This VoleBloc would help to protect your plants. You also can buy black wire waste baskets for $1 each at a Dollar store and plant each hosta in a basket in a hole. I did a few. You could compress the basket for being 9 or so inches deep and leave it 1 inch sticking out above soil level. I also used Castor oil which you can buy on the web, no need to buy the expensive pure oil. I did that too after they ate the bark of conifers. I used gravel as you can buy at Home Depot which is base for laying patio blocks, $3.70 per bag, underneath one part of my fence. The gravel is 6-8 inches deep and keeps all voles in the neighbors yard. I did that under 100 ft of fence.

Note that all these measures do not kill voles, but only let them go elsewhere to make a living. The best way is to get rid of them, kill them with traps (under a bucket over a hole), or with poison placed in their holes, so that they can bring that dinner to their families. Some people make open S shape plastic pipes with poison in it. You have to do all these things every year in case you have voles in your neighborhood. Two of my neighbors seem to breed them in piles of debris and grass clippings, would be useless to talk to them..

The Recipe For Organic Vole & Mouse Control

Large Area Applications Using A Hose-End Sprayer

• 1 - 2 Oz Castor Oil (DO NOT USE UNSCENTED CASTOR OIL!)
• We buy our Castor Oil from http://www.shayandcompany.com/castor-oil-1-gallon.html
• 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 (DO NOT USE UNSCENTED CASTOR OIL!)
• We buy our Castor Oil from http://www.shayandcompany.com/castor-oil-1-gallon.html
• 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 frosts.

NH Hostas solution. Others use their own castor oil concoction. It gives them diarrhea which fouls their tunnels and sends them off to your neighbor's place

I use Vole Block every time I plant a hosta. After I've dug the hole and built up my little cone to put the crown on, I cover it with Vole Block, put down the crown, then put more Vole Block. I think Bob Solberg recommended this, making a sandwich of the roots with Vole Block. Then the soil.

Vole Block is porous, pea gravel is not.

Kathy