Voles in vegetable garden - revisited, solution? Maybe.

Last year I posted a cry for help for a solution to voles eating our vegetables. I described our various attempts to alleviate the problem at http://davesgarden.com/forums/p.php?pid=2555288. We had wonderful organic soil, our worm castings etc. The seedlings we started indoors were healthy and green. But days after they were planted in the garden they showed signs of stress. The tell-tale vole holes and tunnels started appearing and we were unable to trap them or control them with all of the suggestions and remedies we tried. At the end of the season we had many dead plants and a very limited amount of produce.

Last September we picked up a small, plastic mouse trap at a tag sale. We had tried others with no success, but Bingo! Our first success. We don't like trapping or killing anything, but compared to working all summer in our garden and watching it being eaten, we knew what we had to do. We bought two dozen of the same traps and have been using them all winter between snowfalls. We kept about 10 traps baited.

The traps we used are called "The Better Mousetrap" by Intruder at http://www.intruderinc.com/mousetrap/mousetrap.html . (We are not connected in any way to the company!). We dug a hole over the vole tunnels in many locations so that a tunnel exited into each hole. Then we set the trap with peanut butter and covered the hole with a flower pot. We caught 23 voles in our small garden. Now that the snow has melted we will start again and continue through planting season in hopes that we can eliminate the vole population inside the garden.

Voles can reproduce every month or two so we will need to keep this up until we have no more vole activity, but once we get them out we feel the garden is well protected to keep them out. Hope this helps others who may be as desperate as we have been and wish us luck this summer.

DH came in just the other day and said there are little holes all over the back part of the property. I think I will need to order some of these, fast!!

There are many kinds of animals that make little holes so please be sure you know what is making the holes before setting out any traps. There are moles and voles that make tunnels and holes in the ground and in our area the squirrels are digging up the ground now and that looks like holes from a distance. Also, our traps are in our vegetable garden that is enclosed on all sides and top. Birds like the peanut butter too so if you are not careful you will catch/harm the wrong animal. In addition, I would not advise this method for a lawn for several reasons. In order to set the trap and protect it, you need to dig a sizeable hole and cover it and someone could easily break an ankle if they stepped in it. Also, as I mentioned, our problem is in an enclosed area. In a lawn your problem will be unending. It may be better to treat the problem than to try to elimate all the moles/voles, squirrels, chipmunks or whatever in your area.

Update - Last week we refreshed the peanut butter in the traps. When we looked the next day, the traps were all sprung and flug around and the covers on the traps were all scattered. We had not yet unfurled the net over the vegetable garden so we thought the only thing that could do this would be crows. Otherwise we had a bigger problem. We then covered the garden, set a few traps, and crossed our fingers. No problems since then so it looks as if these traps are only good if used inside a house or a covered area, but so far, it looks as if we may have solved the vole problem. We will know more when we start planting, but the strawberries look healthy so either voles don't like strawberry roots, or indeed we got ridof the voles this winter.

This message was edited Apr 27, 2007 10:43 PM

Hey - I just read about an idea to stop vole invasion into your root garden: If it works for your garden type, you will be free from trying to control the entire population. You can focus in on just where you don't want them.

I'm just a new gardener ( http://post-oil-learning.blogspot.com/) so I don't have any personal expertise to offer - I read this thread yesterday and then coincidentally came across the info while looking for somethiing else.

Dig up the square or row (6 - 12 inches depending on plant depth) in which you plant your root veges and line it with an upside down hardware cloth cage. Let the cage stick out above ground about 1 - 2 inches because it might even thwart cut worms and discourage slugs. Edges will be sharp so it might make sense to then cover over with a line of duct tape. (Gotta love Duct tape!) Refill with rich humusy friable soil.

I got all this from the book Square Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. Hope he doesn't sue me for plagery. (spelling?) I bet he has a web site with pictures xome where...


Good luck - hope they never come my way. I'm in the burbs...



This message was edited May 20, 2008 10:47 AM

I'm sure that would work, it sounds similar to what we do out here for gophers. I buy 3/4 inch wire mesh (similar to poultry wire but the holes are a little smaller) and I make little individual wire baskets for all my plants (I have mostly shrubs/perennials so I don't plant in rows, that's why I do individual baskets instead)