!!!! Darn rodents!

Sorry to see. Do they have any chance of recovering?

Have some Capilano Apricot grafts which are toast, the root stock will most likely shoot up from the base again but a year lost, Nanking will grow from the base, some larger grafted plums close to 10 years old are gone. Trapped last fall till spring and thought I was good for a while but not so... trapped 10 Voles today.

So sad to see the loss of all your work, The older plums I hope were not grafts of something you were breeding, or a variety you had few of.

There is about 13 Nanking bushes which I have no bad feelings but 4 of them I grafted over two seasons ago with Apricots from a local grower, [good capilano offspring seedlings] lost them all but this spring I re grafted to better stock, [capilano seedlings]. The large Sprout's Sunshine plum, [test tree] produced the first time this year is the only one which hurts the most because the roots are Nanking with buried graft union, not sure if it will sprout out again.

Caught 28 Voles since Sunday like this...trap put into pot, [peanut butter bait] trap has a string tied to something so it can't get lost, a second pot goes inside the first pot with trap right against it, mouse can go into the drain hole, I used to put mice bait like this but don't like to us poison.

I think I had better go out to my fruit trees and set traps.

Oh boy....just found out allot of Evans, freshly eaten, not totally around, they will be fine but this is the worst I've seen! Went to the UFA farm store and bought a pail of bait blocks and made a bunch of feeding station.

About a 6 inch trunk Evans

Some old a new damage

I put some cardboard down for weed control..they go right under and make nest, store food...lots of roots.

I thought the damage was usually done in winter when they didn't have so many other food sources. I use bait stations with rodent blocks, I don't want them to get wet in winter so I put them in a plastic container with a little door cut in the side.

Normally yes..it's very unusual here, after the 6 inches of snow melted I can see allot of grass tunnels, letting me know I got a problem. Haven't seen anything like this before so early into winter, every row of the asparagus, [dead center] in the veggie garden has a surface tunnel raiding everything what can be stripped ...4 voles went running today and got away when I was doing some cleaning of dead asparagus...will have to get the kale out this weekend before all is gone. The lady at the UFA store said that I'm not alone in this ..lots have the same problem this year.

Hi Konrad ... sorry to see that so much of your work has either been damaged or lost. I can't believe how the buggers had chewed away at those nanking cherries!

Okay, tomorrow, I'm again setting out more bait blocks !!

Today my bait stations are out. Konrad's post gave me a scare, I was getting a little complacent. Because the weather is so warm I thought I could wait. This warm weather, although welcome, is slightly unsettling.

Yes...the warm weather doesn't help...they got too much time gathering more supply as usual for a joyful prosperous winter with tons of offspring, ...can you imagine the outcome if not taken care of this now!

I've learned today when checking the trapline of about 25 traps that they get smarter when some of their friends/families are gone, two voles were within about 3 feet from the traps loaded with peanut butter, untouched!

Got the kale off today and wasn't too bad, about half kale got spoiled from the last 6 inches of snow pushing them down and lots of leaves rot on the ground, nevertheless, still lots to harvest, at least this year none of the kale I lost to Deer or Moose. Killed 3 voles in there...2 with a shovel and the 3rd almost got away, me running after with themachete... I knew that I wasn't going to make it before running into the shrub so I threw the machete...the perfect shot, it felt good! Up at 52 voles now.

Now that's a picture :) Sprinting across the yard, machete held high knowing any onlooker cannot spot what you are chasing. Hope they don't think you lost your mind. LOL your aim must be deadly.

Lovely kale, my carrots are still in the ground, I think it is time to dig them this week.

OMG I have never heard of so many voles plus I did not know they could all that much damage. Have wraps around the few trees I have and may put bait out. What kind do you use. ? I have trapped quite a few pocket gophers but never voles.I hope you dont get any more damage .

I use the mouse bait stations that are in every hardware store, they last a few years. My small orchard is fenced in so deer, rabbits, cats, and dogs cannot access them, and I put them in a plastic container with a hole cut into it so the snow and rain doesn't get in. Seems to work OK I pick them up in the spring store them as is and put them out in the fall.

Ubro, is your plastic container opaque so you can't see through it? Do you find dead voles in the container in the spring? I am debating whether or not I should put poison out. I have found a couple of dead voles in our yard (one fell into our window well and the other in a submerged post hole) and have seen some run through our yard but not holes and damage as of yet. My neighbours have voles as well though they won't do anything to trap them.

Sorry Carrie, I am late responding. I use old rolo ice cream containers put the bait in and close the top, I cut a small flap in the side so snow doesn't get in and place the whole thing out in the orchard. I have never found a dead mouse or voles. I have had damage before and like Konrad they ate around the whole tree and I could not save it.

Thank you for your reply Ubro! Voles are horrible! I never thought of reusing plastic food containers for this purpose but your set up sounds great! I am also happy to hear there are no dead critters in the container in the spring. I hope I protected my few newly planted ornamental crabapples well enough for the winter. I put white plastic tree guards 3 feet up the trunk, then I circled the tree with 1/4" hardware mesh in a cylinder and wired it shut with no gaps. I also sprayed some repellent around the trees. Crossing my fingers they leave my plants alone!

This must be the worst winter for me...now I'm fighting the rabbits!

All 3 Nanking stems with apricot top grafts are toast!

Many apples pears plums and apricots are damaged badly or completely girdled...this apple about 2 foot up.

But...pay back time...made a snowshoe hare into a stew!

I had rabbit tracks in my yard for the first time since I have lived here, rabbit population is on the rise. I will be putting more cages around more plants. Sorry for your lose Konrad.

Sorry to see the critters are causing such troubles for you Konrad. Most of the acreages that surround me are set amongst the forest, though I've only once or twice seen a rabbit in the last ten years. Now, that probably has much to do with almost everyone owning dogs, I guess there's some advantage in that regard.

Dogs do help, my golden retriever manages to catch a rabbit once in a while. I also have a Beagle that patrols the quarter with absolute diligence every day. No rabbits yet, but then our snow is not very deep.

Most dogs are home at night when the critters are active, ..just got another one in the live trap and is in the stew pot right now. I've never seen one rabbit in all those...around 20 years, in town yes. I painted some larger tree trunks about 10 days ago when it was milder with latex/water/blood meal mix, it helps, after several bites they stop and feed on the branches. I've never seen this much devastation. There are several highway of rabbit tracks in the snow coming from the neighbours bush, just put some snares out.

Well...painting trees helps but not a sure thing I found out today, this grafted Krazulya pear tree is gone!

Got one Rabbit in the live trap today and one in the snare....feeling for the first time I got the upper hand.

I'm still puzzled why I'm seeing the first time in over 20 years rabbit damage.

Surely... outdoor dogs can help if they patrol your property leaving behind scent, [predator]. Perhaps Coyote population is down. Did you know...Snowshoe hares only have a live span of one year.

Rabbits and lynx go in boom and bust cycles, we are starting in to a boom cycle and things could get much worse. The last time I saw a cycle like this I was about 14, my brother and I went no more than 100 yards into the treed ravine by the farm yard and we had more rabbits than we could carry, the next year there was next to none.

Hope it never comes to that...seeing tons of rabbit in broad daylight. lol

I have several hundred spruce trees inside and along the bush, looks like every one has been visited eating from below...I don't mind that as long they leave my fruit trees alone, usually that's all I see. Have yet to see a rabbit out there...just never see one, was checking my bush yesterday for foot prints again..lead to the neighbor property to one side and a empty park treed/bush area to the other side, lots coming from there. Seems one's they established a food source they just come back for more.

Intercepted some incoming traffic last night...got 3!

You are going to have to come up with a bunch of recipes for rabbit.

From today...another part of property, here you see rabbit activity within the spruce trees, [lots of food source and shelter] the whole row down, [and inside] on the left the apple orchard which rabbits never bothered since small for around 20 years.

Inside the bush where I planted more spruce trees from seeds, [mostly colorado] this one and many others got eaten all of its branches when small 3 foot up, about 3 years ago, most recovered.

From inside the bush...got rid of some poplar trees and planted spruce.

Apple out in the country was poor...but now harvesting meat is not a bad trade off! lol

looks tasty, rabbit is a wonderful meat.

Up at a dozen now but not all end up on the dinner plate, some I give back to the wild, [lure in coyote]...and hopefully drive out Rabbits.

Just found out that voles ate every cane on the double flowering plum...the first time ever!

So gross...they ate and pooped a large pile!

That's terrible, Konrad. We have so many problems with wildlife in our yard (that destroy our trees) too. I shoot a lot of rabbits every year. There are always a steady stream of them in spring trying to set up camp in our yard. Last year we had babies...so adorable. I waited until they were older and ugly before I shot them, ha ha. We have oodles of voles too. Thankfully for us they have usually just killed a couple canes and not the entire plant.

We also have mega deer problems. My husband hunts in fall, but of course that doesn't do enough to fix anything! We must have an increase in males lately, this winter we have so much damage from deer rubbing on trees, especially ones positioned on corners or outer edges, in our yard...marking territory I'm guessing.

We finally decided to get a dog. Might not help (depending on the dog) but aside from moving, there isn't much more we can do. We've already installed a huge deer fence around our veg garden/orchard and little deer fences around all our more expensive ornamentals. But we can't fence every tree and so the destruction continues!

That damage is insane Konrad! I wonder if it is because of later melting snow? I've heard animals become desperate for food at the end of winter. By the way, the rabbit meal looks delicious!

Weeper, our dog definitely helps to keep critters away. He is a German Shorthaired pointer, and is prey-sharp. Better at hunting mouse, vole and gopher than birds, which is what he was bred for, lol. Unfortunately with the short hair he can't stay outside long for winter. The other drawback is he gets them by digging, which is not so good in some garden areas.

Yes, that was one reason we've put off getting a dog until now, you might solve some problems and get a few new ones! ;) But we love animals and I often miss having a companion with me while I work away in the yard.

We're hoping for a Shepherd cross, but we are looking for a cross with a thicker haired breed to avoid the problem you mentioned! Keeping our eye out at all the shelters.

I think the damage was done with the first, [large] snowfall in early October, everything got hit then including all of my Nankings which I don't really care much but this one was my only loved flowering shrub, hopefully it shoots up new growth.

Voles must have hit a high population peak...???

Wow, you have my sympathy! That sucks. Are you going to put wire or other barrier trunk protectors in future years?

I was impressed with Wiffletree spirals I got this year. Nearly 3' tall and at $1.55 each when buying more than 25 you can put 2 on each tree to cover up almost 5 feet of trunk. Takes time to put on but less time than spending another 3-5 years growing another tree after your old one gets girdled!

http://www.whiffletreefarmandnursery.ca/pdf/Whiffletree_Catalogue.pdf

WHITE SPIRAL TREE GUARDS
Protect your plants and trees completely, quickly and
inexpensively with plastic tree guards, a spiral tree and
plant protector. 75 cm (30”) tall.
733-6701 Qty of 1 $2.15 EACH

733-6710 Qty of 10+ $1.85 EACH

733-6725 Qty of 25+ $1.55 EACH

At least around our place we've been having easier winters the past 2 years. We didn't get a lot of snow this past winter, but it wasn't really cold for very long. I wonder if that is contributing to the rodent population spike! Blah..they're so gross!