07-31-2005, 12:25 PM
Following up on Mella's response:
Coqui chemicals:
A year ago citric acid was the only legal & available chemical to treat coqui sites. The Environmental Protection Agency recently approved the use of hydrated lime, for a limited time (3 years). Lime is much cheaper than citric acid. The County money might go towards chemical supplies too, if people scream loud enough (to the Mayor).
Clearing underbrush:
This is not the best solution for many reasons. It works, sort of, but here's what it does: If you already have lots of coqui on you property (in the thick forested brush) then clearing the understory away will only force the frogs to move out to the perimeter of your property, and thus make the the population scatter farther and wider. An example of this was the big operation at Lava Tree Park a few years back. Another result you will get is that the newly opened space will quickly become a weed patch, because any open space is good open space for invasive plants. Be very selective about how and where you clear, because it will be a maintenance issue for ever after that.
Drenching the forest:
This is not impossible to do. It just takes a lot of work. So does clearing underbrush. So, my suggestion is that if someone has the time and energy to do something like "clear the understory from the forest" then I would strongly urge this person to take a different tactic, and rather than clearing everything, just start making trails through it. This will cause weeds to invade too, but in less area and more maintainable. Cutting straight trails about 30 feet apart, parallel to each other and say perpendicular to the road is what has to happen before drench operation anyway. So if you have a big coqui population, start making the trails. When the sprayers finally get here, then the site will be ready to treat. It's not impossible!
Kim
Coqui chemicals:
A year ago citric acid was the only legal & available chemical to treat coqui sites. The Environmental Protection Agency recently approved the use of hydrated lime, for a limited time (3 years). Lime is much cheaper than citric acid. The County money might go towards chemical supplies too, if people scream loud enough (to the Mayor).
Clearing underbrush:
This is not the best solution for many reasons. It works, sort of, but here's what it does: If you already have lots of coqui on you property (in the thick forested brush) then clearing the understory away will only force the frogs to move out to the perimeter of your property, and thus make the the population scatter farther and wider. An example of this was the big operation at Lava Tree Park a few years back. Another result you will get is that the newly opened space will quickly become a weed patch, because any open space is good open space for invasive plants. Be very selective about how and where you clear, because it will be a maintenance issue for ever after that.
Drenching the forest:
This is not impossible to do. It just takes a lot of work. So does clearing underbrush. So, my suggestion is that if someone has the time and energy to do something like "clear the understory from the forest" then I would strongly urge this person to take a different tactic, and rather than clearing everything, just start making trails through it. This will cause weeds to invade too, but in less area and more maintainable. Cutting straight trails about 30 feet apart, parallel to each other and say perpendicular to the road is what has to happen before drench operation anyway. So if you have a big coqui population, start making the trails. When the sprayers finally get here, then the site will be ready to treat. It's not impossible!
Kim