By: Chuck Friedrich, RLA

Most gardeners think of moles when they notice that some critter is tunneling under their yard or garden.  When plants and bulbs start disappearing, the moles have nothing to do with it.  Moles are insectivores, which means they eat bugs, grubs and worms.  If plants are falling over from chewed roots and bulbs are no longer where you planted them, you probably have got voles.  Voles are small rodents often referred to as pine and meadow mice.  Pine voles are reddish brown and small, about two to four inches long, with a short tail, blunt face, and tiny eyes and ears.  They spend much of their time underground in an extensive tunnel system usually less than a foot deep.  One to two inch diameter entrance holes may be noticed in the lawn or garden.

Distraught gardeners have called me in tears having lost several hundred dollars of hostas and other plants.  A study done at Cornell University cited that when under ideal conditions, two mating voles can start a population of 30,000 voles in one acre of land within a one year period.  Because they like to stay underground, natural predators, other than snakes, have a hard time getting them.  So what’s a gardener to do?  First, you must determine that voles are the culprits.  Place a small glue trap next to the hole with a small bit of apple or grape in the middle of it, then place a box over the trap and hole and weight it down with a rock or brick.  The next day, you should have one stuck dead or alive (this method is not for the squeamish).  You will never catch them all.

Depending on your level of frustration or love for all animals on earth, you have a few choices.  To completely kill them off may be impossible if you live in a wooded area because new ones will take over.  Sticking a water hose in the hole and turning it on will just amaze you because after an hour not one drop of water or vole will come to the surface.  Rodenticides (rat poisons) can be hazardous to people and to non-target wildlife and pets.  It is a violation of Federal Law to use pesticides inconsistent with label directions.  This means the poison must be labeled for outdoor use to control voles.  Use such products with extreme caution.

The safest and most effective way to protect plants and bulbs is to create a barrier between the vole and its lunch.  It has been known for a long time that voles do not like to tunnel through coarse materials.  Instead of having to wrap roots in wire mesh cages, simply create a barrier out of a coarse aggregate with jagged edges.  Broken glass is not recommended; you want to cut the vole, not yourself.  VoleBloc is perfect for this application because it is safe, non-toxic, easy to use, lightweight, it promotes rooting, and it is permanent.  VoleBloc is made from a kiln-fired lightweight aggregate.  Jim Nunweiler at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia significantly reduced the damage from hundreds of plants to just a few using VoleBloc. Rodent Poisons on the ground at a family them park are out of the question.

To protect existing plants, using a garden fork or spade, dig a four-inch wide, one-foot deep “moat” around the drip-line of the plant.  The drip-line is where drops of water would hit the ground from the most extended leaves.  After the “moat” is dug, fill it with the VoleBloc to the top.  Voles also like to tunnel under mulch so it’s best to reduce the mulch around the plant and use VoleBloc as a mulch inside the moat instead.

For new plantings, after tilling the beds, make the planting hole twelve inches wider and two inches deeper than the root ball.  Place two inches of VoleBloc in the hole.  Then set the root ball on top of the VoleBloc and backfill around the roots with 100% VoleBloc, completely surrounding the roots.  Mulch with VoleBloc around the stem.

For bulbs, place two inches of VoleBloc in the hole and place the bulbs; surround the bulbs with VoleBloc leaving just the tips exposed.  Finally, place a 50% VoleBloc/soil mix over the bulbs to the desired depth.  Don’t worry about daffodils because they are poisonous to voles.

Voles are becoming a bigger problem in the home landscape as development reduces wooded areas.  People have witnessed dancing plants in the garden that all of a sudden fall over, cut off at the roots, or helplessly watch them get sucked down into the ground just like in a cartoon.  Methods like VoleBloc may discourage voles from the garden and send them back to their natural diets in the woods or at least over to your neighbor’s yard.  So watch out for groups of quarter sized holes in the lawn or garden, damaged roots, and dancing plants.

For more information, call toll free (877) 737-6284 or go to the website:  www.volebloc.com.