North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Sue Christensen <sue@hoodel.com>]

At this point I may have to rename my farm  "Vole Haven" !  Darn 
it-I'd like to know how people deal successfully with voles!!!

My young trees have hardware cloth barriers, we mow and trim the 
weeds. We're still infested with voles in the main garden. Currently 
we use traps and catch around 6 a day, but they are still coming! In 
there, they've gnawed through squash plants and eaten the beets and 
potatoes down to nubbins. I'm worried about my small fruit shrubs now 
too. I understand the buggers can climb at least somewhat so how does 
that help surrounding an area with protective hardware cloth 
barriers? I was thinking of trying Lee Reich's no-till ideas, but now 
I'm wondering if all that compost/mulch lying on top of the ground 
might be yet another draw to these buggers to breed in. There used to 
be native barn cats all over, but I see fewer of them now and am not 
sure what happened to all of them as there is obviously FOOD here!

What on earth did people do about voles historically when they 
required much larger gardens for self sustenance? What do you all do 
to protect your investments in plants and time from these pests?

Thanks,
Sue in Pennsylvania