flora uk - We always wonder why foreign-born have trouble learning our brand of English. It helps to keep "abreast" of the language. I was just musing over the expression yesterday when speaking to my son. I said to him, "how can I fix my "remote?" Of course, all you savvy computer/TV folks would know what I meant, but what if some alien from outer space heard that - (one who was somewhat literate of the language - however). Just my 2 c's. P.S. I just read an article in Wikipedia about botulinum toxin. We talk about that a lot over on another forum. It was a bit interesting. One of those love/hate relationships, I'd say. Bejay

We have used Milorganite extensively on our garden beds this year to try and deter the deer and rabbits. This week we put out mouse traps to see what we could catch....voles have been in the traps. So sorry to say it doesnt chase away the voles. Be aware that Kaput is a very dangerous product if you have pets. The voles and mice are very tricky to catch setting off the traps without being caught. May try the Tootsie Roll on the trap, there is a video on You Tube for this. We may also try the bucket method, also on You Tube. After loosing so many plants to voles over the past two years we are on a vole mission!

Putting a barrier of hardware cloth is a good idea if you have problems with tunnelers and in a backwwards "L" 1 foot deep and 1 foot out can also help some, but voles (field mice) will also come into a garden on the surface and then tunnel down if the want to. Some people have had fairly good success running the barrier up about 2 feet above the soil level, while I have seen these wee buggers climb that high with no problem, just like squirrels will. The one good things is, like everybody else, voles often will not spend a lot of time and energy trying for food so the more difficult you makes things for them the less apt they will be to try to overcome those barriers as long as a food source is more readily avialable.

I never plant a hosta or any other potentially tasty plant in my Richmond, VA garden without putting it in a hardware cloth "cage" at planting time. I don't have as bad a vole problem as some people, but my neighborhood is fairly well wooded and home to lots of other burrowing critters. I lost more plants to chipmunk digging than voles before I started planting in cages. I tried several other deterrent products, but didn't find them to be as effective as the labels suggest. Also, the notion of having to constantly reapply them seemed cost-prohibitive. My cages are usually 8" or so in diameter and 10" deep, depending on the plant. I now make mine out of 1/4" galvanized hardware cloth ($13 per roll at Lowes) after discovering that the 1/4" is *much* easier to manipulate and cut than the 1/2" cloth. The wire gauge is smaller, but so far, they seem to be holding up just fine-- no appreciable rust or deterioration after 3+ years below ground. One roll of 1/4" cloth will make about 12 cages with bottoms. I can make up one roll's worth of cages in about an hour-- it's not super fun work (be sure to invest in some good wire scissors) but it's worth it to me. I spend way too much time and money to let my garden become a critter buffet. It's better to spend a few more minutes and an additional $1 per plant than to risk losing it entirely. Otherwise, you might as well dig a hole and bury a $10 bill.