If you can see the tunnels chances are they are moles or mice but not voles. You don't typically see the tunnels with voles but you do with moles. If they are mole or mice tunnels you don't have a problem. A simple way to tell if your roses have root damage from voles is to take hold of the rose at the base and gently lift up as though you were trying to pull it out. If the rose is loose in the soil there is root damage from voles but if it is tight the rose is probably OK. My experience from years of fighting voles is that if you can stop the voles before the roots are totally gone most roses will recover. To help the rose recover just do all the things you normally do. Getting rid voles is not easy. The only way I know for sure works is to kill them. Take a piece of wood 4 inches wide by a foot loog, drill holes in it about an inch apart and put foot long spikes in the holes. I call this a stabbing board. You need to press this down everywhere in the beds where you think there are voles so you kill every one down there.

Even if not voles, tunnels are a problem because they disturb the root system. Get the soil pressed down tightly around the root system. There may be air pockets where the roots are no longer touching soil. Water well. I wouldn't fertilize again until you see new growth.

Thanks. Yep, they're voles. The bushes were loose this spring when I pulled at them. I did get rid of the voles in the rose garden (for now) and the roses do have new growth and some roses. They just didn't show the significant branch growth as past years. Should I not add rose tone next month. I usually add a little throughout growing season. What about bone meal?

Too bad we can't get owl droppings! lol. That WOULD scare them away! I have moles/mice or voles trying to eat on of my echinacea's. I pulled gently on it too and it was tight, so hopefully it's just a mole.

OK, yes, you can fertilize next month.

Did you replant the roses with hardware cloth in the holes? That keeps them from getting to most of the roots.

Diane said what I was going to say.
How in the world did you get rid of voles?

Henry? Are you kidding? Did someone put something in your coffee? I can barely type --- that is so funny! You walk around your garden whacking raised spots in your rose beds with a board that has foot long spikes in it? Do you have a picture? That is something I would love to see. You could even put it on You tube, so we could see that in action.

Sammy

Best vole eradication system I've ever seen:
{{gwi:289703}}
Kills 1 vole a day, on average.

Sammy, there are no raised spots. You cannot see the underground tunnels from above. In fact you can't even find the tunnels in the soft beds because they collapse. The idea is to impale them with spikes as efficiently as possible covering the entire area where you think they are. You need to press the stabbing board down all the way so any voles below will be killed by the spikes. The voles are only in the rich composty soil in the beds and usually very shalow. They are not in the compacted paths. If you know where they are you can kill them but I think they come and go so they may be gone when you are trying to kill them. Several years ago I did seem to eradicate them but the outside beds are vulnerable regardless of my efforts to voleproof the garden with a wire fencw barrier. This year I fell way behind because of my broken ankle and wasn't even able to get around the garden. By the time I discovered I had voles again they had already destroyed or nearly destroyed a lot of roses over a big area. Getting rid of them will have to wait at least another month.

Henry, I am so glad you have returned to the Forum, and I did not intend to laugh at your idea.

Behind our house is a creek, and we have many critters that decide to visit us. I lost a few roses before I started planting them in cages.

As I was reading your post, I began thinking about foot long spikes in a board, and instead of what you said, my thoughts went to whopping it all over the yard. My thoughts, not your serious solution made me laugh, and I chose to share it on line.

Henry, I have the utmost respect for you, and anything that you write. This was a moment's knee jerk reaction that I thought was funny, and I think it was disrespectful of you. That is not at all how I feel.

By the way are you the one who had a very bad experience with using hardware cloth before?

I am glad you are back.

Sammy