Voles would be my guess.

Voles have always been a pain here, but I don't know why they suddenly went after the butterfly bush after all these years. They usually go after the bulb plants in the enclosed back yard! There are black snakes with free reign in the front yard that usually keep the voles away.

When they eat my bearded irises I can see obvious holes, too, but I didn't see any holes here. That's why I immediately worried about insects and/or disease that might spread to other plants.

But you could definitely be right. Stupid voles kill all of my good plants >:-(

Voles are my guess too. Darn them! I've had several plants that look great one day, droopy the next, and when I go over to see what's wrong, the whole plant comes up, just as you described. They've eaten the roots of new plantings of hostas and the roots of a rose that was there for 20 years. Go figure.

Sorry for you! If you find a good solution please share with us! It's a constant battle here.

:)

Dee

Are you sure they were eaten and haven't just died in a cold winter and rotted off? Would voles really eat all the roots off a 15 year old Buddleja? Wsn't it enormous?

Floral, I’ve lost huge rose bushes to voles and you know how massive their roots are.

I lost a good-sized one to winter and it looked the same. In my case, I'm almost positive it wasn't voles.

In my experience, which admittedly is limited, any time you can lift an entire shrub off the ground just by pulling on one branch, it's voles. I would think if it's winter kill the roots would still give some resistance if you pull on a limb, no?? The roots wouldn't rot that quickly, would they?

:)

Dee

If you find a good solution please share with us! It's a constant battle here.

@diggerdee zone 6 CT, when I divided my hostas a few years ago, I dug the new hole about 4 times too large and lined it with a plastic screen that I had on hand from God-only-knows-where. But it looked a lot like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Fencer-Wire-Black-Plastic-Hardware/dp/B079ZN99CY/

I left about 1" of it above ground.

Voles have gone after the irises that I didn't line, but so far the hostas are untouched!

Another thing that I do... I grow hot peppers, and I use the ones that are ugly or damaged to create a pest repellent. It's easy, I blend the peppers with water and a squirt of dish soap, then strain it into a spray bottle.

One squirt at the base of each plant each time I water or if it rains. I also spray the leaves for the plants I have near the woods, to repel deer.

This would be WAY too much work to use on every plant that I have, but it works great to protect my veggies :-)

Jason thank you. Interesting that the voles don't squeeze through that mesh... I have considered this but wasn't sure how effective it was. A pest control guy once told me a mouse could squeeze through a hole the size of my thumbnail, so I was unsure how it would work. My gardens are pretty full so I don't know if I could (or would want to lol!) dig a hole that large, but I suppose I could still try the mesh.

I once bought some kind of mesh for bulb planting. I forget what they called it but it was basically a nice name for chicken wire. I was so scratched up and bleeding by the time I finished planting those dozen tulips I thought the heck with it, the critters can have them lol! But this plastic mesh looks much better to work with!

And you find that the pepper spray works too? Even though it's above ground?

:)

Dee

FWIW you can take solace in the inevitabity of a population crash. Don’t knock youaelf out because their number will plummet. A snake, a fox, a virus will do the job for you!

I finally took some pics of the chewed roots today. These are three separate sections:

The last two pics show a clear area where they were chewed. Those areas are about 8" wide! But they were underground so it had to have been a vole and I just didn't see the holes.

Don’t knock youaelf out because their number will plummet. A snake, a fox, a virus will do the job for you!

@kitasei2, I don't know, I've been here for close to 20 years and have always dealt with voles :-/ I have black snakes all around that I protect, but I still have a plethora of voles and ants (I'm super allergic to ants, too!).

Interesting that the voles don't squeeze through that mesh... I have considered this but wasn't sure how effective it was.

@diggerdee zone 6 CT, I don't know where my mesh came from, but here's what I have:

I used it on impulse a few years ago when dividing my hostas, and left an inch or two above ground so that there was a short little wall around them. That worked perfectly, until the hostas grew into the mesh! This year when I dug them up, I had to weave a lot of roots out of the mesh.

So THIS time, I dug the holes about twice as wide. I didn't go underneath, I just lined the edge.

I'm not sure exactly why it works, but you might could hoe a border around your garden and use mesh to make an edging. I haven't seen any of them jump over the mesh, so that might be enough.

And you find that the pepper spray works too? Even though it's above ground?

I just use it on veggies that are in the front yard (outside of the fence), I lightly spray the leaves and base. I haven't had anything chew on them in years!

To some degree, I think that there's a learning curve for the animals.

Kind of a funny story, but that first year I sprayed my tomato plants using a mixture with Thai dragon peppers. I was in the side yard and suddenly heard this huge ruckus, something big crashing through the woods! Scared the crap out of me, I thought there was a bear!

I ran over and just saw a big deer running. I thought maybe she'd been snake bitten? So I went over to investigate and saw that she'd pulled one of my tomato plants out of the ground! I guess it took her a second to chew the leaf and get that taste?

After that happened, I haven't seen another deer eat any of my plants :-O I throw out apples and stuff on occasion to make sure they come around, but none of them have even licked my tomato plants! LOL

I suspect that they smell the heat and that's enough to keep them away.

I grow way more peppers than I could eat, so I've thought about making an organic pest repellent spray to sell... both for fun and as a small side hustle. I don't know how much people would pay, though.