Mulch for apple trees

[BobinCt]

Is it better to use a fabric with the pea pebbles (stone) or can I just use the stone without putting a fabric down first? I’ve done both in the past, but was curious on what people thought was better. Thx

 

[Prof.Kent]

Everyone who uses store-bought mulch should be aware...

 

[j-bird]

Fabric weed barrier AND stone/gravel of some sort.

I used to do wood mulch until I had voles get under it and chew off all the support roots of a tree of mine. Ever since I switched to gravel I have not had an issue. Weed fabric is pretty cheap. I simply use gravel from a creek on my property.

 

[Victor Van Meter]

Fabric weed barrier AND stone/gravel of some sort.

I used to do wood mulch until I had voles get under it and chew off all the support roots of a tree of mine. Ever since I switched to gravel I have not had an issue. Weed fabric is pretty cheap. I simply use gravel from a creek on my property.

I had the same result with some 3 year old apple trees. They fell right over from voles eating all the roots. I would steer clear of mulch.

VV

 

[wooduck]

Use mulch under every tree and we have 2500 plus trees would not try growing without . KILL THE VOLES

 

[wooduck]

The voles will cause other damage other than root feeding good apple tree establishment requires vole control when tree gets older not as big of an issue , use all the guards screen that makes you happy , why wont habitat guys just kill the voles its easy your checking the trees often doesnty take a lot of effort to place some bait in a pvc tube and your done

 

[BobinCt]

Wood: what size pvc tube you use and how long? What do you do, stick one by each tree? What bait you use?

 

[yoderjac]

I use quarry stone over air and water permeable landscape material for several reasons. One is what was stated above, organic mulch attracts rodents that can be problematic, but second, it is much lower maintenance. Wood eventually breaks down and needs replenished. Stone lasts.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[j-bird]

I won't use poison... The potential to harm non-target animals isn't worth it to me. I switched to gravel and have been fine ever since.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

I used mulch at my home orchard and creek gravel at farm orchard. Home orchard trees are growing much better. I plan to top creek gravel with a little mulch at the farm. I get mulch from the utility company not store bought.

 

[wooduck]

Wood: what size pvc tube you use and how long? What do you do, stick one by each tree? What bait you use?

2 to 3 inch dia. pvc,, Voles love dark tunnels the reason for the pvc is to protect bait from weather , song birds ect keeps it out of site from rabbits, hawks, crows , racoons, fox very little bait is ever removed from the tubes in fact most bait you buy in the farm stores , label says must be used in bait stations for the exact reasons stated , we place our stations about 50 feet apart and are built with a tee , we place them with one arm upward with a cap tyed to a stake that way mid winter we can take the cap off rebait once when theres 10 inches plus snow . We use hardware cloth around each tree but over the years have had some open not protected and no damage . Did i mention i hate voles

 

[wooduck]

Most farm stores carry bait chunks labeled for vole control , We prefer the chunks as they don't travel out of the tubes , the one we are using now is a green , weather resistant

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Poly weed fabric, sized 3' x 3' - tree in middle - and covered with 3" to 4" of fine, crushed limestone to cover the entire fabric. Mice & voles can't / won't tunnel in that stone. Jagged edges of the limestone chips makes tunneling painful, plus it caves in on any attempts. No problems.

 

[H20fwler]

I started all my fruit trees and chestnuts with mulch put down the first two springs to help retain moisture and discourage weed/grass growth, by fall mulch was pretty thin. After first two years I just weed a little in summer, I've been lucky enough to never have had trouble with mice or voles digging.
I have had trouble with deer mice climbing my screens on fruit trees in winter and semi girdling a couple trees and had them bothering shrubs...I'm going to put out a dozen or so of the PCV pipe bait stations late fall this year in my shrub strips.

 

[Yarg]

Use mulch under every tree and we have 2500 plus trees would not try growing without . KILL THE VOLES

Where do the voles die, above or underground? If a fox or raptor ingest the poisend vole are they poisend? thanks

 

[wooduck]

I started all my fruit trees and chestnuts with mulch put down the first two springs to help retain moisture and discourage weed/grass growth, by fall mulch was pretty thin. After first two years I just weed a little in summer, I've been lucky enough to never have had trouble with mice or voles digging.
I have had trouble with deer mice climbing my screens on fruit trees in winter and semi girdling a couple trees and had them bothering shrubs...I'm going to put out a dozen or so of the PCV pipe bait stations late fall this year in my shrub strips.

I doubt you had deer mice sounds like voles they will climb inside the snow above ground level and feed , strangely vole consume very little bark ect until the winter season lots of people think damage is rabbits

 

[wooduck]

Where do the voles die, above or underground? If a fox or raptor ingest the poisend vole are they poisend? thanks

Thats why the bait stations vole consumes bait goes to sleep dies , i doubt one poisoned vole would contain enough active ingredient to kill an off target animal 40 to 50 times their size . The animal would have to be fortunate or un fortunate enough to find and consume enough volume to make them sick

I have been doing this for years have never seen dead voles above ground and have never seen off target animals either sick or other wise legal baits are designed to achieve the job and no more its not like years ago with ddt when an animal ate some and it traveled thru the food chain ect.

 

[Yarg]

Thats why the bait stations vole consumes bait goes to sleep dies , i doubt one poisoned vole would contain enough active ingredient to kill an off target animal 40 to 50 times their size . The animal would have to be fortunate or un fortunate enough to find and consume enough volume to make them sick

I have been doing this for years have never seen dead voles above ground and have never seen off target animals either sick or other wise legal baits are designed to achieve the job and no more its not like years ago with ddt when an animal ate some and it traveled thru the food chain ect.

I am preparing for a large planting and have dug several test holes checking for frost a couple of weeks ago and so many holes / tunnels underneath.. I need to plan properly so I'm going to research this baiting.
One thing I have done thus far is I put up several raptor perches, for Hawks by day and owls by night. As much as I do not want to mow down the cover as that's my main limiting factor on the farm I think when making new plantings it probably should be done as well

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I like the idea of raptor perches. I should probably install a few at camp. We have mouse / vole tunnels and holes all around our fields and in the orchard.

 

[H20fwler]

I doubt you had deer mice sounds like voles they will climb inside the snow above ground level and feed , strangely vole consume very little bark ect until the winter season lots of people think damage is rabbits

They did it with an inch or two of snow on ground climbed 2’ of screen.
Wasn’t rabbits. Happened when it was really cold.