|
| Okay, my gorgeous rudbeckia plants begin to turn brown and eventually the whole plant dies, then another, then another. My spiderwort (tradescantia), an extremely hardy plant, begins to turn brown, then wilts right down.
Daffodils-have had some of them disappear. I have tunnels in my sand (yes, my yard is mostly sand- all too easy for critters to dig in.) Voles- what repels them? Will Allium? Garlic? I love my brown-eyed susies, and spiderwort, too. Also, I have quite a few lilies and there are definitely fewer than I planted. While my cats catch one occasionally, they're definitely not doing the job. So, what have you found to work to deter or remove, voles? |
Follow-Up Postings:
|
- Posted by squirejohn (My Page) on Tue, Nov 20, 12 at 7:32
| To control voles try horticultural castor oil (not the drug store kind) available at www.baar.com (also availale from Amazon). Nhhostas has a long video about the use of castor oil to repel voles, and there is quite a bit of information about vole contol on the hosta forum. |
|
- Posted by prairiemoon2 zone 6a/MA (My Page) on Tue, Nov 20, 12 at 9:06
| Thanks for the chuckle this morning. I was scanning the Thread titles and thought for a minute your heading was 'Rebel voles'....! lol It conjured up quite a vision of your garden being attacked by an organized band of rebels. :-) Sorry, I know the damage they are doing is not funny, and wish I had a solution for you. But I've read many discussions on this subject on various forums. Here is a link to one.... Good luck! |
Here is a link that might be useful: How to get rid of Moles/Voles in my Garden?
|
| I tried the horicultural castor oil in one bed that was particularly bad this summer. While it seemed to reduce the amount of vole activity, it definitely didn't completely eliminate it. I have resorted to planting plants which I really don't want to lose in collars of 1/4" hardwarecloth that come to just above the ground surface and are 6 - 8" deep and 8" to 2' in diameter, depending on the plant. Initially I was topping the soil inside the collar with sharp gravel as well, but I have noticed several tunnels that went to the hardwarecloth and then went around it, so it seems to be working even where I didn't add the topping of gravel. Kind of ugly if it's in a garden you view from close in, but I've been using it in gardens that are mostly viewed from a bit of a distance. |
|
| My cat does a good job of keeping voles in check, but there are sections of my front garden where she doesn't hunt (up near the sidewalk) and the voles were wreaking havoc up there last year. I lost Sedum, Baptisia, Echinacea, Phlox etc., numerous established bulbs, and they chewed away half the root system on a large Buddleia Black Knight (established for 7 years)! That was the last straw for me, so I borrowed a mole trap, but didn't have any success with that. Then tried a castor oil solution recommended on the hosta forum - 1 tablespoon castor oil (CVS brand) and 1 cup human urine per gallon of water. I actually made it a little stronger than that and sprinkled the solution so as to saturate the root zones of the perennials. I don't know about drug store vs. horticultural types, but CVS castor oil worked GREAT. I had lovely native and oriental hyacinths that were being wiped out day by day, then after the castor oil it abruptly stopped! The only drawback of the castor oil that I could see was that it is very sticky and coated the inside of my watering can, which doesn't really wash off. I also used the hardware cloth cages around some of the plants that were being planted back into the garden to replace the losses. Those also work very well and are a semi-permanent solution. After using these methods, I only had one loss to voles all summer - an Echinacea plant, shortly after transplanting into the front garden, that didn't have the castor oil or the wire cage. |
|
- Posted by prairiemoon2 zone 6a/MA (My Page) on Wed, Nov 21, 12 at 0:21
| terrene, so happy to hear you had success. I remember seeing you post when you had just suffered that damage and how discouraged you were. And I'm happy to know what to do if I get any voles. Thanks for posting that. |
|
| I was so happy too PM2! To find a natural way to control pests that really works, doesn't kill anything, no risks to pets, children, or wildlife, etc.? It's great!! Here's an example of the vole damage when they were running amok. They decimated this Hosta 'Halcyon', although it did eventually recover:
|
|
- Posted by prairiemoon2 zone 6a/MA (My Page) on Fri, Nov 23, 12 at 5:45
| Voles/Moles are pretty scary after some of the threads I've read on the damage they do. I have worried over them a little because I've seen one or the other of them around the garden every once in awhile. I just haven't seen any damage that I would attribute to them. But .... once you've seen one, I assume they can multiply quickly, so it's very reassuring to hear there is an organic, non toxic solution, just in case. I understand that you are more at risk if you use a lot of organic materials for mulching, which I often do and I assume you do too. Amazing that Hosta survived! |
|
| Rebel voles, huh, prairie moon? Geez, I hope not, these are bad enough. I like the caster oil/urine/water solution- low tech, low cost, and low in toxicity. How long does a treatment last? I did not realize they were destroying my butterfly bushes. I thought there was a disease or some kind of bug causing the wilted leaves. I am really looking forward to giving this a try. Thank you all so much for the information. |
|
| Yes that hosta slowly recovered, as did the Baptisia and Sedum which lost 90% of its root system, and some of the other plants. Some plants were wiped out though, such as Liatris, Echinacea, Salvia Black & Blue, and lily bulbs. Brandyray, the castor oil solution (mix it up well!) seemed to work most of the summer and into fall. The castor oil is very sticky and I think it coats the roots of the plants and makes them distasteful. It does seem to eventually rinse off. There has been a little new tunneling activity in my front garden in the past month or so. I've been checking the plants, by pulling on the stalks, and if they've suffered significant vole damage they pull up at the roots. No apparent major damage yet, but it would probably be best to sprinkle some more before the winter, especially because they could be going for bulbs. |
|
| Thank you, terrene. I will start today and see how much yard I can treat (won't my cats be confused to smell human urine in the yard!). I think I will start w/ my bulb garden, then butterfly bushes, then the rose garden, etc. So, I'm off to do battle w/ the voles... |
|
- Posted by prairiemoon2 zone 6a/MA (My Page) on Mon, Nov 26, 12 at 11:59
| Good luck, I hope you will return and update us once you see how it all works out. :-) |
|
| Hi guys, I'll be curious how it works for you too, Brandy. There is now tunneling activity in 2 spots in the front garden, so I did some castor oil treatment yesterday. Did the Sedum, Baptisia, Echinacea, Phlox, Butterfly bush, at least those plants that don't have wire cages. Ran out of castor oil though! Lo and behold, found an old old bottle in the back of the linen closet - it's been there for years, who knows why I bought it in the first place? Those voles and moles are in for it now, LOL. Here's another pic for your viewing edification. On the left, a 1 year old Echinacea 'Bravado' seedling, protected by wire cage. On the right is another 1 year seedling that was not protected by wire or castor oil. Most of the roots were quickly eaten by a vole! |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Perennials Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.