our snow is gone now but most likely we will get a couple more snowfalls. When i walked around my big front flower bed I noticed holes so I walked into the bed and some voles or mice ate my bulbs...peeled them apart in sections. They did this in about 5 different areas...the bed was completely under snow so it couldn't of been anything else. I also noticed vole trails through parts of the lawn.....I hate those things they do more damage than the rabbits ...Now to try to figure out which bulbs they destroyed so I can try and replace them.
I hate voles, mice and moles. They tear up everything here. Yours are just sneakier than mine using the snow to hide their nasty deeds.
That would make me want to cry Sherry. Do you know a good cat? Ours caught a mouse on the screened in porch this winter.
Oh Sherry--I know what you mean. Here it's rabbits, moles and mice. It's always such a battle. I really feel for you. I really admire that plot there I have seen your pictures of it and I find this dreadful news. I hope that you can put an end to these troublesome beasts in your yard.
Voles look like a mouse with a long nose. I think they use the nose for digging and uprooting things. They seem to be getting worse every year. I know they might be drawn to the backyard because of the bird seed but we keep it swept up as well as we can in the winter. I had a mouse trap that catches them inside of it so no other animals will be harmed but someones dog must of ran off with it. I checked the whole yard...I think the peanut butter you use for bait must of been a favorite of the dog that stole it.
Hi Sherry...I feel your pain. I had voles in Virginia, the ate all the roots of my hostas and oriental lilies. I used a castor oil based spray and some other product that I put in the holes but never could get rid of them. I ended up planting all my new plants with gutter screening around them so they could not get to the roots. I also had a bad problems with rabbits. Here in TN its the chipmunks and squirrels. It always something!
gfreiherr...I have had them through the years but they must of been more hungry this winter or they multiplied. I have put baskets of wire around some plants but some I have had in the ground since I moved here so it is impossible to do it to them. I am thinking seriously about doing it to anything new I plant but you never know where they will strike....rabbits were better this year, I left the spirea for them so they would leave other things alone and they only chewed a little. Our neighbors said an owl was on our roof the other morning so maybe he will help us out with the voles.
Sherry, always frustrating to hear about critter damage in the garden :'( there is no sure remedy, you just have to be vigilant and wage war! :-x good luck!
