athenainwi, would love to rent your dog for a weekend. We have two dogs and feral cats around here (not mine) and still have a huge problem. A young falcon was sitting on the fence last year, I said to myself "hmm that's cool", just about that time it launched itself off the fence and snagged a vole and landed in the cherry tree about ten feet from my viewing spot. I was sad to see it leave after it finished it's lunch. Would love to find a "cure all" for these buggers

Cricket Love, believe me once it sunk in, I was happy my yard is so private. I probably would be in jail or mental hospital if the neighbors had seen me. I was devastated, crying, swearing, stomping you name it I was doing it. LOL I will wish you luck but be prepared. It is a fight, you have to be committed. They can wear you down. It hurts to look at your gardens all pretty and come out and it is all gone in one night. They survived they came back this year so I have been out with all my sprays and anything that I can do to have my gardens. Solid fence does not work have that on one side, Believe me they will jump. I have sat in my morning room and watched them flying over the fence right into the middle of my hosta bed. mosswitch is right groundhogs will eat your hostas. So I have double trouble. I constantly have had them eat a garden and I find the hole stuff it with used kitty litter top it off with a three bags of dog poop. I have a Mastiff so it is big poop. That keeps them out for about a month. I did not have the heart to take a pic of the entire garden but I took a picture of my Sum and Substance before and after. Just a sample to give you a visual of what to expect. Do you think you can take this? LOL

I live in the country in WV. I live on 2 acres with woods surrounding 2 sides. We have a lot of deer. One year, a deer chased my approx 50 lb dog across our back deck. Another time we watched a mother deer nurse her twins from our living room window about 20 feet away. They eat our shrubs, hostas,new trees,etc. We hadnt seen our tulips bloom for yrs. tried many tricks. Dial soap, hair, mix of cayenne pepper etc to spray on plants and more. Nothing helped. Then about 2 yrs ago, I read about Milorganite. I decided to give it a try. I left my front yard as the trial untreated area. I hung knee hi sacks of about 1.5 cups of the stuff in trees and shrubs around the perimeter of my back yard where most of my plants are, and where I wanted a veggie garden. When I tried planting veggies before, all I accomplished was feeding the deer. Anyway, for two blessed yrs I had tulips, hostas and veggies. Nothing was bothered in my backyard. I did see them walking the perimeter tho, and things were still eaten in the front yard, including my new willow rubbed in half. My veggie garden goes untouched. There is no odor from it. Just dont get the bag wet, or you wont want to use it. I found that out when I needed to reapply beginning of the 3rd yr, and wen to scoop some out. Once the bag is wet, the smell is worse than any outhouse you have ever smelled when you disturb it. There is no noticeable smell until you dig in then, but if kept dry, its fine. I couldnt believe that it lasted full yrs. If you have deer problem, give this a try. The sacks in hosery are not even noticeable. Tammy

In the midst of all the grub and cannibalism reports, one little thing about voles stood out sharply to me in one of the posts, and was unremarked upon by others: The relationship of mulches to voles: I have very large gardens and serious vole problems (not moles), but this year I was keeping careful notes and it is the beds with the mulches that had the worst damage. Also the beds with plants that had been carried in large pots with a loose composted-bark laden potting soil for a summer. (I moved three truckloads of plants from my VA garden several years ago. In order to do that I had to pot them up in large pots, so they still have reservoirs of this transitional soil around them.) My native soil is a gravelly loan but I have expended a lot of effort to incorporate huge amounts of organic matter in the beds and been rewarded by the damned voles. In the newer areas which haven't been in cultivation for as long I had much less damage, even for similar (meaning identical) stock plants. So I'm going to be rethinking this. I make and apply dozens of yards of compost every year, a big component of it is composted wood chips which leave a wonderful texture but are apparently heaven for voles. Aside from my six cats (who easily kill a vole apiece per day), the only other things that seems like a good bets to me are paying much more rigid attention to removing scruffy areas late in the season and making a final big push to remove every vestige of landscaping fabric which provides cover for the voles. Has anybody made wire fabric or screen vole guards around the bases of shrubs? I only see above-ground damage up to about 6 or 7 inches, so that might be feasible. Do you think they would go over and then down in? My poor Exbury Az. had a hard time of it this year. Makes you want to cry to waste three or four years growth! But they don;t seem to have done thier usual damage to the Sib. Iris. I suppose thay are saving that for late April ....@#$%^&(*&?! Molly~