voles

I think voles girdled my shrubs. The gnawing occurred below the snow line, most of the shrubs survived this but the girdling set back the trees a year or more... I can't afford these setbacks in the orchard... need some return on investment. Any ideas how I can keep them off my shrubs.

I've read to surround your precious trees with peastone 1-2 ft out from the trunk, and use hardware cloth (a tight wire mesh) around your trees. leave enough hardware cloth for years of growth, until the bark is at the stage where it starts to scab off and is no longer smooth. Bury the hardware cloth a few inches in the ground, and make sure it is wide (tall) enough to be well above the anticipated snowline. Good luck!

See this thread.