How to Control Voles in Your Garden

Voles are cute until they damage special plantings. Sheila Davis tells how to manage habitat in your garden to discourage the critters.

If you ’re concerned in see voles , chance are you ’ve already learned about their eating habit . quiet spending most of their time out of sight , field mouse unremarkably issue forth to our attention when damaged bark is feel at the al-Qaeda of value yield tree diagram and ornamental plants .

A mouse with pocket-size ears , the field mouse is Mickey Mouse ’s nation cousin . But field mouse , Microtus spp . , are strictly outdoor mice . They are small-scale and chunky with scant leg and tail . Unlike Disney ’s creation revolutionize by the house mouse , voles have minor ears , partly hide by their fur . commonly they are browned or gray , but there may be a variation on the paunch of white , chicken , or cinnamon . Many coinage are found from one end of the res publica to the other . If two vole coinage overlap geographically , they generally separate out by habitat . Some like it desiccant or wetting agent , some are splendid swimmers , some can climb well , but all are attracted to areas with flora that provides protection .

These little gnawer are part of complex food webs in all country where they live naturally . Owls , war hawk , snake , coyotes , weasel , even domesticated cats , feed on them . In one bailiwick , it was found that 88 % of the population died during the first month of life . Overall , the lifespan span of a field mouse is short , in all likelihood 16 months at most , but during that time it has a remarkable ability to reproduce . A vole can have five litters of three to six untested in a year .

They ’re precious until they damage special planting . Voles wish to nibble on the barque of fruit trees and ornamental plant life . The conveyance of nutrients and water between a industrial plant ’s radical and leaf take place just beneath the barque Earth’s surface . Bark nibbling intervene with this critical living backup scheme and if across-the-board , can finally pop the flora . This is most likely to be a problem in fall and wintertime when voles ’ other food sources are scarce . They commonly eat eatage and skunk , but they also savor insect like gypsy moth , snails , and the corpse of dead animals . In the gloaming , they gather and store seed , bulbs , tubers , and rhizomes .

Voles are active day and Nox , all year around . Although they can carry a number of disease organism transmitted to human , they are usually not a public wellness hazard because we rarely play them in the wilderness . It is when they move into orchards , garden , or other human - designed and managed organization that there is a potential for problems . Distinguishing vole damage from rabbit damage . Even though you see girdling of trees , or wear away fool on bark , it does not necessarily mean the wrong is due to vole . Other animal like rabbits can cause similar problems . The difference is in the size of it and uniformity of the gnaw marks . Vole marks go on at different slant and in maverick patches . One expert account them as 1⁄8 in . astray , 3⁄8 in . long , and 1⁄6 in . or more deep . In contrast , rabbit gnaw marks are larger and not as distinct . Rabbits clip off humble branches with clean devious stinger . field mouse nibble .

If chewing damage makes you mistrust voles , the next affair to look for is their pathway arrangement on the ground control surface , where the voles have wear out down grass and sens . pathway are 1 in . to 2 in . wide and can be quite wide with legion burrow openings . One specie of vole , the pine vole , work up only underground tunnels . It favour forests , abandoned field , and woodlet . Manage habitat to monish voles . Now that you have it away something about their lifestyle , you’re able to probably guess the full way to manage vole when they ’re causing trouble . cut back the cover they postulate to protect themselves from predators — the key level is that voles do n’t like to run in the open . Cut down Gunter Grass and other high vegetation . extract mulch back 2 ft . to 3 foot . from the infrastructure of trees and shrubs . Leave the ground bare . Until the berth is under command , you may even ask to take away mulch from garden seam .

Ploughing or tilling the soil is in effect in destroying the voles ’ nerve tract and tunnel systems . This is why voles are often less of a job with yearly crop , unless plant form a dense vegetational cover for a long period of metre . If vole damage is severe in a home orchard , you could destroy their burrows with a rototiller by call on the soil under 5 in . to 6 in . Place collar around the base of trunks of small trees and shrubs . you could use heavy wire such as hardware fabric . One - quarter - inch mesh is necessary to foreclose voles from bite through . Or try cut the top and bottom off a heavy plastic bottle and slice the side so that it will fit around the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . In any case , barriers must extend into the soil at least 6 in . and rise above it 8 in . to 12 in . determine the barriers a pair of times a yr to check that they ’re not trammel works growth . You may need to stake the barriers if the grunge is loose , or if you ’re not capable to slump them as deep into the grunge as you would wish .

Since most species of voles are poor climber , it may be worthwhile to place a 1⁄4 - in . ironware material fencing around a garden bed you are trying to protect . The fence should exsert at least 1 ft . above and 10 in . below the ground . adventure the fence at intervals to be certain it remain upright . Since vole populations fluctuate , extreme efforts like fencing material might be necessary some years , but not others . If other strategies do n’t lick , trapping the critters is an option . field mouse can be catch with mouse piece of cake traps tantalise with a spread of rolled oats and peanut butter . Here is some advice on trapping leave by Robert H. Schmidt , Department of Fisheries and Wildlife , Utah State University , Logan , UT : Set the traps on the earth , perpendicular to the vole pathway with the trigger end in the pathway . A pinch of rolled oats sprinkled in the nerve pathway next to the lying in wait may lure the voles , but be deliberate not to disturb the nerve tract or burrow . ensure that yap are even and do n’t wobble . You do n’t want vole to be frightened aside by bm , and you desire the traps to perform properly so they ’ll enamour instantly , kill the vole .

Birds may also be tempted by the oats . To prevent them from getting caught , cover traps with a length of composition board turn in half . Leave enough space above the ambuscade so the cardboard does n’t forestall the trap from form .

Most significantly , do n’t skimp on the number of lying in wait . For a small garden , originate with a dozen . For a large garden or plantation , you may need 50 traps or more . Also , it ’s all important to keep flora suppressed while you ’re trap to deny cover to the voles .

bear gloves when handling the captured vole . Or , you could put your hand inside a fictile bag and use it as a baseball glove to release the dead vole from the trap . Secure the bag with a twist standoff and dispose of it in the drivel . The most significant matter to remember when trapping any rodent is to be persistent . If the vole population is turgid , it may take a while to make a difference .

by Sheila DaarDecember 1997from number # 12

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