My poor fig tree!

Thats what i use for voles now… lots of bait stations for voles but i still put some poison bait well deep in their holes. Lets see if the drama is smaller this year

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There are a few nice homemade pvc tubes people adapt for voles baits but i just use a few of the ones used for mice around my fruit trees and i think its doing the job. At least the bait is beeing eaten.
They are like these ones i have at my work place

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@hoosierbanana I found some sort of tunnel nearby, my shovel handle size stick can go in about 5-6 inches.

@Kellogg_Hill_Farms thanks for the info about using the safer poison.

@Carld I never had any bait station, guess I have to start thinking about having them now.

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That’s not pillbug damage, not unless they are mutants like gojira:).

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Some of my voles holes… all my bait stations are filled with poison and all the holes i could find also…

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The hole I discovered is just like your first picture, so it is vole. Guess I have to learn set bait. You think the voles are till there? Do they move away?

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They are always doing new holes but if the hole is exactly like mine they are still inside… last year i lost 5 fig trees, 6 mulberry trees, 3 rare apple trees, some persimmon trees… all the rootball eaten away… only sticks left. I tried to plant plants in theory deterrants for voles around the trees but they dont seem to be affected… only solution seems to be poison… not sore its working but should be as the poison inside the holes 2 days later is all eaten away…

Search google for ‘Gophers and voles baskets’, a lot of people use wire like that to keep the voles and gophers away.

Voles don’t really leave their established tunnels and trails much, so you can just set traps in front of the holes and see what you get.

I drill a hole through the trap opposite the trigger and put a 3" nail through it into the ground. It will help deliver more force and keep them from dragging the trap off if they are not killed right away. The traps with a large plastic trigger plate seem to work the best.

Poison is more complicated, it doesn’t always work because sometimes they will store it rather than eat it right away. There are university documents that go into more detail…

If you can stomach the dead carcasses, it really is better to use snap traps. Although you can accidentally kill non target wildlife with snap traps, it will be limited to very small animals.

@Carld compare My loss of small fig tree seems like nothing comparing to what you have lost. Hope your bait worked this time.

@alanmercieca I searched ‘vole basket’ as you suggested, it seems easy to do. But, would the basket also restrict the root ball growth?

@hoosierbanana I am seriously thinking setting a trap like you said, and see if I get anything. I can ask Hubby to handle the dead carcass :smiley:
Can I use cardboard box cover the area and spare the chipmunk or something from the trap?

If there is a chipmunk, it could be their hole. The best way to avoid getting them would be to set the traps in trail systems, since chipmunks don’t dig trails. And don’t bait them with anything.

I think chipmunks might go out of their way to explore inside the box, so I would skip it.

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The bigger the plant, the bigger the ‘Gopher and vole basket’ should be, I think for a fig tree a homemade one would be best, roots grow right through them, yet too tight is still too tight.

This woman made a sort of wire basket for some of her fruit trees Planting Orange Trees In California's Hard, Clay Soil ♡ Zone 9B ♡The First 2 Tree's In Fruit Orchard - YouTube

I just found this How to Install Gopher Wire Mesh - YouTube