Voles are a favorite snack of our cats. They're easy to catch since they do a lot of their tunneling on the surface under grass/vegetation mounds. Even in the winter here they will tunnel under the snow looking for food. We keep the cats inside once the temps get really frigid, but before that we will see them staring at and listening to the snow, waiting to pounce. I do mostly container gardening, but when I lived in the PNW and had an in-ground garden I would occasionally see coyotes hunting mice and/or voles in it early in the morning. They(voles)are a food source for many animals and birds.

Lou, from reading many articles about FMV its a known fact most fig plants have if, some tolerate it and crop very well with showing no signs of it but its there, some show it only slightly, others show it all the time. Most do very well with it and grow and produce just fine with no problems. Ischia black and madeira seem to be the 2 hardest affected by FMV and show it most. My madeira seem to handle it fine and shows on only a leaf here and there, my ischia refuses to grow and had bad misshapen leaves. Belleclare is has been said along with other nurseries have it as well, i have learned that a lot of folks think they have a virus free tree but thats not the case it just not not show itself in all fig tree's from my readings. My edbile landscaping sals i bought years ago showed it as a small plant but as the years went by and it matured it show no signs that i can see and is for now my best producer and good eating figs, but the FMV is there as from what i read it just cannot dissapear from an infected plant. So give your plants a little time if they do well for you great if not then burn em. My ischia im experimenting with to help it fight back with hormones and vitamens and fertilizer regime constantly, at 1 point i even cut all the leaves off, it still refuses to grow and if i dont kill it first it might just not ever do anything but i keep it around for now. I have some hopefully coming from ucdavis that im sure have it as well but hopeing maybe 1 of those sticks can deal with it a little better such as my sals did, if not i just lost 8.95 in stamps and no big deal.

You problem is most likely Voles and not Moles. Voles are vegetarians and are the cause of destructive root damage of many plants. Moles are carnivorous, and eat grubs and worms. They will never eat enough earthworms in you garden to cause a problem. Both of these rodents tunnel. When I was growing commercially and had to overwinter thousands of perennials, baiting for rodent (Vole) control was a must. There is some controversy to baiting. Some are concerned that a Fox, Owl, or Bird of Prey will catch the poisoned rodent and get sick or die. My observations has been that once a rodent enters a covered bed, they donÂt leave. They are protected from the elements, and have all the food they could ever want. One year, I forgot to bait my last ground bed. When I uncovered in the spring, 1,300 plants from my stock were gone. I make my traps out of 1 ft long, 1½" PVC pipe. I put an elbow on each end. You will need to remove this elbow to put in your bait, so donÂt permanently seal it. Use the block bait only. Pellets can fall out too easily. Once the vole takes the bait they will go down into their hole to die. Many people would come to me with concerns about the damage being done to their gardens. They all thought it was moles. I would send them home with a trap and bait and tell them to hide it under some black plastic, and if the trap was empty in a couple of days then that was a sign that the problem was voles. Here is a link that might be useful: Article about Voles

Grubs (in the lawn) are the icky and damaging larvae of beetles. A large population can result in serious problems with your lawn. Moles just happen to LOVE grubs! Put on your stomping shoes and keep the tunnels packed down. That way, you can keep an eye out on any new activity. Plus, you don't want your grass's roots to be left high and dry in those tunnels. I have a high tolerance for moles but many people don't. But I don't worship my lawn, either, lol. Attached is an image of a couple typical beetle grubs. If you live in a part of the country plagued by Japanese Beetles, you have 'em. Other pesty grubs would be from any of the other chafer beetles like the May or June beetle. Typically, at this time of year, grubs are overwintering several inches into the soil, but will come up to feed on grass roots in the spring. Here is a link that might be useful: