[permaculture] voles
Rain Tenaqiya
raincascadia at yahoo.com
Thu Sep 13 00:10:03 EDT 2007
We have a ton of voles here in northern California, hence a ton of vole predators too, since we live in a rural area. The only non-toxic strategy to deal with voles seems to be a multi-pronged approach. Increasing predator habitat seems worthwhile, but predators can't eliminate their prey completely or they will starve. As a permaculturist, I am focusing on perennial alternatives to annuals. Once established, perennials are generally more resistant to voles and gophers. They don't like woody stems and roots as much. Other solutions include the following:
1. create low barriers such as earth or solid rock walls, wire (1/2 inch poultry) fencing going a foot down and six inches aboveground, temporary plastic collars for young plants
2. spread out or thin bushes and low-growing vegetation to avoid creating preferred habitat
3. eliminate junk piles close to gardens
4. create open swathes or design in paths and roads around gardens to discourage voles from crossing
5. trap, trap, trap (mouse traps with peanut butter inside tubes or covered inside tunnels work well)
6. cats can be effective vole predators, and since they stick around humun dwellings, they actually can wipe out their prey, as long as they have some other source of food (but not too much)- my neighbor has some cats that were raised in a barn, so they are not used to killing birds and she hardly gives them any additional food, so she doesn't have to feel guilty about feeding a domesticated animal more protein than the average poor person gets
7. judicious use of non-persistant and relatively harmless vole poisons (vitamin K and other things are available) for emergencies
Please let us know how your situation evolves,
Rain
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