I put this fig into the ground two years ago, this past winter was the first time I seriously buried it in leaves. It was about chest height. Today I unpacked the fig, and this is what I have left:
Something has chewed it off completely at groun level and stripped most of the bark. I have nothing left!
Is there still something underground for the fig grow back? What creature did this? How do I prevent it from happening again?
Probably mice or voles. I would be surprised if nothing grew back!
Wire mesh wrapped around the trunk area… before covering for the winter.
My bet is on pill bugs, especially if buried in leaves. I see this kind of damage on branches touching the ground, and I don’t (yet) have voles or mice.
Voles… had and have the same problem… they eat All The rootball of my mulberry and apple trees… lost loads of young trees in the last 2 years.
Let me add more info: I buried the fig with leaves up to waist height. The tree bark were chewed off /partial off all the way up to that height. Does vole, mouse or pillbug go up that high to chew the bark?
Look to tell tale signs. Voles and mice are rodents that have 2 pairs of opposing front teeth that gouge out parallel trenches of bark and cambium. I would put my paycheck on mice and/or voles.
Baited stations with poison seems to be the best approach. Search on here for the pvc bait stations.
I hope they at least left a good Yelp review.
You should carefully excavate and see if there is still bark on the crown. If there is still bark it should regrow fine, you can leave it exposed to help buds grow sooner.
If they ate the crown, all you could do to salvage it is graft onto some nice fat roots. It is kind of awkward to graft in a hole, but less work than replanting and watering to get a new plant established.
It could be mice or voles, there is probably a nest in the leaves. I use snap traps around the base of the trunks, or for voles I set them in their trails and tunnel entrances.
Definitely chew marks…
Beavers strip tree bark in similar fashion, and looks very similar… this is just something with smaller mouth, teeth. Voles… or some kind of rodent… I would think.
Yah , mice / voles .!
You may have luck rooting the undamaged tops , make cuttings .
I recently posted this picture of vole teeth in another thread. The teeth match pretty well with your damage.
@Kellogg_Hill_Farms I took and posted more pictures. They do have tooth marks. I am reluctant to use poison because I have a cat and there are also some other cats come around. I don’t want them accidentally pick up a poisoned dead mouse or vole.
@hoosierbanana I will explore the ground and see if there is anything (crown or fat root) there. As for setting trap, is one trap enough? I never have to deal with voles before(maybe they are always there, I just didn’t know), hate to think I have to start now.
@Sparty Those are some nasty teeth!
Some people use a moth ball or two near the base of the tree in the fall as a repellent, as a alternative to poison .
I can do that next time. That’s easy and safe,thanks!
It could have been just some travelling mice. I get them just about as often as voles in covered figs, and unfortunately the occasional shrew as well.
If there are a lot of voles you will probably see plenty of trails and can just set the mousetrap in their path and they will just walk right onto it.
Root the good cuttings!
Cats are predators, not scavengers. They enjoy the kill, much more than the meal. If you are concerned about them getting poisoned, choose a poison that has low chance of passing onto 2nd or 3rd consumers, such as an anticoagulant.
