How could a Permie deal with Voles?

Cory Fallon wrote:Dealing with voles in a permaculture-friendly way can be a challenge, but there are several effective solutions that align with sustainable practices. While beneficial nematodes can help control certain soil-dwelling pests, voles require a more strategic approach.

One of the best long-term solutions is installing a vole-proof fence. As a fence contractor in Port Arthur, I’ve seen many gardeners successfully protect their plants by using a fine-mesh barrier (such as 1/4-inch hardware cloth) buried at least 6–12 inches into the ground to prevent burrowing. Raised garden beds with wire mesh bottoms can also deter them.

In addition to fencing, incorporating natural predators like owls by installing owl boxes, using castor oil-based repellents, and planting vole-resistant crops can help keep their population under control. Mulch depth should also be minimized near plant bases, as thick mulch can create an inviting habitat for voles.

Hope this helps, and best of luck with your garden!

This is all true… but if your permaculture system involves small livestock like rabbits or chickens, having an abundance of rodends and wild rodent killers will eventually backfire on you. Voles bring in things like owls, foxes, weasels and other predators. All fine and dandy until they knock the vole population down and turn to your livestock. Or just realize early on that the chickens would be a way easier and better food source than chasing little voles anyway and skip the vole hunting all together…

This is why I try to maintain myself as the top predator on my property. I manage the populations of things so that nature/God doesn’t have to. Because it does not have the same priorities as I do.

Tommy Bolin wrote:Snowy owls can hear them under the snow from a silent hover. That feathered, round facial disk focuses sound to their ultra sharp ears. Dive/pounce.

That's really cool! I wanted to know more, so I found e.g. this: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9682441/

That picture of the vole is really cute.  the only time I have seen one was when I dog gobbled one up.

I just thought it was a mouse and was told otherwise.

Hey, guys, so glad to hear about the cornmeal bait.  I've been wanting to try it because the gophers and voles are just ruining everything.

Thanks, Maarten, for the info on the big PVC pipe.  Does it have to be a certain length?  Covered/hidden under sticks or anything?

VOLES =
I have lost a half dozen apple trees, one Pawpaw, many potatoes and suffered major disruptions to my vegetable gardens.
The  trees get girdled  below grade (looked like they were worked over by subterranean beave)..
I have use dry mole detergent when planting. Buys a year.
Last one I planted I put 24” pieces of chicken wire around outside of hole with 6” above ground. Lasted a couple years.
All the Internet experts said that would be deep enough.
I trenched for a new water line approximately 3 foot deep and crossed tunnels at that level so I guess my voles are more ambitious.
I give. New plan is to plant more trees like the ones they have not bothered. Plum and nectarine ( I have had a fungus problem with nectarines. If last years near oil did not solve I may ask for ideas on a new thread). May be peach.

My 7 beads mostly started out as in ground/sheet mulching with boarders of whatever was handy to contain materials I added material.
For all newer beads I put various chicken wire mesh at bottoms. Much less problem with these beads.

This  “solutions “ is decidedly non-permie :-/, but I have had a reduction in population with them.
TRAPS mostly the 1.5x4” rectangular one with a trip pan on one end and two claws on other end that do the deed.
Wear latex gloves. Open up a mound and set all tunnels into it. I cover with old pieces of plywood. Recommend you have a wire from trap to stake(s) so you don’t lose traps with voles to scavenging animals.
I have had good results with the expensive Golfer Hawk trap too.
I do leave dead voles across street where coyotes travel through. They are always gone in the morning. That’s sort of returning surplus… .

At beginning of last season I used mole/golfer smoke-booms from hardware store.
I smoked every hole I could find.
Gave me about half a season of peace.

Following YouTube instructions I made a PVC bait station loaded with rat bait.
Complete failure none of the bait was touched.
All of the videos seem to look like the Midwest and they talked about voles being on the surface.
I have never seen one on the surface, probably because of our heavy population of predator birds.
I did repurpose the bait station for my in town house where there’s an ample population of city rats that need dealing with so it was not wasted time or materials.

I am very interested in the nematode mentioned in this thread.
Can anyone tell me the correct type and or a source?

Ray Schmidt wrote:
Last one I planted I put 24” pieces of chicken wire around outside of hole with 6” above ground. Lasted a couple years.
All the Internet experts said that would be deep enough.

Does regular chicken wire do anything to stop voles burrowing? I can't imagine it does anything above ground...

Cristo,

I use a modified/easier version of this:


I didn't use a rod, I used a regular thin metal wire (I used wire that kept a roll of chicken wire rolled up), with a washer at the end for the bait to rest on. I didn't drill any holes, you just bend the wire over the top PVC pipe and the end cap keeps the wire in place. Didn't use glue either, very simple

Maarten

Voles climb plants and trees, so they aren't just on the ground or under it, using others' tunnels.   I put cardboard milk cartons around the base of  orchard trees and grapevines to keep them from gnawing.  it doesn't snow here, so the cartons last 2 or 3 years in full sun.  They can be painted to blend in.   I just cut down the long side, cut the bottom out, open the top, fit it around the base of the trunk like a big cuff, and clothes-pin it back together.  They haven't tried to dig under that for the last 20 years I've done it.  There is some plastic lawn edging that is about as high as your hand that can be cut into cuffs and put around the base of fruit trees, and paper-clipped together.  

I moved a black plastic garbage bag full of leaves I hadn't yet spread around, and out ran a mother vole with 4 babies hanging off of her, so avoid any kind of thing in the garden that provides cover, especially pallets used as edges of compost piles (they get up into the pallet when it's turned upwards,)  or as a  platform with plywood over the top, should be outside the garden far enough so they have to run across a good 4 or 5 feet of open space to get to the garden and could be caught by a predator, like an owl or a hawk.

I've changed over to dry-pour concrete platforms for chairs, and shady plant storage while they wait to be transplanted.  

I keep everything mowed as low as possible so they can't hide.

I have a young apple tree that the varmints ate the roots off of this spring.  I used some root powder stuff on what was left of the base of the tree, (tree was about 3 foot tall).
I stuck it back in the ground just thinking that if it grew great, but if not I would have some apple wood for the smoker.
To my surprise new growth is coming back on it !!  I also put a solar powered vole chaser near it to hopefully keep the critters back a bit.

I wanted to add that when putting a cuff around a fruit tree or shrub it should be very loose, like you can stick 2 fingers down it on either side of the trunk so there is plenty of air circulation.  If it's left on a long time and the trunk grows, then replace it with a bigger one to avoid having it get tight around the trunk.

Interesting about the garlic issue, works for some and not for others.  It works for me, especially elephant garlic, which is very prolific even in dry clay soil, I've got dozens of them growing near plants to protect them, only paid for the first bulb.

Dennis, congrats on your fruit tree save.   Are you going to surround the tree with protective plants so they won't come back for it?

My best protective plants for gophers and voles are asparagus, day lilies, elephant garlic, daffodil bulbs, narcissus bulbs (which multiply faster than daffodils)  and a native weed, dock, and a really great salvia Waverly is gopher/vole/rabbit/deer proof.   (Zone 9)  Waverly does okay with some frost.

Ideally you want metal chicken wire around and on the ground underneath your ground. You make sort of a L shape with the ground and sides to create a barrier for them and groundhogs.

If you don't have some sort of physical barrier. You kind of have to work with them lol. Grow enough to share. Plant garlic or onion next to them. Have a 22 handy if you want to take it there. I see them eating around my garden then they will nibble on mine a bit. Honestly they were here before the garden ever was so it is also there home. There's also peppermint oil, tobacco, cayenne pepper etc. mix them up with water and spray. May help. I haven't tried it yet.

Cristo Balete wrote:I wanted to add that when putting a cuff around a fruit tree or shrub it should be very loose, like you can stick 2 fingers down it on either side of the trunk so there is plenty of air circulation.  If it's left on a long time and the trunk grows, then replace it with a bigger one to avoid having it get tight around the trunk.

Interesting about the garlic issue, works for some and not for others.  It works for me, especially elephant garlic, which is very prolific even in dry clay soil, I've got dozens of them growing near plants to protect them, only paid for the first bulb.

Dennis, congrats on your fruit tree save.   Are you going to surround the tree with protective plants so they won't come back for it?

My best protective plants for gophers and voles are asparagus, day lilies, elephant garlic, daffodil bulbs, narcissus bulbs (which multiply faster than daffodils)  and a native weed, dock, and a really great salvia Waverly is gopher/vole/rabbit/deer proof.   (Zone 9)  Waverly does okay with some frost.

I do have solar mole/vole chasers out that work really good, but now, thanks to you, ;-)  I am going to plant some garlic near my trees!  Win Win in my book !!  Thanks for the idea.

Another temporary vole deterrant is a scare bird.   The bright yellow beak, and yellow eyes, and flat black body (a type of falcon) cut out of an old plastic lid for a tote container, hanging from the ceiling on a string.  I've made these out of cardboard but they don't do well in the rain.

I changed one of the greenhouses into a chicken wire covered greenhouse for greens that can't do the heat,  and hang the scare bird from the ceiling on a string where the breeze moves it around.  The Ravens can see it when the eyes are facing upwards, and flew over the greenhouse very low in pairs double checking on this enemy, so they believe it.  After a week or 10 days they seem to have relaxed a bit because the scare bird is in a "cage" and isn't loose in their territory.

So to deter rodents in general, in the hot greenhouse with the eyes facing down,  hang it on an S hook and string in different locations on the ceiling every few days since there isn't any wind in there.   If it's outside it can upset your real predators, owls, other falcons, hawks, so take it down at night or cover it up.  

Until I catch the voles and mice, the scare bird helps make them hesitant.

Dennis, just to be sure, the garlic and other plant deterrents only work down at the tunneling level.  Any voles that are above ground won't be deterred by garlic/asparagus/daylilies as far as chewing trunks or leaves and stems.

I just found the voles had circled the chicken wire basket I put Shasta Daisies in, exposed the top couple of inches to the air, so I filled that in with 1/2" rough rock (not round, slippery rocks.) and that stops them from circling, but wouldn't stop them from chewing.   I check those rocks every couple weeks by tapping with the end of the shovel to see if they've tunneled underneath the rocks.  Mostly they don't fall, but if they do, I just add more.

Lots of great ideas. When we create un-natural habitats, we end up with un-natural problems.

Personally, I'm not going to be purposely responsible for any creatures death unless it's me or them. I'm glad we're not there yet.

Predators. I don't want cats unless they're wild and make their living killing birds or whatever. I get cats now and my bird population starts going down and probably nothing does more for my garden pest control than the birds.

As much good predator habitat as I can make is what seems to work long term for any "pests".

Lots of things hunt and eat voles. Invite those things in as much as you can.

And until then if you really care about something, fencing/barriers in whatever form that works for you.

Cristo Balete wrote:Dennis, just to be sure, the garlic and other plant deterrents only work down at the tunneling level.  Any voles that are above ground won't be deterred by garlic/asparagus/daylilies as far as chewing trunks or leaves and stems.

I just found the voles had circled the chicken wire basket I put Shasta Daisies in, exposed the top couple of inches to the air, so I filled that in with 1/2" rough rock (not round, slippery rocks.) and that stops them from circling, but wouldn't stop them from chewing.   I check those rocks every couple weeks by tapping with the end of the shovel to see if they've tunneled underneath the rocks.  Mostly they don't fall, but if they do, I just add more.

Good point on the above ground varmints. ;-)
I do have a lot of 3/4" crushed gravel.  That would work on top of the mulch mats I have around the base of the trees, I would think.  Couple inches deep of that inside a circle of garlic and onions.  I will have to get a bunch more garlic though.
It would look nice, too.
I have 9 fruit trees and the rest of the garden.  Probably 50 garlic and 100 onions.  Onions I can start from seed in the winter.
Thanks for the idea's, Cristo Balete.

Dennis, I have not had onions work.  In fact, the voles have chewed chunks out of them as they sit on top of the soil.  They also went after some walking onions that were expensive, so I had to put chicken wire around those.

The latest plant I've just discovered gophers and voles leave alone is mustard, field mustard and salad mustard, which is pretty prolific in its ability to reseed.  Even traditional farmers on the West Coast will use mustard as a soil amendment between crops, so when they turn it under it adds biomass to the soil.  The salad mustard I got in a mix does well in a hot greenhouse and doesn't instantly go to seed, makes a nice, mild salad.

I also catch lots of mice and voles in a spinning can suspended over a 5 gallon bucket.  See below.  A wide stick leads up to the top edge of the bucket.  The can is suspended on a piece of wire coat hanger that reaches from side to side, and is at least 3 inches down from the top so they have to commit to the can when they jump from the edge.  It's a soda or beer can with holes just big enough to fit the wire through so it can spin freely and evenly.   There's a touch of peanut butter on the ramp stick and on the can that lures them in.   These are on YouTube, and some people plaster the can with peanut butter, but that isn't necessary.  Critters have such a good sense of smell a dab the size of your fingernail will tempt them.  Even the residual scent of the peanut oil will lure others if the first one ate it on the ramp.

Beware of small critters, baby birds, lizards falling into the 5 gallon bucket, so put it under a low patio side table.  Putting it where it's protected is also a big lure for a rodent because it isn't as exposed climbing the ramp.

I've used this style of bucket to catch the rodents trying to nest in the truck engine, too.  The bucket slides right under the truck bed in front of the back tire on the driver's side, so I don't forget it's there and drive over it!  I also spray the hard parts of the engine (no electrical parts) with peppermint and clove oils mixed in water, a little dish detergent, in a 30 ounce spray bottle.  

I'm not sure if this is helpful but it is interesting.

https://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/voles-moose-fungi-spruce

Cristo Balete wrote:Dennis, I have not had onions work.  In fact, the voles have chewed chunks out of them as they sit on top of the soil.  They also went after some walking onions that were expensive, so I had to put chicken wire around those.

The latest plant I've just discovered gophers and voles leave alone is mustard, field mustard and salad mustard, which is pretty prolific in its ability to reseed.  Even traditional farmers on the West Coast will use mustard as a soil amendment between crops, so when they turn it under it adds biomass to the soil.  The salad mustard I got in a mix does well in a hot greenhouse and doesn't instantly go to seed, makes a nice, mild salad.

Cristo, I was just down in my garden that I have had problems in.  I checked around the onions and my mustard's.   No activity near them.
I grow comfrey at the base of my trees also.  Good biomass there.
Next year I will try the mustards by my trees also.  Thanks for the idea.

Lots of fall work this year getting things ready for next spring.  Soil prep and amendments for garlic and onions.  Have more mustard seed on my list of things to purchase this winter, I might get a big amount of them.  I am thinking a 3 foot diameter circle around the base of the trees with mustard, garlic, onions and also the gravel.  I am looking forward to trying these new ideas!!

Voles and moles and mice love my raised beds and poly tunnels.  I woke up a family of mice when watering the Greenstalk.  They mostly enjoy the strawberry tray and avoid the herbs. I have to drown them out weekly, but they return regardless.

I read that voles hate having bulbs in the bed they want to infiltrate so I planted and left onions, beets, chives etc. and they have only occupied areas where the bulbs are not.  Next, I either stick a water hose in their hole and fill the bed, searching for the other entrances, and hopefully drowning remaining rodents, or I find and relocate some yard snakes into those holes and leave them to it.  Unfortunately the snakes then overwinter in my beds and may not be out by spring planting, but I try to work around them.  I have also noticed massive ant colonies move in once the snakes and voles leave, which I have not had too much trouble with, but drowning and bulbs seem to work best for me to remove voles and moles from raise garden beds.  In the lawn areas, once they daylight, my dogs and cats handle it very quickly.