and they're very wary. 
 

So the roof rats are a challenge. And so essentially, the best thing, certainly for homeowners, are snap traps. And then try that for maybe a few local infestations on a farm. But if you've got an outbreak and you're getting damaged, then you need to go to the bait stations up in the trees for managing the rodents. 
 

That said, you've really gotta be careful. Know when you can use it, because you can't use it in certain seasons for controlling the rodents. And so that's something to really watch for. And before it gets to that level,  it is really important to think about our wildlife and the natural control that  you can get out there by the birds and raptors, like  the hawks and also the  barn owls.
And to try to do the local trapping to keep those rats under control. But some years, like this one, is one of the worst outbreaks of rats that we've had in a long time, in many years. And  It's in years like this where you do see a lot of damage, then you do need to be proactive and protect your trees. 
 

Farmer Fred
And if you want more information about Barn owls, for example, theuniversity of California has some great resources at the UCANR page, and check that out. Also, “managing roof rats and deermice in nut and fruit orchards”. That's available, as well, from UCANR. Check those out online as well. 
It's the year of  the rat.
 

Rachael Long

It certainly is this year, and it’s always the year of something. And last year it was the year of the vole. I had so many voles out here in the country, It was unbelievable. And now we've moved on and it's the year of the rat.  
 

Farmer Fred

Hopefully next year won't be grasshoppers. 
 

Rachael Long

I hope not. Yeah, I haven't seen those. And just knock on wood that that it's gonna be a quiet year. 
 

Farmer Fred

All right, Rachael Long UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor based in Woodland. Thanks for a few minutes of your time. 
 

Rachael Long

You're most welcome. 

Farmer Fred

Garden Basics with Farmer Fred comes out every Friday. Garden Basics is available wherever podcasts are handed out. For more information about the podcast, as well as an accurate transcript of the podcast, visit our website, GardenBasics.net. And thank you so much for listening and your support.