It might help somewhat, but prevent is not a word I would use. I've heard of people digging very large holes and lining these with pea stone and then using stone mulch on top. That may prevent voles. I've also heard of people using pea stone in the planting hole mix as a means of discouraging voles, but I doubt if that is fool proof. At the next meeting of the NEHS, Carol Brashear is scheduled to show us her wire basket technique. I'll let you know what I learn from her. Are you worried about your new seedlings?

Steve

I would that think that any type of sharp gravel or rough stone (such as finely crushed stone, crushed seashells, cinders, lava rock, etc.) would be more effective than pea stone against voles and other burrowing mammals. Pea stone is smooth and can be easily pushed aside.

I'm interested in what Carol Brashear says about her wire basket technique, Steve. Please do note it for us.

Not sure if I have voles or not, think my little burrowing critters are regular MOLES, so they are after grubs, right?
And my dachshund is after the moles.

moles eat grubs and worms.. and do not eat plants ... carnivorous???? and really do not bother plants .. but for tunneling under small plants.. which can be a problem ...

voles eat plant material [vegetarian?] ... and that is the problem ...

as for visual ID .. its something about tails.. but i dont recall that right now ...

i thought there were sites about the cage thingee .. but i dont find it at the library .. maybe it was at the AHS site.. surely old journals ... but i dont have time to look at the AHS site right now

ken

I had an experience last year that might have some application in our combating voles destruction of our hostas. I have a nasty problem with them. But last year the damage to my hostas wasn't apparent. But voles sure were, as bad or worse than ever.

I have a patch of earth I have cleared and begun growing squash in 3 years ago, beginning with butternut. Last year I added several acorn to the mix. I noticed more holes near this patch than before and when I went to harvest my squash I found only 2 of a dozen were edible. The rest looked ok but were hollowed out from the underside.

It appears the voles like the meat of acorn squash better than hosta roots. My guess is my hosta had some nibbling done, kind of like appetizers are nibbled, but the squash was the entre'.

I plan on planting some more acorn squash this spring and see if it happens again. If it does it opens a new door to vole management. What we are addressing in this thread is vole management, not genicide. That is a different subject entirely and I don't know that in a locality like mine it can be done - or that we want to. They have been put on our planet for a reason and perhaps our hostas even benefit from a little nibbling, and develop healthier roots through voles pruning. What we don't like is excessive damage.

I'll let you know how this year turns out in the fall. lol

As for using gravel in your planting I have to say that it looks very much like what I had as dirt in Arkansas and I didn't have a vole problem. Don't remember ever seeing one.

Les

Voles bother plants, eat roots of hostas. They do not dig deep, stay under the surface. Moles like grubs and worms, and tunnel, but do not bother plants. I get rid of moles by spreading GrubEx, removing their food source.

I believe I do not have voles, but regular house mice tunneling. In areas of too much activities, I mixed some turkey grit (sharp small stones) into the soil, like a 2 ft circle of 8 inch deep and 2 in wide grit, and it stopped that activity. I bought a 50 lbs bag of turkey (or chicken) grit at my local farmer supply store for less than $10. Anytime I see a mouse hole I place several mouse poison pellets deeply into it, and activity stops.

Voles and mice reproduce rapidly in the landscape, traps usually can't keep up with them. Chipmunks do not eat hostas and are more difficult to move out. We had a lot of postings here about voles, need to 'Search'.
Bernd

Les,

Using Acorn Squash to feed the voles may work in the short term, but eventually the population of voles will expand to meet the food source. So to keep ahead of them you will have to keep expanding your acreage of squash. Sort of a nuclear arms race with the voles. Of course the neighbors will love you for inviting the voles all to your property.

Steve

Nothing is really fool-proof in controlling voles. I have found,however,that if you dig up your soil and amend it,and make it really"fluffy" voles love it because they can dig easier. I lost a few hostas that way. Mostly,I just dig a hole large enough to plant a hosta,right in my native soil,and the usually don't get attacked. Phil

Moles might not eat the roots of hostas and other plants but they definitely damage them. I had one mole that killed a 4' Strictus Juniper and partially killed a Blue Mist Spirea. It pushed up a small newly planted Blue Angel and damaged quite a few annuals. I planted my new Liberty in a buried 16" x 16" hardware cloth cage because of the mole. Luckily they do not go into the front yard because of the dense surface roots of the Maples.

frank .. there are the foot sized moles.. which can push conifers out of the ground..

and there are very small moles ... that look mice-sized ...

but your mole did not kill by eating the plant.. just pushing it out of the ground.. yes????

ken

Ken, It killed the Jumiper and partialy killed the spirea by tearing through the root system in a 5' wide patch of dirt along the driveway. It was all over the place in that strip. Those two plants were well established. The hosta that was pushed up was newly planted. He was making tunnels that were about 2" in diameter. I pushed them in with my foot and sometimes flooded them with the hose as I saw them.

I got over him killing the one and damaging the other plus the annuals but once he messed with the hosta, he had to go.
{{gwi:935511}}

I no longer trap moles, I put that Grubex down, and eliminate their food supply. They go then elsewhere. Though for moles who do not understand that I have a vertical spike trap, works everytime.

About voles, see the link. University studies found that the only way to get rid of large groups is poisoning them.

Here is a link that might be useful: voles link

I was visiting the beautiful gardens at Blue Springs below Beaver Lake dam on the White River in NW Arkansas and witnessed something straight out of a Looney Tunes. Ir was in the spring and they were planting a huge drift of marigolds around the main spring. As I watched one of the newly planted marigolds simply disappeared into the ground. poof! It was gone. Being the curious person I am I watched in fascination. A bit later a ground squirrel stuck its head up out of the hole left in the ground. It made me wonder how much damage we attribute to voles might be from ground squirrels.

I'm sure I looked pretty weird standing there staring directly at the ground and laughing like crazy!

Les

yep frank ... thats one of the big moles ... ugly chuckers .. dont you think ...

les... dont even get me started on chipmunks ...

one year. .. i thought i had like a bazillion of them ... the worst problem.. was them chewing thru irrigation for water....

so i went at them with rat traps .... and either peanut butter.. or an almond wired onto the trap ...

i think.. i caught 3 ... and the problem was gone..

SERIOUSLY 3 of them over about 3 acres ... hyperactive twits ... lol ... lol

my point here.. is that like any other garden problem ... YOU HAVE TO ID the problem.. before you attack the problem ... it does no good to treat a fungus.. if you have a bacteria/mildew ... and it will do you no good to try to trap a bug eater.. with a vegetable.. or vice versa ... and if you really dont know what you are after.. you need multiple traps with multiple lures.. until you get one.. and get an ID ....

ken

ps: one other trick.. they being mostly active at night ... is to ID active tunnels/exits [crush them down and check them every day.. the ones that are active.. are opened back up] ... then get a large black pot.. insert trap under it .. and cover hole and trap .. so they emerge from the tunnel in dark.. and smell the bait ... and that also keeps the cat/dog out of it all ...

Ewwww, that's a nasty looking thing! Gotta love those rodents...NOT!

Deanna

New Hampshire Hosta claims zero damage from voles spraying with a castor oil and dish detergent mix in a hose-end sprayer-

2 oz castor oil
2 oz dish detergent
water to fill

or a watering can-

1 teaspoon castor oil
1 teaspoon dish detergent
1 gallon of water

Soak into the area to be protected and it is claimed to last through rain. I did it last fall and so far, so good. Repels not kills, if you care.

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic vole control