If it's voles you can use a mouse trap with peanut butter on it then cover it next to the hole with a pot or something. They like cover and it will encourage them to come out. I think I'll be dealing with that problem around here...not enough cats to do the job.

Well, I'll try that... but I have to imagine that it is more than one or two.

The ivy gives lots of cover, so maybe I can put the traps near tree bases.

I went to Mayo's and "the guy" there says that Voles like grubs. So, I have now sprinkled grub killing stuff at the base of a number of my high value trees to help get rid of the their food.

I do know I have grubs, but have never noticed them causing a problem.

I also bought some kind of predator hemoglobin that is supposed to repel voles. It sounds gimmicky, but whatever. I'm screwed if something doesn't work!

Oh man... I was never warned of this possibility. I feel like I'm being punished for being totally organic (not using pesticides either).

With the prospect of having a decimated yard, I am now seeking any and all avenues to stop the bleeding!

It sounds like you have voles. Voles eat plant material, especially roots and bulbs. They only rarely eat insects and getting rid of the grubs will NOT get rid of voles. The guy at Mayo's either misunderstood or is just mixed up. Either way, he's wrong.

Moles rarely bother plants. When they do, it's only an accident caused by a voracious hunt for insects, grubs, and worms.

I'm now watching a number of "how to kill voles" type YouTubes and they are actually very instructive.

For one, they actually show what a vole hole looks like very clearly. Still photographs are never quite as clear, but with these videos, I am certain that these are voles.

The types of holes have really started appearing over the past year. I probably had two holes a couple years ago, but now I have probably 20 that I can find easily. I thought they were chipmonk holes and don't mind them.

My plan is to create a shady tree yard rather than a lawn anyway... so not too concerned about irregularities in the lawn. (mistake?)

So I have identified the holes in the yard, but these holes are not the worry. I am not completely certain that it is the voles that are doing damage to the young tree roots... only that they are responsible for the harmless holes in the yard.

Nevertheless, I will assume they are the guilty party.

The youtube also shows mole hills, and I see no evidence of moles in the area.

So voles *are* well known to get under young trees like this? (just trying to be clear)

I mean, chipmonks like to dig, too.... so I guess I can't rule them out for churning through those roots.

For now, I'll assume the voles are the problem. Those yard holes have become common only over the past year or so... and the tree damage has become common during this same time.

It looks like the common method is to use peanut butter and a mouse trap type of method. Hmmm, not very exotic, but I like it compared to poison.

I wonder how a garden hose down the hole would work? With water of course!

I can't plant any apple trees. The roots get eaten by termites. The tree slowly dies and then I can easily pull it out of the ground without any roots left.

I have two lemon lime color Arborvitaes that all almost 90% dead. I had treated them with all kinds of systemic fungucides and insecticides thinking that it was either one of the problems. However, it collapsed recently, it has rained at night and when I woke up it was down on the floor. I figure out that their roots were eaten, but I can not see anywhere around any kind of holes that indicates it was some kind of animal. I stand the tree up and it's been supported by stakes, but it keeps now dying slowly. Does anybody knows what could it be? I ran out of resources to determine the cause.