Plant Pest for May: Voles
From PDF: HRN Newsletter - May 2009
What is a Vole?
A Vole looks quite a lot like a mouse. Voles also have shorter tails, and a rounder face than a mouse does. Voles are active day and night. Mostly, they will look for food during the day using the tunnels moles may have made. Traveling in these tunnels they will find roots of plants to eat, destroying lawns, garden perennials and bulbs. They will also search for seed to eat. In winter they are active and do not hibernate. Like Moles they tend to stay underground under the snow where it is warm, but will search for seed above ground from time to time. When above ground Voles may gnaw on the bottom bark of any fruit trees in your yard damaging trees and possibly killing them.
Do you have Voles?
If you are noticing missing bark from the bottom of your fruit trees, tracks in the grass leading to holes or dead grass patches with chewed off grass left around the area for evidence, than it is time to investigate.
Habits of a Vole
They use existing tunnels made by moles to travel in. Voles mainly eat bulbs and seeds. Like Moles, they do not hibernate, which means they are actively destroying your plants and landscape all year round. Similar to mice, they reproduce rapidly.
What to do about Voles?
There are a variety of methods to control Voles. Some more humane than others.
-Cats can help control the vole population in your yard. A cat might also deter them from making a home there in the first place.
-If you store bird seed or plant seed make sure it is in a rodent proof storage container.
Vole Damage to Lawn
-Any type of extra ground cover such as mulches for gardens can attract a safe haven for voles. When freezing temperatures set in for winter it is a more ideal time to put mulches down, because than the voles have nowhere to go into due to the frozen ground.
- Protect trees around the base.
- Keeping your yard clear of any garbage is helpful. This includes unwanted plant and vegetable matter from gardens.
- No kill mouse traps have been used by gardeners. Just make sure when you release the voles they are released far enough away they won't find their way back. Make sure to check the traps regularly so the voles don't die of starvation.
More immediate and aggressive control
Some of these pest control methods are more effective than others.
- Voles are small enough that you can use a regular size mouse trap to catch them in. Exercise caution if you have pets and kids.
- Trapping: contact your local Pest Control for mole trapping services and information on trapping, but you’ll need to find their trails and set them there. They usually take the same paths.
- Chemical or Poison: again, contact your local pest control for possible services of eliminating a population of voles.