Voles, also known as meadow mice or field mice, are often mistaken for rats due to their appearance. However, once you notice them in your yard, the panic mode kicks in as they can ruin your carefully carved garden. Pest infestation is the most frustrating issue for homeowners with a yard or garden.
🌾 Top Signs of Voles in Your Yard & How to Get Rid
Pest control for the garden starts with awareness. If you notice sudden damage, gnawing marks, or brown patches of grass, it is possible that an animal or insect is severely affecting your outdoors. However, it’s a bit difficult to be sure if the animal in your yard is a Vole, Mouse, or mole.
❓ What Are Voles?
Voles, Mice, and Moles can look alike, but are entirely different. A vole is a rodent, related to the hamster family. It has a stockier body, shorter tail, small ears, and a blunt nose. They are herbivores and mainly feed on grass, roots, bulbs, bark, and seeds, which is exactly why your garden starts to look marred once a pest infestation occurs.
Voles create shallow runway systems in the grass, exactly below the surface. On the other hand, moles are insectivores, which means that they eat earthworms, Insects, and so on. Voles have small eyes and a short tail, while moles have very small eyes and big front paws.
Mice comparatively seem slim, with long tails and pointed noses, unlike voles. Mysterious tunnels, damaged plants, or disappearing bulbs are classic signs of vole infestation. When compared to voles vs moles, voles cause more damage to the garden.
Prevention is always better than a cure when it comes to garden pests. A proactive approach ensures your garden remains a sanctuary for growth, not a buffet for burrowing critters. Let's learn how to spot voles early and what to do if they've already moved in.
✦ Burrow openings
Voles create tunnel-like runways below the surface of the lawn from where they reach other plant roots, too. This creates shallow hole-like openings on the lawn surface, making your yard unsightly. These tunnels are about an inch or two wide. You can find such Tunnels just below the grass, along with under shrubs, or in dense ground cover. Around the openings, they usually don't have a large mound of soil.
✦ Dead patches in the lawn
The tunnels or runways that Voles create underground damage the roots of grass gravely. Voles also feed on grass. Due to that, dead patches in lawn areas start to appear. Voles eat roots as well as the fresh growth above the surface of the soil. This affects the grass and young plants.
✦ Plants that suddenly wilted or died (Especially Young Ones)
You may find gnaw marks on leaves and branches. If you see a plant that was bright and growing yesterday and is shockingly dead, brown, and wilted today, voles might be to blame. They eat young plants, leaving gnaw marks. Voles also eat roots, which causes the sudden death of the plant.
If you try to pull a damaged plant that seems to be attacked by an animal, which comes out easily with little or no roots, note that voles have started to affect your garden severely, and you need to amp up the protection.
✦ Soft Spots on the Lawn
Lawn spots under which voles have been active creating the tunnels, the surface becomes soft and soggy as the soil doesn't remain as strong. The ground might feel soft or spongy under foot due to the extensive network of tunnels just beneath the surface.
🐀 How to get rid of voles?
There are multiple ways you can address vole infestation in the garden. Most people start with those pest repellent solutions that consist of castor oil, peppers, and capsaicin help only a little with the vole’s presence in your yard. You have to reapply those repellents multiple times a day, and with more intense infestations, where voles might have populated, this spray won’t be as impactful.
✦ Professional Intervention
If you have tried some of the pest control methods and aren’t getting success, contact us at TMP All Pro; our experienced team will take care of your garden by eliminating all kinds of pests, including voles.
Professionals have professional-grade trapping or baiting to remove voles. They can also develop a long-term strategy to modify your landscape and make it inhospitable to voles.
✦ Grow plants like daffodils, garlic, and onions to repel Voles
Voles don’t eat certain plants, as some of them are poisonous to them, such as daffodils. Voles find strong scents like garlic and onions quite repulsive. You can try protecting your garden by including such plants strategically. This can come across as an impactful prevention against voles.
✦ Use gravel around plant bases
Voles can’t form tunnels around and under gravel. Use fencing as well as a 6-inch to 1-foot clear buffer zone of bare soil or gravel, especially around valuable plants. You can also use mesh wire cylinders around young plants. Make sure the mesh goes at least 4-6 inches (and 12-18 inches above). However, in winter, be even more cautious and go deeper.
Remember, a healthy garden is a resilient garden. Regular monitoring, proactive prevention, and swift action are your best defenses against voles and other garden pests. Don't let these tiny invaders undermine your hard work and enjoyment of your outdoor space.