Voles and caster bean oil as a deterrent?

General Fruit Growing
#41

I’ve planted garlic close to plants I wanted to protect from pine voles that burrow under the ground. It does seem to deter them, but not indefinitely. I found the garlic strategy works best for root vegetables like carrots and potatoes that voles love. It deters them long enough to get a crop. It doesn’t work as well for perennials that they really love - eventually a vole will go after them in spite of the garlic.

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#42

For flowers that they really enjoy like gladiolas and tulips, I planted them in hardware cloth cages that I buried in the ground. That works but its a lot of trouble and expense.

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#43

So glad for this forum, so we can obtain this knowledge.

#44

What do you say about this? Sound advice? Specifically, is the Dutch flower they recommend a good strategy?

#45

I agree it makes sense to plant flowers that pine voles avoid. Pine voles are hard to eliminate entirely because they spend almost all their time underground. Protecting your plants with physical barriers is expensive, but I don’t think any deterrents will keep them away forever. I haven’t ever seen voles go after my hyacinth or daffodils. You could try protecting plants they do enjoy by surrounding them with hyacinth or daffodils, but if it’s something they really like they might eventually find their way to it.