The worms crawl in

From the Merry Oaks neighborhood Google group:

Person One:
"I live on Cosby Place; We still have lots of worms in this neighborhood; we banded, then the spraying. Does anyone else still have
this problem???"


Person Two:
"Yes, but not as much as last year...Our street tree leaves are about 1/4
eaten instead of 3/4 eaten."

Person Three:
"Yes. I live in Commonwealth Park - they aren't nearly as bad as last year but I have noticed more and more each day. They are definitely in one of my huge oaks and now that the flowers have dropped off my dogwoods (2 very large dogwoods), I'll be keeping an eye on them too. I'm debating calling Barlett Tree to come spray but I just don't have the $$. I even double banded some of my trees. Stupid worms."

Person Four:
"Canker worms hatch in cycles for about 3 weeks to a month. The city's spray killed the worms that were actively feeding at the time, but since it isn't systemic, it would have washed off in the next rain. I still have my Bug Barrier bands on my trees and added a little Tanglefoot to catch any of the little paratroopers once they started climbing back up (you can still get Tanglefoot from Black Hawk Hardware at Park Road Shopping Center).
"I'm not a big proponent of using chemicals, but if the worms have totally invaded your bushes, a quick spray with Raid yard fogger (for mosquitoes) will drop them in their tracks. I discovered that during the huge invasion a couple of years ago..the worms were annihilating my front bushes and I used the yard fogger..I was able to take out about a thousand of them in under 15 minutes. For trees, Home Depot also sells a solution that you can attach to your hose, but be very careful of overspray, dress appropriately when using it, and watch out for children and pets using the yard for a bit.
"Another option is to get an arborist to inject a systemic treatment directly into each tree's root system. It will make each leaf deadly to the worms when they try to feed, and lasts about a month.
Hope that helps!"

Photo courtesy of Flickr user xxxtoff of Winnipeg, Canada (where the worms live too). Shared under a Creative Commons license.

Getting there - on a bike

Here are a few bicycle route resources, for those close to town who are ready to give up high gas prices in their commutes. Links will join those in the sidebar.
Bike Mentor.
Charlotte Bikes dot org.
Routeslip dot com. Routeslip lists 1,401 bike routes for North Carolina. It lists 749 in South Carolina and 243 in Charlotte.
Thanks to Scott Lundgren for the links. If anyone has other tips on commuting from Merry Oaks on a bike, feel free to share.

Update: The Vyne in pictures

Notes:
1. Photos were shot from Central Avenue and Briar Creek Road on April 12.
2. There are two car outlets, three lanes each. The one pictured comes out on Central Avenue.
3. The photo of two bulldozers has a teeny downtown building just above the horizon between the trees.
4. The largest tree had some leveling around it, reducing the original elevation of the property. Vines grow on that tree, perhaps suitable for the name of the property but not necessarily good for the tree.
5. A couple of willow oaks also remain on the property. They're slow to leaf out, probably because of last year's canker worm damage.

Neighborhoods unite to fight crime

From the Merry Oaks Google group comes word of a Thursday night meeting in Plaza Midwood with police. Edited slightly:

"From: Timothy Griffin

Two armed robberies -- at Fuel Pizza and Snug Harbor -- occurred in the last month here in the Plaza Central area. We need to address this issue with the police department and the city. I am holding a meeting with representatives from the Morningside Neighborhood Association board, Plaza Midwood's board, the merchants, Patsy Kinsey and the Eastway Police Department. We need more police presence in the business area immediately.

I am going to contact the PM Library at Central and Plaza and book the meeting room for an emergency safety meeting with the Police Department at 7pm for Thursday Evening.

Please let me know if you can attend.

Tim Griffin, president
Morningside Neighborhood Association
1508 Morningside Dr.
Charlotte, NC 28205
704-371-3025"