North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["victoria l. caron" <vicaron@gis.net>]

Your 'anti-vole paint' was written in Pomona quite a few years ago by Céline 
Caron of Québec. I always thought it would work well, but never get
around to concocting it. .............vic

Dan & Marilyn Mason wrote:

> vic,
>
> I've used mud made from clean clay subsoil to cover damaged areas
> of vole girdled young trees where the damage was not too deep. It
> works sometimes, depending how deep the damage was. Clay doesn't
> last long in rainy weather; it does wash off. Maybe your caulking
> sealer will work well. Time will tell.
>
> I have good luck using clay, fresh cow manure, lime, and warm
> water stirred into a thick paint and brushed onto the trunks of
> young trees in fall before snow stays. This works to deter voles,
> here. But we have continuous snowcover all winter. Where there was
> rain throughout the winter to wash the mud off I don't know how
> well this would work.
>
> I plant my grafted trees with the graft ending up a couple inches
> below the surface, so if there is damage to young trees there
> will be a pretty good chance the tree can come back from above
> the graft.
>
> I moved my raspberry patch away from the orchard. The hay mulch
> in the raspberries provided excellent shelter for voles and mice.
>
> The worst thing I ever did to some young plum trees many years ago
> was to paint their trunks with pine tar as a deterrent. This
> nearly killed them. Nothing bothered the trunks, but I'll never do
> it again.
>
> Good luck. Let us know how the caulking sealer trees turn out.
>
> Dan Mason  zone 3, NW ON, Canada
>
>
>
>
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