North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[david.maxwell@dal.ca]

Just a word of clarification: there are two distinct kinds of voles - pine 
voles and meadow 
voles.  The former live underground and dine on the roots of your trees; the 
latter run in very 
shallow runways or tall grass, and eat seeds - and the bark of your trees 
when they can't get 
better fare, frequently under cover of the snow.  Tree guards, tubes, etc. 
afford protection 
against the meadow voles, but the pine voles are much more difficult to 
manage.  (I pour 
poison bait down the holes near the trunk.  One has to go back every day or 
two to add more 
until the entire colony has been exterminated.  The product I use is called 
Gopher Doom, but 
any anticoagulant based product should work.  If I could get it in Canada, I 
would use a 
product with vitamin D in preference, because it carries no risk of secondary 
poisoning.[It is 
available in the States].  Other than poison bait in the Fall, I rely on a 
large population of 
garter snakes in the orchard to try to control them the rest of the year.)

> 
> My losses from the voles here come from them eating all the roots off.
>  I've had tree where above the ground the tree is whole.  The only
> problem you see during the winter time is that the tree is tipped over
> unless it is staked. I've had it where I pull the tree out of the
> ground and it is like the tree was put into a pencil sharpener.  All
> the roots have been chewed off.  Are you saying all your chews are
> above ground?  I've had some chews above ground but 95-99% are below
> ground level.
> 
> Bob
> Western Washington