Just caught one in my snap trap intended for mice. It was in the basement room where I am overwintering my fig trees. Looks like I got it before it did any damage to the trees.
I have a terrible problem with voles. They tunnel to my trees and also under slate sidewalks, etc. I have tried
–Solar sound deterrents
–Solar vibration deterrent
–Those poison peanuts
–Poison poured into the holes
–Twelve black plastic mouse traps baited with peanut butter and placed next to a hole. I ended up covering them with clear plastic plant water bowls because I was worried about my animals
–I ran a tube from the Cushman exhaust into the ground until multiple tunnels were smoking
–I poured something flammable and set multiple tunnels on fire. They went up with a bang
–I jumped up and down on top of the tunnels and yelled Curse words
–I got a cat
No luck
I actually lost a Welsh corgi who ate warfarin based poison about 15 years ago. We figured out too late what was wrong before the vitamin k reversal could be given. It broke my heart.
if you have enough snow, i use tomcat bait chunks in peanut butter flavor. i use a 12in long piece of 2.5in pvc pipe with one end duct taped closed. i put a small chunk in there and let it stick to the duct tape. put a bunch of these around the perimeter of your property where you usually see their tunnels. they die underground after being poisoned as ive never seen a carcass once the snow melts. i9 do this every other year and so far none have returned. my neighbor behind me lost alot of his blueberry bushes last year to them. so hes doing as i do. i wouldnt recommend doing it without decent snow cover for obvious reasons. i put mine out late nov. a day before a good amount of snow is predicted.
Was thinking of not posting this because it sounds mean, but changed after reading of members using baits.
Getting the turf back from around the trunk helps some. Not on my farm because I have two tracts of grown up “open ground” on each side and another 600 acres of adjacent woodlands. Here, imo, the problem is from the grownup tracts.
With the new apple scions/grafts in the garden this year, great care is being taken to use electric strand deer fence and woven bird/small animal fiber fencing.
I don’t think any pets will be able to get in to the immediate plant rows, that leaves just the mice and voles digging/girdling around the roots and stems.
So I take a cedar wood shingle, come in bundles at big boxes for shimming doors and windows in construction. Put a palm sized flat rock on top of the ground with a small amount of pellet bait around it, (poison). Drive a 20 penny nail or long landscape staple through the shingle locking it down on the rock with just a bit of clearance for the bait, can use a brick on top too. They are drawn the coved area, bait stays dry.
Father used to put a stick of juicy fruit gum in the tunnel holes, always got a laugh out of that one but he swore by it.
Tried the castor beans, not any difference. Not worried birds of prey will be affected, but I don’t like loosing a dog/cat. That’s why the rows are wrapped up tightly. It would take a slew of voles to make a poison meal. Never seen a hawk or owl with a vole, a snake a couple times. That’s kinda funny looking flying over trailing a wiggling serpent from the talons.
Have never been an organic farmer, but work hard to try and be responsible the past 50 years and still get the jobs done.
“Warfarin has the greatest non-target safety margin of all currently used anticoagulant baits, [and] efficacy is only marginally sacrificed for safety. Warfarin may be preferred where safety to non-targets is a greater concern than resistance.”
It was $80 shipped for 3 bait stations and uses the Kaput Rat Mouse Vole Bait which is ~$30 for 32 packets on Amazon.
I have a serious vole problem - last year they killed half my raspberries, destroyed my beets and may have killed a peach tree. So I’ll post back here with an update / review in a few months.
sorry for your losses. the last time they hit me they ate 6 Nanking cherries so badly, not 1 came back. even the upper 6in of the root system was eaten.
Poisoning of voles should be done below ground, or in some type of enclosed trap (like the PVC tubes mentioned previously). I have yet to find a poisoned, dead vole out in the open. Inside the PVC tube? Yes. No predators were going to get it inside there. I’m sure most have a taste of poison, then crawl back to their underground tunnels/nests and take a dirt nap. In the winter time, the openings of the PVC tubes are underneath the snow pack in northern areas so no worries about secondary poisoning there either.
i believe that’s exactly what they do. I’ve never found a carcass in the tube or above ground in 5 yrs of using poison bait under the snow. I’ve noticed the years with the most snow usually show the most vole activity.as well.
Besides the bait tubes I have found that a good sized piece of scrap plywood or piece of old tin works as a good bait station as well, especially if placed over active openings to the tunnel system. They feel secure dining on your “treats” for them when under cover. The voles were bad this year and we lost a few trees in the nursery, even though we had tried to reduce the numbers a bit before winter set in. Hit them hard over the last month to hopefully halt further damage.
