Hi this is my very first time in here... and I do have some questions.
Let me fill you in a little on the yard. It is 5 acres, and we mow every bit of it.

There has never been a dwelling of any kind here, it has always been pasture. And there are many full grown mature trees. A lot of these trees up near the house have exposed roots.. and no grass growing around them what-so-ever. It is horrible mowing around them... the dust is unbelievable.
We have about 17 varieties of trees in the yard... but up here close to the house are beech, tulip poplar, sassafrass, ash, hickory, oak, mulberry, maples, bradford pear (we planted) willow oak, water oak, pin oak, hackberry, a willow tree that I have a question about... and 6 big oaks down the 1500 ft. driveway... but just about all of these trees have bare ground around the base...
So, here with the questions:

#1. Is there anything I can put down around these trees... to help with this problem? Digging is out of the question... the roots are on top of the ground and very, very tough. Is there grass we could sow, and cover with mulch or straw, we have tried to rough the soil up using a rake, etc, but that too is a no-go.

#2. Our weeping willow tree has black spots on the underside of the leaves... it is only about 4 years old, and not very big... (full)... it was little more than a twig when I planted it.

#3. Our red tip Photonias had black spots all over them even the new growth... so we cut it back bare... and when it resprouted... the leaves looked okay... but now they are getting the spots. Again.

#4. Should we do anything to the grass in the yard for the winter. Our yard has bermuda grass, fescue, probably crabgrass... lots of wild onions, and dandelions.

Ans #5. We are overrun with moles! We are surrounded on all 4 sides by crops (corn and beans one year then winter wheat and sometimes cotton.
The other time of the year... it seems as soon as the farmers get in the fields, the moles head for our yard.

We tried putting out pellets and watering them so the pellets would kill the grub worms... but we were wrong to do that... the blue bird population got wiped out that year because they were eating the worms also...

I can post pics of these leaves, or I can post the URL to the album where I have pics of all the yard so you can get a general idea.

Thanks, I appreciate any help anybody can give me.

Welcome to the Forum shedra shedra.

I hope someone might come along and address the individual issues, but until then, let me throw this in.

I've got varying landscaping issues cropping up every year - and when I do I rely on the "Ortho Problem Solver"; a book that's open for use at Lowe's and Home Depot in the Lawn and Garden center.

I can't think of an issue that I did not find addressed in it.

Hi, shedra,
Welcome to this site. It's a great one!
I live in SW VA, in the mountains, 10 mi. from WV, and 6 mi. from KY. So I am aware of the issues you mentioned in your post. Same issues here!
The only one I will address now is the mole problem! During late fall, on sunny day and warm days, moles seem to want to run wild in our back yard. Also, same in early Spring.
One thing I found, that WORKS, are windmills. I tried other stuff like smoking them out with "smoke bombs" put in their tunnels... waste of money. Tried Juicy Fruit chewing gum pieces in their tunnels; supposed to kill them... didn't work. Tried a steel mole trap, which I still have, but hard to find their constant travel tunnel, to set it on... too many "sprout off" tunnels looking for worms, etc. Moles eat stuff at a rate higher than most other animals.
Windmills, such as cheap ones, made of aluminum foils, from Dollar Stores, etc, or the more expensive ones, make of wood, that stick into the ground really work! Moles cannot stand the vibrations in the ground caused by these windmills.
Our back yard is about 80 ft by 80 ft (no where near 5 acres!), so I bought 6 windmills and stuck them down in the back yard, spaced apart. No more moles!
Don't know how many you would need for your large area, but maybe try some in a smaller area.
I do wish you the best and good luck.

As for #1:
I live much more to the north of you. Many of my neighbours and myself use either the shredded cedar mulch or the cedar bark chips around our trees. The issue I see with that is finding a way to make a boundary between the mulch/bark chips and the grass or else it becomes a bit of a problem come mowing time.

Welcome to the Forum shedra shedra.

I hope someone might come along and address the individual issues, but until then, let me throw this in.

I've got varying landscaping issues cropping up every year - and when I do I rely on the "Ortho Problem Solver"; a book that's open for use at Lowes and Home Depot in the Lawn and Garden center.

I can't think of an issue that I did not find addressed in it.

Ok Rick, thanks for the welcome and the reply... I don't get to Lowe's often and home Depot at the most, maybe once or twice a year. We don't have one near us, but I will remember this.

Again, Thanks.
Sherri

Hi, shedra,
Welcome to this site. It's a great one!
I live in SW VA, in the mountains, 10 mi. from WV, and 6 mi. from KY. So I am aware of the issues you mentioned in your post. Same issues here!
The only one I will address now is the mole problem! During late fall, on sunny day and warm days, moles seem to want to run wild in our back yard. Also, same in early Spring.
One thing I found, that WORKS, are windmills. I tried other stuff like smoking them out with "smoke bombs" put in their tunnels....waste of money. Tried Juicy Fruit chewing gum pieces in their tunnels; supposed to kill them...didn't work. Tried a steel mole trap, which I still have, but hard to find their constant travel tunnel, to set it on....too many "sprout off" tunnels looking for worms, etc. Moles eat stuff at a rate higher than most other animals.
Windmills, such as cheap ones, made out of aluminum foils, from Dollar Stores, etc, or the more expensive ones, make out of wood, that stick into the ground really work! Moles cannot stand the vibrations in the ground caused by these windmills.
Our back yard is about 80 ft by 80 ft (no where near 5 acres!), so I bought 6 windmills and stuck them down in the back yard, spaced apart. No more moles!
Don't know how many you would need for your large area, but maybe try some in a smaller area.
I do wish you the best and good luck.

Okay Fredg... Thanks for your input... First off, how to I post to any replies without their whole post/letter, if it is a long one, or is it okay that I post with the "quote"?

I have heard about the windmills, but haven't ever tried them... and I know you are right about it being the vibration running them away. Since I imagine it was the equipment in the fields (with their vibration ) that ran them out of the fields, because that is where it seems the tunnels come from and make it up towards the house. I have 3 dogs, and they are good at "stalking" them when they see the ground moving, and they pounce and dig them up killing the moles in the process.

The Co-op here in town sells what they call Mole Peanuts, and they do a fairly good job. We too have a trap,. a person could get hurt just setting that contraption.

What I could do is buy several of the windmills and set them around the perimeter of the house... up here close... and as the moles move farther away move the windmills farther away until I drive them back into the field.

May have to take out a loan tho' the farther out I move those windmills :D

Here is a link to my photo album showing the yard... so, you can see that it is all mowed, and the crops are right up to our yard.
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=7277342&uid=613174

Again, thanks for your input.
Sherri

As for #1:
I live much more to the north of you. Many of my neighbours and myself use either the shredded cedar mulch or the cedar bark chips around our trees. The issue I see with that is finding a way to make a boundary between the mulch/bark chips and the grass or else it becomes a bit of a problem come mowing time.

I too had that in mind, but was told by several people or read it in a magazine... to not bring the mulch all the way up to the tree, because it wasn't good for the tree. (smothering?) I don't know.

I was thinking (here I go again... a blonde thinking... I am talking about myself here :D )... my husband always asks me what I am doing, and I reply "I am thinking" and he'll ask "if it hurts" . I hope humor is allowed in my posts, because that is who I am.

Now back to the post... I could put the mulch down, just not bring it all the way up to the base of the trunk... let it have "breathing room" and then just use that "trusty" Roundup just around the edge of the mulch. If you checked out my link to my album in the post above this one... you can see that we put down a "mowing strip" in front of the flower bed in front of the porch (my idea,) but I don't think husband will go for that. But the mowing strip has worked out real good.

But in the end I just may do that with the mulch... and hang all my bird feeders out there... since no grass grows under them either.
Thanks NeedKarma..
Sherri

Okay Fredg...Thanks for your input...First off, how to I post to any replies without their whole post/letter, if it is a long one, or is it okay that I post with the "quote"?

Snip....
sherri

Maybe I need to take a picture of how I fixed the base of a tree near the entrance to our church. The combination of shade, root competition, traffic, mower scalping, and exposed roots left a mess. I removed a few inches of dirt working around the roots, put down weed barrier, mulch and finished it with paving bricks flush with the ground. Looks good and is easy to care for. It was a bunch of work, and the bricks are about $2 each. With your own truck and a near by stone quarry, flagstone is cheaper, but even more work.

I have managed to control the moles on my 100' x 200' lot with a trap, but 5 acres might be a 40 hour a week project. You need to wipe them out in the spring or they multiply. Never tried the windmills.

Getting back further from the trees where you can dig up the dirt, try shade tolerant grasses, more of the fine fescue or perennial rye grass. Plan on fertilizing heavily. I saw a dramatic difference once after I dug up a culvert and replaced it. The grass on the far side from where I cut all the roots off was much greener, more dramatic than the fertilizer lines you can leave. It may still be warm enough to plant grass where you are. You need about another month with temperatures above 50 degrees at night.

How far are you from your county seat? There should be a county extension agent familiar with your area to help with the black spots on the leaves. May be in the phone book under extension service of cooperative extension. May as well get something for our tax dollars. They might even come out and look at them.

You can click on quote which brings up the whole post and delete part of it. I always add snip... when I cut.

Hi Labman... yes, I would like to see the pictures of what you did. We have been having night temps in the 30's (some nights).. and then 50's at other times... this has been an unusual year... and definitely too warm for this time of year. . When we planted grass before it was fescue... it did okay, but where we really need the help is under and in the shade. And if we try farther out away from the house, we don't have enough water hoses to get the water to them. We already own 6/50ft hoses, that we can move around... and 1 hooked up 24/7/365 to get water in the birdbaths. And for the dogs when they are outside.

Yes, we have a county ext. agent... I will just take some of the leaves in to them. never thot of them.

Thanks for the information.
Sherri