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| It's been a week that we found out and I am just as upset. All of our trees except for 2 were eaten by voles. We never even heard of voles. Moles yes; voles no. Anyway we had mulched every tree 4 inches deep and burlapped them to protect from sunscald since they were planted on the south/southwest part of our property. I guess all of that was too much for the voles to resist. We had fenced in each tree at ground level and 3 feet high to protect them from several neighbors' dogs that roam freely.
As soon as the snow melted last week we saw dozens upon dozens of muddy tracks across our lawn and the telltale holes going under our fences and coming back up thru the mulch. We can't help but be amazed at their handiwork. They also gnawed higher up on the tree because we had at least 5 feet of snow consistently in our backyard for about 3 months straight so they were able to eat the trees at snow level. We know this wasn't deer, nor rabbits, and we have seen the voles since then, and in fact saw one this morning go under our back porch. Maddening. I have put vole pellets under there but it doesn't look like they've touched any of it. My question is this. We've put hardware cloth fencing around the 2 remaining trees and put it 6-12 inches deep, and we will use trunk protectors next winter, but what are we going to do about protecting the trees at snow level next winter to protect them from voles just walking up on top of the snow and getting to them? They were completely hidden from everyone when they did it because of the huge burlap teepees around the trees providing them the coverage they seek. PVC piping is too skinny to put around the trees because of the branches that stick out from the trees. So what do we do? It has to be tall whatever it is because living south of Buffalo we get a ton of snow. It almost makes me want to give up because we are scared the hardware cloth we put 6-12 inches down around the trees is going to interfere with the growing roots of the trees, and I heard voles can kill mature trees, is that true? I may fence in our yard a foot down next year just to keep them out. This week we dug up all of our mulch from all the dead trees, it was disheartening; it took all day. Hundreds of pounds of it. We read that was the first thing to do to not draw attention to the voles. Those pests! Any suggestions on how to protect trees at snow level would be extremely appreciated. Thanks! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by butterflywings09 5/6a (My Page) on Fri, Mar 19, 10 at 10:43
| I wanted to add that we planted all of these trees last May and they were all about 4-5 feet tall. Thanks. |
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- Posted by gardengal48 PNW zone 8 (My Page) on Fri, Mar 19, 10 at 11:25
| I think you may have more than one issue going on here. Voles spend the bulk of their time underground or at the surface. In winter they typically tunnel under mulch and snow cover and feed on roots or stems/trunks at ground level. While they sometimes climb higher, it is not common and it is rare to see voles active during the day or just running around. Too many predators around :-) The upper damage is more likely to be done by rabbits. You should be able to identify that based on the larger gnaw marks. |
Here is a link that might be useful: identifying and controlling vole damage
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| So sorry, Butterflywings. I know how you feel. I live in Utah and we have the same problems with voles. I have done and tried everything to keep them out of my garden areas and trees. Nothing stops them! I've only seen them above ground a couple of times. But we have lots of rabbits too. They are just as bad. We have stood and watched through windows at the rabbits eating all the pine and spruce needles at snow level. Makes a very unsightly tree in the summer with no needles around the middle. My biggest and worse problem this year is that they gnawed off the bark all the way around the base of several pines. These were about six feet tall. I worked so hard all these years to get them that tall. My question is, is there anything I can do to keep the trees from dying? I've always heard if the bark is remove all the way around the trunk, the tree will die. Can I spray the trunk with a wound seal to keep it from dying? I might add, this is the first winter I didn't put chicken wire around my trees. Of course they were outgrowing the wire fence so I didn't try this yer. How I regret that. |
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| I had the same problem here. We had a lot of snow, which is unusual for here. About a dozen of my rare trees had all their roots eaten off. Hardware cloth sunk into the ground around them should help. I am not sure if 6" deep is needed, but that should do the trick. --spruce |
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| I'm really surprised that Voles are the problem. I have never seen a Vole kill a tree in my world here. Rabbits, more than likely, rather you saw them or not. Check out the size of the teeth that did the gnawing and you will know what did what. Voles are too lightweight in my opinion, to kill a tree over six feet high. Heck, even two feet high. In fact, I've never seen them kill freshly rooted cuttings in a open bed here, let alone a tree. My guess is rabbits. |
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| "My biggest and worse problem this year is that they gnawed off the bark all the way around the base of several pines. These were about six feet tall. I worked so hard all these years to get them that tall. My question is, is there anything I can do to keep the trees from dying? I've always heard if the bark is remove all the way around the trunk, the tree will die. Can I spray the trunk with a wound seal to keep it from dying?" I don't believe that will work. My understanding is that under the bark are the cambium and phloem layers, and if the cambium is damaged all the way around (a.k.a. 'girdling'), then the tree will die. Wound sealer won't change that. Richard. |
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| Botann: Voles, for sure. Rabbits are a problem, but they work above ground. When a vole gets a tree you see no damage above ground. Often the first thing I see is the tree has just fallen over. I pick it up, and there are no roots. So far mostly small trees two feet or so tall, but they got my prairie cascade willow that was almost 5 feet tall. My Abies nebrodensis was about 3 1/2 feet tall. I think a ring of hardware cloth sunk into the ground at least three inches is the answer. I just didn't anticipate anything like this. I will have protection for my little trees in the future. We just don't get much snow here, and it usually melts in just a few days. This year we had snow cover for at least six weeks. After the snow melted I could see their elaborate tunnels and nests everyhwere. they had lots and lots of time to do their business all protected. I had lost just a very few trees to the voles before and didn't think it was worth all the work needed to protect all the little trees I have. They even got all the roots off a Norway spruce almost 4 feet tall. That's the first time I had seen them go for a Norway spruce. I have white pines also, but so far they have not gotten any of those. --spruce |
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- Posted by arcticiris 1 (My Page) on Sun, Oct 14, 12 at 14:55
| Rabbits and voles are definitely the invisible menaces. So far, what I know is to use mousetraps set at 90 degrees to their holes. In a larger orchard, they do something called the apple bit? to assess vole locations and then locate more precisely where to try to control vole populations. I bumped this because its that time of year again, when damage from mammals is something to worry about... These sources were helpful: |
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