Our community garden was inundated with voles/meadow mice/field mice 2 years ago. They ate everything growing under the soil. The easiest way we had to remove many of them was using mouse traps - at least a dozen in my area alone. They did not return last year or this year either. Good luck!

Thanks for sharing your experience. We will think seriously about giving it a try.

My two miniature dachshunds dig like crazy to find any hapless vole who takes up residence in the garden. Any doxies in the neighborhood?

Thank you lizbest1 and Suzanne for your suggestions! I wish we could have a resident dog or 2.... The garden is located in Stanley Park in Estes Park, and there would be no one to care for them. We've asked some people who walk their dogs in the area to guide them near our fence in hopes of leaving some odors that might deter the voles and other small critters We might try the mothballs. Someone has volunteered to try out some live trapping for a few days so we'll see if that brings any results. She has had success using peanut butter and apples as bait. We'll see!

I have flooded voles out of their burrows with a slow trickle from the hose. I actually saw one vole, swim to the side of the resulting small puddle, shake himself and run off into the neighbor's lawn. This procedure may not work for you if the neighbor's lawn is not a lawn but another garden.

Some voles I was not aware of until what must have been a coyote came thru and dug them out from under a tomato plant. A family of owls made a home in a neighbor's barn at one time. The floor of the barn became littered with the evidence of the 3 of them eating rodents.

Gophers that have invaded my garden have been meet by me carrying a thin metal rod and a hammer. Given about 30 minutes, I have driven that rod in every direction and over practically every square inch of where the gopher has left evidence of his below ground activity. I'm not sure if I killed the gophers but they learned that the area was dangerous and it must have destroyed their burrows. They did not return.

Ground squirrels are enormously destructive to green life anywhere near their burrows. I have "discouraged" them by driving burrow-sized rocks into the entrances of their burrows with a short piece of wood and a sledge hammer. The rodents never reappeared.

Marmots are much larger than most rodents and can learn the value of garden veggies. The neighbor's dachshund once attacked a marmot about 30' from my garden. She gained nothing but a severe wound to her throat and a trip to the vet. The neighbor attempted to shoot the 2 marmots that had taken up residence in another neighbor's rock pile. It was me who ended up doing the shooting - 2 shots, 2 dead marmots. I recently killed a marmot with a railroad tie. Once again, the same neighbor with the dachshund. He was under that wood. No gun and it was the first time I'd seen him there altho I'd thrown rocks at him near the garden on 2 occasions. The burrow was not deep and I could just see him back under the soil surface after about 6 ties were moved. A railroad tie is heavy and will pound down the soil to a fair depth. Digging him out confirmed and refilling buried him - this was the 3 marmot I have killed over the years with blunt force. The other 2 were inside a fenced garden that I had at the time.

digit of rodent doom

I spoke too soon about not having voles/field mice in the community garden this year. As I was watering yesterday, two of them skitted over to my beets from another plot. So, last night we put out 6 mouse traps - and this morning I see 4 wee voles that took the bait. I'm sure there are many others, so we'll keep baiting the traps until no more take the bait.

edit - July 14 - 6 more wee voles this AM.

edit - July 16 - 4 more voles

edit - July 17 - 0 traps sprung - are we done?

What are you baiting the traps with?

peanut butter

Thanks! We've had that suggestion from some home gardeners up here, too. Definitely will try it!

I baited mine with apples (in my case it was the dropped apples that attracted them). Worked great. Another suggestion for bait if the peanut butter stops working.

We are trying pb and apples this week. Cross your fingers! Thanks for the suggestion.

When I worked at Fort Collins Nursery, I had customers who swore by Fertilome MoleGo granules. They contain castor oil, which repels voles.

From Dan West Garden Center:

"Voles (field mice) will use the mole runs also. Plus they dig their own underground tunnels and have above ground runways that are hid under a layer of grass, leaves or mulch. These are the plant eaters. They will pick out you most expensive hosta and work right down the price list!

Voles are very prolific. Females are mature just 35 days after birth. They live less than 12 months but can have up to 10 litters of 3-6 young during their short life. They eat just about anything. Your annuals, perennials and bulbs are favorite targets, but they can also kill shrubs and mature trees by gnawing the bark off below ground level. Just today, I had a customer in with a 3’ tall azalea that had the roots gnawed off and half the trunk was gone.

Voles can be easily caught with mouse traps. Use peanut butter sprinkled with wild bird seed. The Mole-Go repellent we talked about earlier works very well for voles also. Use it in combination with traps and you will significantly reduce the population. Or if you’re looking for a natural repellent, we have a product called Mouse Magic for use in the garden or in the home. It contains peppermint and spearmint oils and is safe to use around children and pets."

Thanks for all this good information. We're researching both Mole Go and Mouse Magic, for use in our community veggie garden. Someone else says that lava rock stuffed into the tunnels will hurt their poor little paws (voles) so we may try that too!

My son's 19# cat took care of our voles and left the heads on the doorsteps. We were so proud...