Cut em.

Dax

have you tried trapping them ... the voles???

ken

From NH Hosta-
The Recipe For Organic Vole & Mouse Control
Large Area Applications Using A Hose-End Sprayer

1 - 2 Oz Castor Oil
1 - 2 Oz Dish Detergent

Add the mixture to the jar of the hose end sprayer. Then fill the jar with water. Attach to your hose and thoroughly water every location that you want to deter the pests from. If your hose-end sprayer has a dial, set it to the highest setting.

Small Area Application Using A Watering Can

1 teaspoon Castor Oil
1 teaspoon Dish Detergent

Add this mixture to 1 gallon of water and thoroughly water the area to be protected.

How To Apply The Organic Vole Control
You want to water the ground, not spray it. You should thoroughly wet the soil so that the mixture penetrates a few inches into the soil. It is hard to say how much lawn and garden area the solution will cover. You just want to make sure you get the mixture into the soil.

You Do Not Have To Re-Apply After A Rain
You may want to re-apply in spring if you have damage during the growing season. Some people do and some don't. Mostly vole and mole damage is just a winter issue as the pests are desperate for a food source.

When To Apply The Organic Vole Control
You want to apply the mixture before the ground freezes and after you have cleaned away all the leaves from your garden. This is typically after a few frost's.

This Castor Oil solution is organic and will not harm wildlife or pets. It just makes those garden pests move out of your gardens!

Here is a link that might be useful: Castor oil vole control

Thanks! I will cut the limbs once all this rain stops.

I was able to trap quite a few last spring with with Tomcat
traps and peanut butter. I have not had any luck this fall and winter though. They make a new hole right beside the trap. LOL

Yesterday, I spent three hours blowing hickory leaves and was amazed at the hundreds of vole holes I found underneath the layers of leaves.

The voles have already attacked and killed most of my roses and some camellias as well as my dogwoods and red buds.
Some of my conifers are trying to recover from the voles.

I have lost thousands of dollars in plants and am extremely frustrated.

I have quit buying new plants and any I fall in love with, I plant in a basket made of 1/4 to 1/2 inch hardware wire.

Monday, I bought bought castor oil from the pharmacy as well as Murphy oil soap.

The label on the bottle of caster oil states it is odorless and tasteless. I wonder if it still will work. I bought garlic and onions to try and make the stuff smelly.
I plan on mixing the and spraying the concoction this weekend.

The voles have tons of roots to eat in the woods. Why do they want all my good plants? LOL

I am at my wits end!

take a mouse trap ... bait it with peanut butter... place it next to a hole.. and place a big black pot over it ...

they are nocturnal.. better luck if you keep the trap in the dark ...

and just keep doing it ... i dont understand why you dont stay with it.. if you had success last year

i thought i had a plague of chipmunks a few years back.. i figured i had hundreds of the vermin.. i swear i trapped 3 to 5 of them.. and the problem disappeared ... [hyperactive SOB's .. lol]

you may be surprised how few there might be ...

ken

I had a population of voles that took residence in several chipmunk holes in my lawn. I looked at methods for getting rid of them and trapping was said to be limited to small populations. I have no way of knowing but 8-10 holes can accommodate a lot of the critters, I assume. Cutting back the branches of the Deodar will not stop damage to other plants. Voles feed off roots, bulbs, seeds and they will girdle a tree trunk (they eat bark) which is what might happen if you simply cut the branches of the trees. I lost three 7 foot Nootkatensis which I now attribute to voles or the chimpmunks(?).

In my opinion cutting the branches is the worst thing you might do. I found the castor oil treatment in my search and since the hosta nursery depends on this working for its livelihood and they have no motive for lying to customers, I assume it works. I will know for sure in the spring.

The castor oil costs about $5, the effort is minimal and there is no risk of poisoning pets or anyone. Setting traps in addition, might be fun and may help solve the problem, but why take the chance. Chase them into someone else's yard.

I did cut the branches and it does look better. I do have some vole root damage to both cedars. I plan on placing some type of guard around the trunk so that my husband will not nick the bark with his weed eater.

I did put the traps under a dark pot with a rock on top of it.
For some reason, the voles are not taking the bait this time.

The voles I have are active 24 hours a day. The majority of voles I trapped were caught mid morning.

I notice most of the damage is done during the winter as they are underground eating roots. They come above ground more often in the spring and forage above ground.

The reason I have not been consisent is that this is my front yard and at one point I had 25 traps set. Every time we had visiters, I either explained or tried to remove enough of the pots so the yard would at least look presentable.

One of the biggest mistakes I made is using landscape cloth. I used the heavy duty 25 year life span kind.
The voles love it. They can make their runs under it safe and protected.
I am in the process of removing all I can find.

I am trying to drive the voles back into the woods. I hope by cleaning up all leaves and debris, the voles will be more exposed to what few predators we have left.

We are on acreage and with all the new subdivisions around us, I notice the vole predators are being pushed out of their environment.

We used to have many more snakes, hawks, owls, foxes etc.