Voles !

[White Oak]

I was checking on my fruit trees today and noticed what appear to be Vole holes. The holes are in the mulch near a pear tree ,and some vole holes outside the wire cage around the tree. This tree has been planted since 2019 and this is the first time I have ever had vole or any other rodent issues. Can anyone recommend the best way to get rid if them?. I did a search online and found this

" The most efficient methods is habitat management. Scientists are sure that voles only go a couple of feet from their holes in order to get food, thus if one can remove plants from the area, voles will leave soon too: “Use a hoe, herbicides, or other methods to keep an area reaching about 3 feet out from trunks free of vegetation."

If that's the case , just rake all the mulch away and have bare dirt around the tree ?

 

[Prof.Kent]

Our video on dealing with voles. They didn't come back.

 

[sandbur]

Our video on dealing with voles. They didn't come back.

Does the fuel oil do anything to repell pocket gophers? I have been trapping and have about 6 or 7.

I need to look closer if these voles or miles have been a problem. As always, a few trees have withered away. I suspect the gophers are worse.


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[Prof.Kent]

I expect they would not like the smell. Moles hunt by smell so they obviously can't stand the smell of fuel oil.

 

[Bill]

I expect they would not like the smell. Moles hunt by smell so they obviously can't stand the smell of fuel oil.

I’m trying this for moles I’m my yard. I just can’t kill them all with traps.
May do poison first then fuel oil.

thanks!

 

[Prof.Kent]

Just don't use LP gas! Hah!

 

[bigboreblr]

I put something on the ground, like a tarp, cinder block, pieceo f plywood. I end up with these little trails under them. My cat catches puffy chubbier and darker mice, pretty sure that voles. I do not have any burrows like moles have, so I just have voles I believe.

Wife would really not like rock chips in the trees. Should I not weed mat? I did only mulch last year in my trees without any signs of problems. I weed mated and mulched my 8 trees from whitetail crabs in december. Just your porous basic weed barrier. I have been weary of using ant killer in the mulch so far, not sure if vole poison is a good idea with a cat that catches and eats mice at home.

I know they're around, but haven't seen any damage. Grape vines get hammered in the brush, but pretty sure thats rabbits. Most any shrub grown has done well at home.

I'm kind of on the fence about rototilling around the tree spot. However, I did a tree nursery spot and it did really well this year with rototilling.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Removing mulch will do little to no good. They burrow under the surface of the soil when they can. One word "Rozol", we have had good luck with that poison. Comes in a pelleted form. We have 2' pieces of currugated, plastic drainage pipe laying around the nursery now. The ridges keep the pellets inside the pipe and out of the weather. Otherwise lay a large piece of scrap plywood or metal roofing on the ground and place the poison under that. As was previously mentioned they love to make tunnels under anything that provides over head protection. We had them bad last year, lost a few trees in the nursery .... they chewed the roots clean off of the tree below ground.

 

[Prof.Kent]

Just don't use LP Gas!

 

[homerj]

There are several species of voles. Meadow voles mainly do above ground damage. Pine voles damage trees above and below ground.

https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/42428/meadow-pine-vole-FS-NYSIPM.pdf;sequence=1#:~:text=The%20pine%20vole%20is%20a,have%20dark%20brown%20fur%20(fig.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Removing mulch will do little to no good. They burrow under the surface of the soil when they can. One word "Rozol", we have had good luck with that poison. Comes in a pelleted form. We have 2' pieces of currugated, plastic drainage pipe laying around the nursery now. The ridges keep the pellets inside the pipe and out of the weather. Otherwise lay a large piece of scrap plywood or metal roofing on the ground and place the poison under that. As was previously mentioned they love to make tunnels under anything that provides over head protection. We had them bad last year, lost a few trees in the nursery .... they chewed the roots clean off of the tree below ground.

Thanks for the "Rozol" info. We'll have to try that. At our camp, tunnels seem to be mainly in one area.

 

[j-bird]

Voles I had issues with when I used mulch (I think the fact that it helped hold moisture drew them there)....ever since I switched to using gravel I have not had an issue. My fruit trees are out in the open and in places where I tend to keep things mowed fairly well.....this increases their exposure.....so my red-tailed hawks I think help keep them in check. I have several dead standing trees that the hawks love to sit and watch from. They also often follow me as I mow to get an easy meal of either something I wounded or something that runs out into the shorter grass.

 

[bigboreblr]

Just don't use LP Gas!

I disagree. MY 10 year old MTD rototiller is need of replacement. This could be a very affordable option. Also, those beagles appear to not be gun shy.

I had only one tree die this year to critters. One plum tree had a great stand of clover growing in the cage and it was one of my best growers, likely from moisture. Pinky sized tree girdled to a pencil tip. Could of been young rabbits too with that sized cage. Just a deer cage on that. That was caged up with beat up free fencing I got.

I had no issues with my antonovka bareroots, besides the ones in the nursery that the fence blew over. I do have a toringo crabapple that is not growing well since i put it in in 2018. I was going to lop it off because I am making way for a potential driveway there. Think I'll dig it up and see whats going on there. That could just be the soil is shallower there before you hit shale. Right on the tip of a level area before it goes down a 20ft hill.

With voles, does the weed mat promote a place for them? Is it better to mulch without the mat? The antonovka bareroots were like that. I have problems with crows lifting up weed mats. I did a rock graden with perennial flowers and lilacs last summer. Something tore up the weed mat to get to the soil below. No digging below the weed mat. Every plant is doing ok there. I do have skunks looking for earthworms. However, no residual smell the next day.

 

[bigboreblr]

Really leaning towards rocks instead of mulch. Would love the extra nutrients from them........

Cleaned up a nasty rocky spot with over grown sumac over the summer. Put lilacs and dahlias in. All sort of tunnels in the loose soil. Some golf ball sized holes coming from the ground too. Could be chipmunks possibly. Snakes enjoy the rocks perimeter too. Dahlias are toast. Some nibbles here n there on the lilacs. Hopefully they aren't dead. Looked everywhere late in the season for striped ones my wife likes.

Definitely not rototilling the spots where $30+ trees are going. Been peeking under the weed mats for tunnels, so far so good.. Put a few green bricks in those holes in that rock garden. I let the ground around it grow tall this summer, like 18 inches or so. To get roots in the harder clay soil there. Might a made a tail gate party for them, even more so because I used some oats in there too.