I'm not sure it's mice. It could be rabbits or voles or gophers. I don't think I've ever heard of mice eating roses. The only thing I can think of to prevent it is to cage the roses with chicken wire both above and below ground.

Boy, that sounds like voles to me. They are really a large, short tailed mouse, often called meadow mice, and we have plenty of them. They tunnel all over the place and ruin grass. Their holes and tunnels also have damaged some of my perennials. Gophers seem to chew on roots only around here. I use a stronger form of d-con (mouse bait) on voles which wipes them out fast, but probably isn't feasible in your case if you have lots of kids investigating the rose beds. This really cuts down on your options because traps would be out, too. Could you gas them (smoke them out in their tunnels) like my friend does to gophers? There are products available for this. Diane

Ya, I thought it could be voles too...I did see them. When I went to investigate, they were everywhere...I startled them and they all ran for their holes. I didn't get a good enough look at them to see if they were mice or voles. I assumed they were mice because the apple orchard where I used to work had lost of trouble with mice eating the bard off the apple trees.

I fight voles constantly...I hate them. Everyone says get a cat. I am allergic so that won`t work for me. If you can find their holes, pour caster oil in the hole and around your roses. I have had limited success with caster oil. Hope this helps. Lesley

You may not have lost these roses as Knock Out is almost always an "own root" rose so prune off everything that has been damaged, fertilize (at the appropriate time with a little extra N) & they should come back. The exception might be if the critters have burrowed into the ground around the damaged rose bushes & gnawed on the root stock but if they haven't done any damage to the below ground roots, you should have a plant that will come back.

Thanks wirosarian:

I was aware of that. There are still roots underground that I expect will send up new shoots. Since they are at my church and in a public location, I think I will just replant with new, strong plants. I can get really nice bare root Knock Outs from Lowes for $10. I would like to try to save some of the old roots if I can. Since I will be planting bare root crowns and not waiting for the old roots to sprout new grown, can I dig and transplant them as bear roots? I was thinking about just bringing them home to my garden. I also have already taken cutting from the destroyed plants to see if I can get them to root.

I do want to take care of the mice probable before I re-plant.

Hi

I too have something tunneling underground and eating either worm or root. I dont have small kids around the yards and after losing all my pretty Angelonia, I am game to try anything. Diane, what is the product your friend use to gas the critters? As for the mouse-bait, is it available at local garden center (Lowe's or HD)? Thanks..

Nothing like rodent patrol. For gophers, just go to Walmart, HD, Lowes, etc, and look for gopher bombs or gopher gassers. They are cheap, but I don't know how effective they are, since badgers take care of our gophers around here, and voles and mice are our worst problems. For mice, d-con is very effective; it's in a yellow box and available everywhere. For voles, we have used a stronger version of d-con which comes in a white plastic bucket. These products are in granule form. Just pour a small amount down the vole hole, and prepare for vole bodies (ick). For mice, follow the directions for placing the little yellow boxes of d-con. This stuff is granular, too, and can be poured into the holes also. I just noticed the voles are back and making a mess of our lawn in one spot. Time for the rodent wars. Keep pets away from the vole holes if you are using these products. Diane

I heard Just One Bite is good.

Please do not use the poison baits! Any animal that eats it will be killed, including predators that eat the mice or voles. Some of the newer baits have no antidote, so if ingested by a family pet it's bad news.

Generally rats do not eat roses. It could be voles . If there is one or two rodent you can surely use traps. But if you are facing a heavy rodent infestation, you should contact a rodent prevention expert. They can give you proper suggestion. You can hire Pest Control Rats Folsom. They can do proper inspection and suggest preventative measures.

I had voles eat my roses one winter when I covered them in leaves. Made a nice warm cozy place for them to live!! The next winter and every winter since I put mothballs around any plant, including all my roses and I’ve not had them eat anything since. They are around for sure but not eating my plants. I pick them up every spring and put in a ziploc bag until I reuses in fall. I will add to the old mothballs as they start to get smaller over time.

Hu, do you still cover them with leaves and just stick the mothball in the leaves?

You can make a trap out of scrap 2x4 wood and a couple pieces of plywood. Just attach the boards around the edges of one plywood piece then attach the other piece of plywood making a sandwich. Make sure you leave a small opening where two boards meet so the voles can enter and exit. Before attaching the top piece of plywood spread an inch or so of grass/leaves all over the bottom piece of plywood. They will build tunnels and nests throughout the leaves.

Lay the trap near the roses. Cover with some leaves etc. After a couple weeks or so just plug up the hole, and carry the trap where it would be safe to release the contents. Remove the top piece of plywood to empty the trap. If nothing is in the trap check to see if they have been inside, if so, then just replace for a couple more weeks. Since you have a large area just build more than one trap. Have fun.

Vaporvac, I don’t cover them anymore, just mothballs. My zone is 4b, tons of snow and subzero temps and they do really well.

Voles. I have bait stations similar to these these around my garden, barn, chicken coop and garage. Mine are a little different, purchased from an exterminator, but same idea. You fill them with bait from any big box store, D-Con makes one. You don't have to mess with dead voles. These worked immediately for us.