[NAFEX] No voles here

david.maxwell at dal.ca david.maxwell at dal.ca
Mon Apr 26 11:22:55 EDT 2010


> >I think that is an interesting theory about voles eating the roots of
> >young trees and should probably be looked into by someone.  What I
> >see on black raspberry plants here is not the voles chewing on the
> >canes so much as eating the roots, particularly the large roots near
> >the crown of the plant. 

I can't speak for other places, but here in Nova Scotia we have two different voles: the 
meadow vole, which remains largely on the surface, and chews the trunk, and the orchard 
vole, which lives largely in underground tunnels and eats the roots.  Most growers report 
having only the meadow vole.  I have orchard voles, and have lost several trees to their 
activities.  Being subterranian, they are not as easily poisoned with surface bait stations.  But 
I too have an abundant population of garter snakes, who obviously are adept at crawling 
down narrow holes.  I have also tried dumping bait down the holes and then covering the hole 
over with a piece of wood to stop other animals getting it.



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