At the Asheville Blue Ridge Rose Society Rose Exhibit this past weekend, I shared the info desk for a while with folks I've known for quite a while.

They had major Vole destruction of over twenty roses that they discovered as they were beginning to prune. You know the feeling. The rose wobbles and you pull it up because there are no roots left, not just no feeder roots, but NO roots at all, just what's left of a knob.

They decided to try a product called Nature's N.O.G. Granular from just down the road in Clemson.

Duane had brought his laptop and had before photos. Their voles had barely left a bud union and some had even stripped the cames emerging from the bud union underground.

They had made a slurry of NOG and dipped their roses in it. And they replanted.

I was really impressed with the canes that grew back. There wasn't that much 'umpf' left stored underground. The feeder roots were gone. But the roses had survived and a few have even made single blooms this spring.

Would this work when damage is seen in late spring? Don't know.

But I do know that this is, to me, a worthwhile low tech addition to my arsenal to try to keep roses going.

(These folks had bought permatil by the truckload, but that source is no longer, so while they search for an alternative reasonably prices source for permatil, they are also facing reality in trying to keep their mature rose bushes alive, in spite of the hungry underground hoards.)

I can give you no guarantees, and no personal experience from my garden, just yet. But this is a F.Y.I.

Here is a link that might be useful: Their website