Vole wars

I had transplanted a rather large blue hosta from an over grown landscape two years ago. It was over 3 feet wide at the time which I attributed to the irrigation system it was on. I put it in an old sand box and amended the soil. Last year it declined and I chalked it up to the above reasons. This year it was so sad that I decided to move it, well it turns out it was my lack of attentiveness but a fat little critter who reduced it down a 6 inch plant. I'm moving all the host as out of that bed and I guess I'll have to start setting traps.

Exhibit B

I'm sorry. I've been there. I didn't have any luck with traps, and can't use poison because of my dogs. If I plant a hosta in the ground now it's either in a cage or surrounded by a lot of gravel. Voles are public
enemy number one.

Hmm gravel is a great idea actually.

I hate to be dumb here… but how do you know if you have voles. Do you ever see them?

Well, bless your heart. I don't think I have ever had voles but the rabbits sure love my salad bar. It looked like a limb had fallen on a large hosta and broke the stems but DH thinks it was laid on either a big dog or the big rabbit he saw.

I'm having several hosta just wasting away, if you know what I mean. Lost a ton over the winter too.

I plant onions with the hosta that the bunnies like. Seemed to work…

Once you have rabbits you will always have rabbits at least in the burbs.

I rarely see them. They are good at staying out of site, and I never knew I had them until some hostas started to go brown and when I tugged on one, it came right out with all the roots chewed off to the ground, like those pictures illustrate. They leave small holes in the ground, but so do chipmunks.

Oh well I assumed they were voles but perhaps it could be rabbits.

Voles eat the roots from below. I think bunnies just eat the growth from above. If you noticed a decline last year, they were probably working on it back then, too. From what I understand, if you notice a hosta declining for no apparent reason, you should always suspect voles eating the roots underground.

Yea that is what I thought. It is voles, I live on the edge of the woods and have countless moles, chipmunks and voles now. I only hope that the snakes that have emerged this year can replace my ailing cat.

A couple of years ago--there was a Thread (in the Mid Atlantic) on all kinds of critters that damaged our gardens,
This first part, especially, was concentrated on battling Voles and Groundhogs....it was the Topic de Jour....

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/865841/

This Thread went to Part #2--and then #3--and #4. It seems, kind of, dormant right now...
Perhaps--I should resurrect it???? Or--have we all given up?

If you have time--and if you want to learn a lot about battling the damaging critters--
please read it as far as your time permits.

Gita