Kitasei,

I will let someone with knowledge on root caging of roses to protect them from voles answer your question, but maybe hardware cloth can be substituted with small spaced chicken wire, double layer. It may be considerably cheaper and easier to construct the cage with chicken wire.

I don't know what strategies you have taken so far in combatting the voles, but if you are not against poisoning them, it may be the most effective and practical route of take.

I can see the voles accessing your roses' roots by merely crossing the upper edge of your cages above ground at night to access the roses' roots. I hope I am incorrect in voicing this possibility, and voles are not that highly motivated to figure out an above ground route to eat rose roots.

Moses

I made a gopher basket out of hardware cloth, 1/2" grid. I took a big piece, cut corners to make a box shape, made it at least 6" taller than 'dirt level' and folded the flaps down to cover the surface. I got lazy the next year for my fig tree, and left the upper portion up, but it's a foot over the dirt level, and nothing has tunneled down inside.

Voles aren't gophers, and they do go across the soil surface to find things to eat.

I know that, but a basket is a basket regardless of which critter it's intended to foil.

Thanks for all the advice. I did make baskets of hardware cloth, about 12-18"deep and wide, with top protected as well. I hope rose roots will not have trouble getting through 1/2" openings if they need to.. Now, should I dig up the roses already planted and do the same? It's so discouraging to keep getting knocked back to square one! I was hoping I could make big aprons around them, and maybe insert the mesh in trenches?

My fancy vole traps that worked so well the first week have become useless..

The joy and angst of gardening!

Kitasei- ugh!!! These creatures are vile. I have lost at least 20 roses to vole damage from this past winter. I am replanting them in inverted nursery pots with 1/2 inch holes drilled for the roots to grow through with crushed oyster shell at the bottom, across the top and surrounded by a crushed oyster shell moat. I'm replanting my roses in between the rain and will be doing this with all my new own root roses. I was going to go the hardware cloth cage but it would eventually rust leaving my roses vulnerable. I read that it takes about 100 years for the oyster shells to decompose so that works for me. A couple years back I lost a huge 15 year old Zepphie to voles. They ate her entire root system. A hardware cloth cage would be long gone by then. You can buy crushed oyster at poultry feed stores or at Tractor Supply if you have one in your area. Because the crushed shells are sharp it is supposed to deter the voles from digging. I am also planning to spray with peppermint oil since I've read that voles don't like the smell of peppermint. I'll try to do this through the winter at least until it snows. I don't know if it will help or not but I'm willing to try anything sort of poison.

Madgallica also suggested removing all mulch in the fall since this is a great hiding place for them I will be putting hardware cloth collars that I painted green around my roses in the fall as a further barrier.

Good luck with your battle.

Sharon

Your damage sounds like gopher damage to me. I have plenty of experience with both. Good luck with your rodent problem. Diane

Caging, in my opinion, just gives the rose time to mature a bit - a fighting chance if you will - before it is attacked by moles or gophers. Chicken wire disintegrates within a year here but hardware cloth works better. Voles, however, just start their tunneling within the cage sometimes. The only method besides poison is 1. Castor oil repellent - only short term control, not that cheap for a large garden 2. An outdoor cat. My cat brings me moles and voles occasionally.

I'm having a bigger problem right now with raccoons and possibly armadillos digging for grubs at the base of my roses. If it's not one thing, it's another!

Dave, I just caught some armadillos in the act or rather my dog did first. It totally went under a big Jude the Obscure leaving it rootless. Wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it!

That particular one won't be doing it again though. Nanadoll, I've been thinking of your Jude whenever I look at mine now! Hope yours is doing better.

Kisesai, good luck with your voles!

I found 1 Heritage and 1 Polka rootless a few weeks ago, potted them up, hopefully I can save them. Voles went through chicken wires to damage these 2 roses. I ordered Just One Bite to control voles.

I don't have voles but I read on A Way to Garden that planting garlic and onions around your beds can deter them. Good luck everyone. Voles make my spider mite problem seem mild in comparison.

http://awaytogarden.com/foodscaping-brie-arthur/

Thanks totoro. That's nice to know, I can try some garlic in the backyard. I just found out today, I lost Perie d'Or to the voles, all the canes got chewed off at the base. I hope there is still some root left......

Is there a way to poison voles without endangering my chickens, which free range part time? I have avoided that but am now desperate...

Kit- the problem with poisons is they don't discriminate. Since the voles don't die instantly any natural predator risks being poisoned too plus household pets. Jim from PA used poison that his dog got ahold of through ingesting the dying vole and his dog almost died.

My daughter has issues with either mice or voles getting in her car. Peppermint has been a great deterrent. I have also read that people spray peppermint oil around the foundations of their summer homes in the fall to keep rodents out throughout he winter. I'm not sure if this would work or not. The voles only seem to bother my plants in the winter so i'll be drenching their roots come late fall and periodically throughout the winter until the snow falls.

I'm planting my roses in inverted nursery pots with the bottoms removed and 1/2 inch holes drilled on the sides for the feeder roots to grow through. I put a layer of crushed oyster shell at the bottom of the planting hole, fill the pot with soil, form about a 1-1/2inch moat around the sides of the pot and a 2 inch layer of crushed shell across the top of the rose. I was going to make hardware cloth cages but they eventually rust. In the fall I want to put a hardware cloth collar around the canes with the top edge flared out so they can't climb over it. I won't know if my methods will work until next spring but they're worth a try.

Good luck with your battle!

Sharon

I use 1/4" hardware cloth; local pine voles are tiny and 1/2 " would not even slow them down. I make a big cylinder and line the hole with it. Ideally it should extend about 4 inches above the soil, and 8 to 10 inches below. They don't tunnel very deeply.

I've caught exactly one vole with a snap trap, none with the live trap. Earlier in the season when there were vole holes everywhere I dropped chunks of bait down the holes. I had read that they sometimes push the bait right back out, so I put bricks over the holes.

One of my golden retrievers can smell right where they are and wants to dig them out. I watch where she goes and stab the ground madly with a pitchfork, then pound the soil back flat with a shovel. I did the same thing when they started in on a Stoke's aster and the voles moved on! However they did suck one phlox right down in a matter of hours; so I took the 2 survivors and potted them up. I miss all the perennials I had among the roses.

Boy do I have a lot of stuff in pots. I am NOT winning...

barbarag-I'm so sorry to hear of your battles. These creatures are vile. The problem with 1/4" hardware cloth is that the holes are too small for the large roots that roses put out and probably would damage the roots. In my research quite a few people have had success with the crushed oyster shells or products like Permatil or Espoma Soil Perfector which is crushed ceramics. I was even considering a moat of crushed glass. That would probably work really well but would be a lot of work to generate the amount of glass I would need.

Sharon