Voles are small furry creatures that look like mice and can wreak havoc on your beautiful garden. These seemingly harmless herbivores spend their days tunneling underground, creating a labyrinth of runways that disrupt your carefully planned landscape.
Voles are relentless chewers, feasting on the roots, bulbs, and tubers of your precious plants. Nothing is safe from their insatiable appetites. But fear not, there are ways to combat these vole invaders and reclaim your garden paradise.
1. Attract Vole Predators
Voles aren't at the top of the food chain, and many natural predators like owls, hawks, foxes, and even snakes find them quite tasty. So, creating a wildlife-friendly haven in your yard can significantly reduce vole numbers.
You can also build nesting boxes for owls and kestrels, put up bat houses, and provide perches for hawks and owls by installing bird feeders on tall trees. With a healthy population of these natural predators patrolling your garden, voles will think twice before taking up residence.
Exclusion is a highly effective method for controlling voles; therefore, by creating physical barriers, you can prevent them from entering your precious garden. Invest in sturdy wire mesh, also known as hardware cloth. Then, wrap this mesh around the base of trees and shrubs, burying it at least 6 inches deep to stop voles from burrowing under.
Voles also dislike navigating sharp gravel, thus, adding a layer of gravel around plantings or mixing it into planting holes creates an uncomfortable obstacle course for these furry trespassers.
3. Mouse Traps
As these traps are tricky, always handle them cautiously and keep them away from pets and children. For those seeking a quick solution, snap traps can eliminate voles efficiently. So, get rid of voles by placing these traps perpendicular to vole runways, aligning the trigger with the path they typically take.
Peanut butter is a common bait, but be sure to use these traps strategically and only if you're comfortable with this method.
If you prefer a more humane approach, consider using live traps like Havahart traps. These traps capture voles alive, allowing you to relocate them to a suitable habitat. Place the trap directly in the vole's path, parallel to a well-defined surface runway. Also, adding a bit of peanut butter as bait is optional, but it works.
However, always check local regulations regarding vole relocation before you leave them anywhere in the woods
5. Commercial Repellents to Deter Voles
Tired of voles in yard? Try commercial repellents, as they can be a useful tool in your vole control arsenal, but be mindful of safety and effectiveness. Always follow label instructions and wear gloves when handling these products.
While thiram-based repellents like "Shotgun Deer" can deter voles, they're not suitable for all plants and require frequent reapplication due to rain and fading effectiveness.
Similarly, predator urine products containing fox or coyote urine may also repel voles, but their success can vary depending on the specific vole population.
6. Using Natural Ingredients to Repel Voles
For those looking for an eco-friendly approach, nature offers some effective deterrents. As voles hate the smell of capsaicin, the hot ingredient in chili peppers, create a spicy spray by mixing chopped hot peppers, water, and dish soap. Apply this concoction around vole burrows to keep them away without harming your yard.
Alternatively, castor oil mixed with water can be sprayed around plants to repel voles with its unpleasant taste and odor.
Your garden design can play a role in vole control as well. So, plant members of the allium family like garlic, chives, and onions around your garden because the strong scent of these plants repels voles.
Don't forget about aesthetics and consider adding flowering plants such as daffodils, irises, salvia, and snowdrops. These plants are not only beautiful additions to your garden but are also naturally unappealing to voles.
8. Use Sound Devices
Sonic or ultrasonic devices designed to deter voles emit high-frequency sounds that are disruptive to the rodents' sensitive hearing. These devices are typically placed in the ground at intervals around the garden perimeter or in areas where vole activity is noticed.
The emitted vibrations and sounds mimic potential threats or disturbances, creating an environment that voles perceive as unsafe or unpleasant.
Importantly, these devices are considered non-invasive because they do not use chemicals or physical traps that could harm plants, pets, or beneficial wildlife.
9. Dry Ice Method
Using dry ice to eliminate voles is a method that takes advantage of carbon dioxide's properties to asphyxiate the rodents. Dry ice, which is solid carbon dioxide, is placed in vole tunnels where it sublimates—turning directly from a solid to a gas.
As it sublimates, it releases carbon dioxide gas, which is heavier than air, and displaces the oxygen in the tunnels. Voles, unable to breathe in an environment with low oxygen levels, suffocate and run away.
10. Flooding with Repellents
Mixing castor oil with water to flood vole tunnels is a natural and proactive method for controlling vole populations in gardens. Castor oil contains compounds called ricinoleic acid, which voles find unpleasant due to its strong odor and taste.
When diluted and applied to vole tunnels, this mixture creates an environment that voles perceive as unfavorable, prompting them to evacuate their tunnels and move away from the treated area. This approach is non-toxic to plants, pets, and other wildlife, making it a safer alternative to chemical pesticides.
Introducing natural predators such as domesticated ferrets or certain species of snakes can be a strategic and environmentally friendly approach to controlling vole populations in gardens.
Ferrets are agile hunters who excel at catching small rodents like voles, making them effective biological control agents when introduced into vole-infested areas. Similarly, snakes that prey on voles can help maintain a natural balance in the ecosystem by controlling vole populations.
12. Vibrating Stakes
Installing vibrating stakes in your garden is an innovative method to deter voles by creating vibrations in the ground. These vibrations mimic the footsteps or movements of larger animals or disturbances, which voles perceive as potential threats.
As a result, voles may avoid the area or relocate to quieter and safer surroundings where they feel less threatened. The effectiveness of vibrating stakes lies in their ability to disrupt vole behavior.
By simulating the presence of predators or disturbances, these devices provide a non-invasive way to protect plants from vole damage while promoting a balanced ecosystem in the garden.
13. Diatomaceous Earth
Sprinkling food-grade diatomaceous earth (DE) around vole burrows and pathways offers a natural and mechanical method to control vole populations in gardens.
DE is composed of fossilized remains of diatoms, which are tiny aquatic organisms with silica-based skeletons. These skeletons have sharp edges that puncture and dehydrate soft-bodied pests like voles upon contact.
As voles move through the diatomaceous earth, the abrasive particles damage their exoskeletons, leading to dehydration and eventually death. Importantly, food-grade DE is safe to use around plants, pets, and other wildlife.
Wrapping aluminum foil around the base of tree trunks and shrubs is a practical and cost-effective method to protect them from vole damage. The reflective surface of aluminum foil disorients voles, as they perceive it as a potential threat or disturbance. Additionally, the noisy texture of the foil can startle voles, deterring them from gnawing on the bark and roots of plants.
This method acts as a physical barrier that voles find uncomfortable, thereby reducing the likelihood of damage to plant tissues. It's a non-toxic and non-invasive approach that can be easily applied to vulnerable plants in the garden, providing effective protection against vole activity.
15. Predator Urine Powders
Sprinkling predator urine powders around your garden perimeter is a method based on exploiting vole's natural instincts and behaviors. The scent of predator urine, such as from foxes or coyotes, signals danger to voles, triggering a fear response that prompts them to avoid the area.
This natural deterrent can effectively reduce vole activity around your garden plants without harming the voles or introducing chemicals into the environment. By mimicking the presence of natural predators through scent, this approach offers a non-invasive and environmentally friendly solution to vole control.
Voles might be small, but the damage they cause to your garden can be quite noticeable. Here's how to identify vole activity and tell-tale signs of their destructive presence:
Tunnels and Runways
Look for small, shallow tunnels, a vole hole about 2 inches wide crisscrossing your lawn or running along the edges of flower beds. These are vole runways created by the voles themselves as they travel through your garden.
Wilting and Chewed Plants
Voles love to feast on the tender parts of plants. Therefore, wilting flowers, chewed leaves on shrubs, and patchy areas in your lawn could be a sign of vole feeding.
Gnaw Marks on Bulbs and Roots
Voles find bulbs and tubers like potatoes and carrots irresistible. If you dig up damaged or disappearing bulbs, or notice gnaw marks on roots of trees and shrubs, voles are likely the culprits.
Small, Dark Droppings
Keep an eye out for small, dark, pellet-shaped droppings around your garden. These are vole droppings, and their presence indicates vole activity.
Evidence of Burrowing
Voles like to burrow near trees and shrubs for shelter. So, look for small entry holes near the base of plants, or even piles of freshly dug soil around these areas.
Look for these signs, especially during peak vole populations (every 3-5 years) or in late winter/early spring when they're most active. By identifying vole damage early on, you can take steps to control their population and protect your precious garden.
What Do Voles Eat?
Voles are primarily herbivores, meaning they get their energy from plant material. Their diet consists of a wide variety of things they can find underground and above ground:
Most Preferred: Tender grasses, leaves, bulbs, and tubers.
Less Preferred: Roots, bark.
Here are some of Vole's favorite snacks from your garden -
Grasses and herbaceous plants: Voles' staple food source is grasses, and they happily munch on blades of grass, leaves, and stems of various herbaceous plants.
Bulbs and tubers: Theylove the concentrated energy stores found in bulbs and tubers, which makes them a target for these little garden pests. These include things like tulips, potatoes, and crocuses.
Roots: Vole's sharp teeth allow them to gnaw on the roots of trees, shrubs, and other plants. This feeding can damage or kill young plants.
Bark: While not their first choice, voles may gnaw on the bark of trees and shrubs, especially during winter when other food sources are scarce.
How to Prevent Vole Damage
Prevention is the first step to getting rid of voles. As these rodents thrive in greenish environments, dense vegetation, weeds, and meadows become safe havens for them, offering both protection from predators and a plentiful supply of nesting materials.
So, to make your garden unappealing to these furry foes, consider a clean-up operation and these other options -
Cut back overgrown brush, mow your lawn regularly, and pull up weeds to create a more open and predator-friendly space.
Remove woodpiles and any other potential hiding spots from near your garden, shrubs, and trees. Keeping your lawn mowed and trimming up bushes from the ground level further eliminates vole comfort zones.
Mulch can be a double-edged sword. While it helps retain moisture in the soil, it can also provide voles with a cozy winter blanket. To avoid creating an unwanted vole hotel, avoid placing dense mulch too close to the base of trees and shrubs.
Removing vole tunnels under snow is a new challenge in winter. So, remove snow from the base of trees and shrubs to discourage burrowing activity.
Additionally, protecting young trees with a chew-proof material like hardware cloth around the lower trunk prevents them from becoming a tasty vole snack.
Bird feeders can unintentionally attract voles, offering them a reliable food source. If you choose to keep feeders, ensure the ground beneath them is kept clean and free of spilled seeds to minimize vole populations.
A healthy population of snakes, hawks, owls, foxes, and badgers in your yard can help keep vole numbers in check.
Can Voles Infest a House?
While voles are excellent burrowers, they primarily live outdoors. They're more likely to take up residence in your yard than in your house. However, if you find voles in your garage or shed, they might have been seeking shelter during harsh weather.
Are voles hard to get rid of?
Voles can be persistent, and their hidden underground tunnels make them a challenge. The key is early detection and implementing a multi-pronged approach that combines habitat modification, repellents, and (if necessary) trapping.
Despite being mistaken for one another often, voles and moles share some surprising similarities. Both are small, subterranean creatures dwelling underground and creating networks of tunnels. This burrowing disrupts soil and can cause problems in yards and gardens.
Additionally, voles and moles have fur in shades of brown and gray, which contributes to the confusion between the two. While both voles and moles create tunnels, they differ in their habits and the damage they cause:
• Tunnels: Voles create shallow runways about 2 inches wide on the surface or just beneath it. But mole tunnels are deeper and more extensive underground.
• Diet: Voles are herbivores, feeding on plants and roots. Moles are insectivores, primarily eating grubs and earthworms.
• Signs: Voles leave visible runways and signs of gnawing on plants. Mole activity is indicated by raised ridges in your lawn and displaced soil around their tunnels.
