We dug the sweetpotatoes today and there was minimal vole damage this year. There was a garter snake in the vines and I think that was the reason.
Also you could set traps and also let a cat set in the vines.

Try removing all dense vegetation around the garden to create a ten-foot-wide border with bare dirt or mown grass. The voles don't like it.

Try controlling your other burrowing pests like moles, gophers, mice, etc. The voles like to use the tunnels that these other animals dig.

Cats, dogs, and birds of prey are very helpful. I intentionally leave places where the neighbors' dogs and cats can crawl under my fence. My property is now free of voles and rabbits. I still have moles; the predators don't like them.

Hi,

I mostly lurk here, being fairly new to vegetable gardening, but I have something that may help. In my perennial beds, some of which have had extensive vole damage, I've gotten into the habit of generously mixing in crushed oyster shells when I plant. I also sprinkle a layer of them on the bed before I mulch with shredded leaves. I put my mulch down in December, after the ground has frozen.

I think I've had some success with the oyster shells. I say I think because the damage has definitely lessened, but I don't know if it's from that or possibly just an ebb and flow of vole population.

My neighbor's cat, who patrolled my one really badly-infested bed, died this summer, so we'll see what happens next year.

I do wonder what effect all the oyster shells have on the soil, but I figure it can't be worse than the vole damage...can it?

Hope this helps. Voles do terrible damage.
Dee

Sprinkle the bed and edges of the bed with a castor oil mole repellent product (Mole-Away, Mole-Be-Gone, etc). It will repell the voles, too. I've had it work extremely well in my regular potato beds and strawberry patch. I planted some left over seed potatoes in my leaf compost. They were the only ones without castor oil and I found several chewed/half eaten potatoes there. All the rest are fine.

Voles hate castor oil!
Bellatrix

Ted,

I had the exact same thing happen to me last year. It was the first time I'd planted sweet potatoes. The vines looked great and was looking forward to my first harvest. When it was time, I started digging and encountered the same damage as you. I had a twenty foot row and didn't get one sweet potato. I was pissed.

Last year, I also "participated" in the potato bin experiment. Didn't work because I used the wrong type potato, but that's a story for another thread lol.

What I did end up with is some wooden, stackable bins I built. So, I bought some hardware cloth and covered the bottom, then stacked them two high and filled with soil.

I don't know if it worked yet because I haven't dug them, but I'm fairly confident it will.

In the meantime, the blankity-blank voles attacked my onions and garlic this spring. I used a product like Bellatrix discribes above, and it actually worked.

Here's a photo of the "sweet potato" bins. Sorry I don't have a picture, but the bottom of each one is covered with wire.

Hope this helps a little.

Rick

{{gwi:117397}}

My raised bed are similar to yours but I did not put down the metal wire on the bottom. Just discovered moles in my cabbage and collards bed. Sneaky little critters. I'll deal with them this weekend.
Arlene

Arlene - Moles are predators that only eat grubs, worms, etc and rarely damage plants (occasionally they uncover roots when digging, but not very often). They do not eat vegetables. They are good to have and will eat Japanese Beetle Grubs. Voles, on the other hand, will eat vegetables, particularly root crops. Figure out which ones you have before you "deal" with them. As a side note, voles really don't like cabbage and collards, so they should not hurt your plants.

Bellatrix

Bellatrix, the problem is that the voles will use the mole runways. And the moles will wreck your raised beds, your mulched areas and your lawn.

"And the moles will wreck your raised beds, your mulched areas and your lawn."

I've always wondered about that. I have moles (caught them in live traps/neighbor's cats have left me dead "presents") and raised beds, but they've never stunted or killed a plant. I wonder if other people's plants that are killed by mole damage were already weakened by something else or if there is a regional/growing method factor that comes into play. I've definitely seen the voles use mole tunnels, but they also seem to have no problem creating their own pathways (straight to my potatoes/canna lilies, at least pre-castor oil). I've also never had the moles damage my lawn, but maybe that's because I don't irrigate it. Without irrigation, I have less Japanese Beetle grubs in my lawn and therefore, less attraction to moles. Of course, with all the rain this year, I'll see what happens this spring!

Bellatrix

Mousetraps baited with peanut butter or almond butter (with optional oatmeal mixed in) will get rid of a few voles. My garden was overrun by them for a few seasons and they did awful damage, scarfing down seedlings as soon as they were in the ground and chomping pea vines in two at the base. They dug under and bit through hardware cloth I trenched in. I finally ordered some stainless steel, heavy duty mesh to surround the entire garden, and trenched it in down one foot and out one foot (with two feet above ground). Just trapped out today a few who were apparently living in the garden before the fence went in. The meadow next to the garden was mowed at about the same time, and a few hawks quickly moved in ... but by May the grass will be tall again and the voles will be hidden from aerial view.