How to Remove Voles From Your Garden
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- Опубликовано: 5 июл 2024
- Today on Ned’s Garden we review how to remove pesky voles (field mice) from your garden. We cover: eliminating vole habitats, de-bunking vole-repellent myths, and the way we’re eliminating voles from our garden.
Be careful where you plantin castor plants! All parts of the plant are poisonous and should not be consumed by humans or animals. I recommend not allowing the plant to flower/seed as a precaution.
I’ve had moles and voles in my yard and garden. Tried most all of the methods of repelling and killing. But you have to be vigilant. I have two very effective methods of killing moles and voles. This summer I had a plot of sweet potatoes and I set two of those home made PVC Ts that use apple bates. They work well if you keep them fresh and clean. I made the mistake of letting them go unattended and the voles got into my sweet potatoes. I also made the mistake of not using my number one killing method for moles and voles. Here it is. Buy an old lawn mower if you don’t already have one. Take it to a muffler shop and have the welder weld a water pipe onto your exhaust. The pipe should be threaded (threaded water pipe at Lowes). Two two-foot lengths, a couple of elbows, and a joint should so it. Attach to your mower’s exhaust, move to a fresh vole or mole hole, insert the end of your pipe into the hole, crank up your mower and let it run for a while. The exhaust will asphyxiate all voles in that run. Be careful not to touch the hot pipe. Wear thick gloves or use channel lock pliers. This works, but you must be sure to treat all runs. I use tennis balls to stop up holes close to where my pipe is inserted. God told us to have dominion over all the earth (Gen. 1:26), and that includes keeping voles and moles from destroying your home, yard and garden. Good luck.
Thanks for sharing, this sounds similar to the guy earlier that said he used the exhaust from his tractor and run it for a couple of hours.
id just use my vehicle i think and a garden hose
I have a neighbor cat that catches the voles in our front yard. Our garden this year is pots and raised beds wire on the bottom, our cardboard moving boxes, rock on top of the cardboard then the soil. Sprayed castor oil on the raised bed forms. We shall see.
I've found that just putting a wooden mouse trap (with or without bait) in the path carved out in the grass, covered by a 5 gallon bucked will work. I got 30+ this winter. One other note is that voles draw ticks, since reducing the population the year before the tick population dropped dramatically.
@MrAac2020 I've used peanut butter with oatmeal sprinkled to bait them. I've found in the cold-frame the ants eat the peanut butter off the trap before the voles can get it. ya can't win. I thought the groundhogs/deer were doing all the damage to the plants, built a huge fence, then electrified it. One morning while weeding I watched the damned voles walk right under it and tear apart a tomato. Was like a scene out of bugs bunny. Also found keeping the ground clear of debris leaves/weeds (hiding places) discourages them as well. Will be installing 1/4 mesh this year around the entire perimeter burred and 6" above to discourage them. Went so far as putting solar lights up to help the owls at night spot the buggers.
@MrAac2020 I do not believe voles get very large
This is great to know.
Great to know
If that works, I am in luck. I have a bunch of traps and quite a few buckets.
Do you have a follow up video on how this method worked for you?
Wish you made the video after seeing if the castor plants and infused earth was actually effective
Get a sniper rifle with a night vision scope for voles. Add in a six pack of beer and you're good to go.
Hallelujah
Wow you speak so clearly and planned out without being confusing. Thanks for the results you got from the different methods and have to agree the noise maker only bothered me - no animals not even barking neighbor's mutt dogs! Waste of money! Don't want to grow caster plants, saw one get 12 feet tall in a Chicago yard. Was large and took over the small dirt space. Look forward to seeing your results.
Mouse trap with birdseed glued to trigger put next to hole with a little birdseed around . Cover with upside down flower pot or heavy box. Keep out birds and possum.
I use a repeating mouse trap placed in their runway.
Caught about 40 voles in a summer month. Reduced their population significantly.
Cutting grass short lets owls and foxes get to them easier as well.
Thanks Ned for this info, I've discovered just today some holes in my garden where my potato plants use to be!!! I say used to be because they were there a few days ago now they have completely disappeared🤔😳!! Voles could definately be the culprit here😒, the holes look just like what you find in your garden..and they're everywhere!!! Thanks so much, I'm gonna close one hole like you suggested and check it next day so thanks you've been huge help!! Blessings on your channel😉
HI Ned, Just wondering if the castor plants are working...How do you feel the Mole and Vole repellent is working? Do you recommend one over the other? Thanks!
MoleMax & other castor oil repellents do work, to a degree. Sonic spikes- no. Mole traps- no. Voles don't seem to repeatedly use tunnels like moles do. I think they're just eating a path of roots, then on to the next one to forage. My yard (metro ATL) backs up to woods, and I've been fighting voles for years. Especially since we planted a garden a few years ago. The cat helped a lot when she was younger. Problem with the repellent is it's inconsistent - depends on how much rain you get, because it really needs to be watered in to repel them. And you have to stay on top of it. I start with a 5-6' band at the edge of the lawn, give it a few days, and do another adjacent band 6- further out, until I've pushed them outside the fence. But once I forget for a while, they're back, and I have to start over. And, I believe it's gotten less effective over the years. That's why I'm here- looking for more solutions. So I'm buying lengths of rain gutter, cut into 18" lengths and in half, staking over baited traps (so the dog won't get in it). I need to start killing them instead of repelling them.
Love the idea about castor plants! Going to try to is week thank you!
I had chipmunks, note; HAD and did live catch with Hav A Hart trap and drove them 13miles away. I know that's an overkill of distance but so I had a reasonably clear conscience I put them near a water source. I caught 9 chips, 1 squirrel, 1 hawk catch and 1 feral cat catch, 2 wren catch (and release.) I used Kirkland unsalted nuts to entice them. Those holes are big enough for a chipmunk. Got rid of those and now I have moles, voles or whatever it is. Although I haven't done it yet there's a liquid form of castor oil, the smellier the better. Mixed with dawn dish soap in a garden sprayer or hose sprayer. Not only does the castor oil make the grubs taste bad but the dish soap will irritate the skin. Apply after a rain is best. People also use the old fashion whirly jigs but it needs to have a breeze. It vibrates the rod it sits on that then keeps them away. All things I've read but just passing along to others and have worked for them. Lots of videos out there to research.
Great video! I've used gallons of caster oil around my gardens - no luck. Great ideas on the plants - I was going to try the mesh wire as well - I am surprised they are still going though on your garden.
I bought the hardware Mesh cloth and they are just digging every which way around it, over it, under it, etc VERY annoying and such a waste of my time.
so is castor oil in fact poison also and should not be used in veg garden?
I used Hav-a-heart traps to relocate the voles from my potato bed to the other side of my property but, of course, I couldn't tell if the same ones were coming back. I removed the cardboard mulch, turned over the soil where I found tunnels, and put down sharp, thorny branches I had pruned from my wild blackberry plants. That seemed to help but, just in case, I harvested the potatoes a couple weeks early anyway.
Put a dot of acrylic paint on the back of the vole where it can’t be scratched off. This will let you know if the ones you relocated came back.
It's been a year since this was posted. Could you tell us in the comments if the plants worked?
Right... Suggestions with no conclusions isn't a big help
No follow up = 👎🏻
Castor oil plants help but can get very large and overwhelm garden. Relatives in log house kept them in garden. Probably need a lot of them growing around.
Middle ga gardener here, I have had a garden for 4 years in this location and all of a sudden this year my merigolds, jalapeño pepper plants (still in grower pots), cucumbers, and many other flower varieties have been eaten down to the stump over night and ruined. Since I seed start in my greenhouse you can imagine how disheartening this is, so I’ve been shooting roof rats with a .22 when I see them in the field as well as setting traps, I’ve just realized all the mole/vole funnelings in my problem areas, I hope your solution helps because I’m ready to pull an all nighter to “fix” the problem
Trap them with a repeating mouse trap. Just place it in an a time path they make through the grass.
I've just witnessed a cat entering a family of voles ear shot territory with magpies, blackbirds and jackdaws all making alarm calls. Prior to the cat appearance, the voles were happy foraging, but during the affray they were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps bird alarm calls are recognized by voles? It may be worth trying recording such an event in combination with a nearby predator then playing the recording back... distressing the voles.
I just found out that I had voles. They took 48 new tomato plants out Sunday night. Thanks for the information
Great advice
So what were the results of planting the caster beans?
does commercial weed treatment discourage the voles from coming to the garden? I hired a company to spray my lawn this year and will tell you the result at the end of the season
No. All that does is add more herbicides into the environment. Will do nothing to discourage voles.
I used a caster oil saw dust but I noticed it caused some strange white mold. So I dug it out. Afraid it might effect the garden. It was only on the exterior of the garden. So now I tried fox urine. And wow...it freaked out my Chihuahua..instantly. He barked his brains out at me and hair stood up on his back. So far it's been all helpful. But only wondered if the caster oils are bad for the food vegetable. especially after seeing the mold. It looks like the same mold you would see on rotting wood.
Great Advice nice!!
very helpful, have struggled with voles & moles so this is great information!! Thank you, love this channel!!!!!!
Thanks Woods Buckley. Good luck with them, they can be a plant killer and garden buzz kill!
I just learned that They live where grubs live. If you apply Organic milky spore powder on your lawn it should get rid of the grubs (which turn into Japanese beetles) I saw that some people did a follow up treatment & most reviews that I read said it has continued working years later. I just ordered some myself. Keeping my fingers crossed this works because I'm tired of finding decapitated plants & holes throughout my garden.
@@jewels4028Any updates on your condition? I might be on the beginning of the same problem.
I spray white distilled vinegar around the parameter of my garden, also clean up all trash and leaves. my neighboring garden get a lot of Voles, mine is not too bad.
Oh, I have bins and piles of leaves decomposing to help my clay soil. :(
You just have to keep a look out.
Voles (Meadow Voles) are NOT field mice. Field Mice are small gray rodents with long tails.Voles are much larger and broader with a short stubby tail. Mice don't make run tunnels They make nests and bring food to there and other storage spots. Voles are a species unto themselves.
Yes, I could see the difference when my cats brought them as presents to my front door. Their front paws are stubby too.
When I was researching I read that they WERE field mice and sometimes get in the house. So, there is misinformation out there.
it doesn't matter, they all destroy the yard whatever name you call them
Okay maybe I’m weird but I don’t want to kill them but they are destroying my lawn. I’m going to be diligent about spraying with solution of detergent and castor oil, rake, reseed, and cross my fingers!
the repellent pellets work, but just for 5 or 6 weeks, at least here in georgia. befor transplanting i put some in the trasplant hole to avoid the voles eting the rooths
Thanks for the tip! I'm trying to figure out how long those pellets last here in Long Island NY. It's only been 3 weeks and I spotted a few vole holes already yesterday. Lots of rain didn't help. Time to reapply!
I have had moderate to good success with the sonic repellent. (Western NC)
Great to know.
If voles dont like castor oil why cant we just soak some cotton balls with it and place around the garden?
I have 8 10 foot castor plants in my garden and it didn't stop the voles. The oil is what they don't like. Try spreading the castor oil around as a barrier maybe that will work and castor oil is edible so no danger of poison to pets and children. One seed from the castor plant is enough to kill a kid if ingested and their is no antidote so you might want to cut the flower heads off when you see them forming.
Castor bean gets huge,you can cut and save mature seed heads.When they get to a certain dryness,they burst open with an audible pop and can shoot the seeds several feet. The seeds come up well,they don't transplant well from ground unless very small,cause the root goes straight down.Never tried any potted. They do discourage rodents.
Do not plant castor beans on your property if you have children or grandchildren. The seeds look like candy when they pop open, and they are deadly.
Anyone not educating children on gardening about what to eat and what not to is missing a huge opportunity...as well as being a total putz...
They wiped out my entire row of zucchini! I just gave up on in ground beds and am in the process of building raised beds 🌞🤘
The vermin will wait until it's just about to flower and snatch away any potential fruit you're looking forward to. Lol seems they know just how to tease you
@@jennydelaflor2087 and after every rain you see new mounds of dirt they love that soft wet soil to expand thier base of operations! New raised beds are working well for pests and weeds 🌞👍
@@kelleymcbride4633 thanks for the follow up. I am doing mostly raised beds, except for my watermelon, cantaloupe and sweet potatoes. So I must find a solution soon before I start planting. I just moved into a rural area, and those holes are everywhere, in the rose garden, throughout the yard and barn, etc....
They do not mind raised beds. At all. We put down hardware cloth, 20" underground. They climbed up and over, best I can tell. They eat the roots, seemingly of my most-beloved seedlings.
@@nancynyberg1123 wow, thank for sharing this.
For that small area traps should be good. Studies have shown that you need almost undiluted castor oil to actually repell voles.
That's what I was thinking of getting.
The 10" of hardware cloth above and below need to also have a 6" or more ninety degree bend at the bottom running out away from the fence line to keep them from going under the lower end of the 10" underground.
Pinwheels.
I have one bed I put an small old metal windmill in also never gets touched it make noise also.
Sounds good to me. We are having one heck of a time.
Will the castor plants be dangerous for my dogs?
Rick Coleman yes but they usually avoid them.
Has anybody tried to use WireTek 1001 Easy Mole/Vole Eliminator Traps? They are scissor type traps.
Castor oil works for about a month. I’ve heard that they also do not like garlic. I haven’t planted any garlic plants just yet. Moth balls don’t work. They just go around them or throw them out of the tunnels. I’ve tried the pvc traps and they didn’t work.
They eat my garlic!
@@bearfoot561 Darn.
So....the hardware cloth around perimeter did not work?
according to the comments, the voles ate right through it.
I use the ole' 20 gauge with bird shot
Try "The Giant Killer".
Juicy fruit doesn't have the same ingredients it used to have. Maybe old gum with chicle was what was the home remedy?? Did the castor plants make anyone sick or kill any pets?
Old Alabama Farmer used Juicy Fruit for MOLES. They eat grubs. The gum fools them and chokes them. I have never tried it.
1:37 Exactly what I found, today, in the garden. Only larger.
Sonic things work great for Gophers.. Not so much for the moles and voles.
Yep, totally. Not sure about gophers, but the bustling Metropolis of Vole in my back yard set up shop directly around where I stuck one of those solar repeller things. They went as far as to build around 10 entrances to their underground fortress within a 3-foot radius of the dang thing. I'm pretty sure they did it just to mock me... voles are sneaky like that.
Thanks for addressing this vexing problem, Ned. I appreciate all the suggestions, too. I'm at my wits end! Holes everywhere and decimated plants! Next I'm going to try this method from New Hampshire Hostas: ruclips.net/video/VD0yzANcN_w/видео.html
Here's another video from New Hampshire Hostas with vole control tips: ruclips.net/video/YigLK8xfO04/видео.html
How do you know if its voles or chipmunks?
the chipmunks will destroy your yard, they are ruining mine.
Owls will cure your problem! Set up some nesting boxes for a few diff species that prefer dwelling in trees as not all owls like trees. A great horned maybe? Some barred owls? Barn owls aren't a god choice unless you have some kind of structure such as a barn!
You're 100% right. Owl boxes are the best (and simplest) solution. I installed one 2 years as prescribed but the owls haven't found it so far. A wildlife enthusiast in the area has had the same result. Perhaps I'll re-locate it this year and post about it :-)
t e r I N E E D L E R what? If there are no pray birds in the area due to MASSIVE changing of a corn fields to put up cheeply built houses,so people can move out into the "country" to fight will field rodents -gonna loose.
Got another good idea, super cheap, yet to do it but someone on a RUclips video said it worked for him with a real infestation of voles. Pin Wheels, he said they all disappeared and thought the wind on the Pin Wheel sent a vibration or sound into the soil that they can't stand. My next cheap solution a farmer guy mixed half flour half baking soda put it, think like a mouse, in locations on plastic lids from yogurt lids and such this white powder concoction. Viola rodents gone. When they eat this then drink some water it swells up kills them from the inside. If you have dogs or cats, rabbits roaming around shelter it from them even though it probably won't be enough for them to die from it. This guy put it in his chicken coup with no problem or interest from his chickens.
Use large spring loaded mouse traps with peanut butter 🥜 and oatmeal equal parts mixed as bait. Literally tried everything this guy did but as soon as I placed traps I got them within 2 hours! Instant ☠️
They are eating my garden faster the I can plant I purchased traps I hope they get rid of them
M y heart goes out to you cause i have an infestation of them as well
Mole Max does work, but if it rains or gets wet from watering your supposed to reapply more mole max. That can get quite expensive having to keep reapplying if you live in a area where it rains fairly often . Those caster plants might be a better idea long as the plants don’t poison your animals that run around your property? That would ruin that idea.
They used to sell castor seeds in the hardware store with other garden seeds.
I’m curious if those caster plants do any good? If they do that very well could be the best solution I’ve heard of yet. Assuming the caster plants don’t spread everywhere as some plants will? I wonder thou if these plants poison has to be eaten to harm animals/people or is it like poison ivy where just touching it can do harm? I’m guessing you done your research on these plants before planting them. I have not looked into it yet! Actually didn’t know about these plants till your video! I honestly hope it works without any harm to other animals. Kills moles or voles that be a plus in my book! LOL Best of luck
After a break from battling voles due to injury, I am now over run by voles. Previously I used “Just one bite” bars with 0.005 % Bromadiolone that I cut into small pieces and dropped down their holes (deep enough so that birds would not get them) and by so doing, kept them in control. Now, over run by voles, I made and bought bait stations like and identical to JT Eaton 902 and baited it with Tomcatt with Bromethalin (0.01%), with twice the concentration but a similar but different name has not achieved any results. I read that voles do not like the taste of bromethalin. They even licked the peanut butter off the cubes , leaving the cubes untouched. Sadly, I just purchased a bucket of Fastrac, which also uses bromethalin (0.01%), so doubt it would be any more successful. Will try to find some more “Just One Bite” (0.005% bromadiolone) bars. The down side is they need to be cut down to size and a hole drilled in them so they will fit into the bait trap. By the way, a number of years ago, I used a plastic ground cover to help trap the heat for my sweet potatoes, only to find I had created a great hiding place for voles.
Hey... if you still got a vole problem, use a live trap! I don’t have any pest problems, but I trap rodents for biological surveys. You can use the metal traps that fold up. They work well.
What kind do you use? Can you send me a link?
No idea what you mean
💭 they mean those save-a-life traps?!
Voles and field mice are two different species. Field mice here will eat poison bait and will go after peanut butter in snap traps. Voles won't touch any of it here.
Those noise spikes suck
Pour the repellent down the holes.
I found a entrance hole and nearby my husband had bar-b-q.. had dropped a habanero pepper it was half rotted when I found it I was mad at seeing the entrance hole picked up that habanero pepper squished it into hole no more vole in that area.🤷♀️
He's cute....
I put some cat urine from the litter box into holes in my rose bush and have seen no new activity.
c sul Has this method continued to work.Thank you in advance.
WOW!!
Interesting. My cats are bringing dead voles around all the time. The don't eat them, just play with them. The field mice, they play with and then eat them..... Ewww, but a necessity.
VOLES
Voles believe in sharing
Everything you own
They move into your garden
Monitor what you grow
Sharing the very best
Among their family of voles
I too believe in sharing no less
And want to make a luxurious stole
From all my uninvited guest
Of that family of voles
GG Beck
I also have honey bees so I use my smoker and oxylic acid fumigator and gas the little monsters . . . It works but one must wear a ventilator mask when using oxyilic acid.
Oh, you had me excited there for a minute.
Where do they put the dirt? Isn't that important? They have to cache it somewhere, don't they? Hypothesis: noticing all that plastic, haven't you inadvertently created a vole resort regarding which voledom has gossiped and vied for. Your valiant efforts are not offsetting the splendor you are providing the voles.
They dig another hole and put it in there. (;-)
Voles are NOT field mice.....they are a totally different species.
Voles are not field mice. Next video please. And he did seem like a nice chap.
After a break from battling voles due to injury, I am now over run by voles. Previously I used “Just one bite” bars with 0.005 % Bromadiolone that I cut into small pieces and dropped down their holes (deep enough so that birds would not get them) and by so doing, kept them in control. Now, over run by voles, I made and bought bait stations like and identical to JT Eaton 902 and baited it with Tomcatt with Bromethalin (0.01%), with twice the concentration but a similar but different name has not achieved any results. I read that voles do not like the taste of bromethalin. They even licked the peanut butter off the cubes , leaving the cubes untouched. Sadly, I just purchased a bucket of Fastrac, which also uses bromethalin (0.01%), so doubt it would be any more successful. Will try to find some more “Just One Bite” (0.005% bromadiolone) bars. The down side is they need to be cut down to size and a hole drilled in them so they will fit into the bait trap. By the way, a number of years ago, I used a plastic ground cover to help trap the heat for my sweet potatoes, only to find I had created a great hiding place for voles.
I wonder if crushing the cubes into crumbs and then mixing w the peanut butter would work? I am so desperate :( I want to move, that is how bad it is, they have destroyed my garden to the point I don't even want to live here anymore. My husband does not want to move and I am ready to move without him!
@@cmnr8487 I have found that the "Just one Bite" now does have the hole predrilled in the cubes, and they fit well into the JT Eaton 902 bait station. The cubes can also be broken up with a knife for dropping down the vole holes.That works particularly well in a lawn. I don't think they (the "Just one Bite") need to be juiced up with peanut butter. I find it to be important to keep lawns mowed. In areas where I had fruit trees, but was unable to mow, the tall grass just gave the voles too much hiding space, and they girdled many trees and my figs. Plants like sweet potatoes also gave too much ground cover for the voles to hide in. (I still did get some nice, undamaged sweet potatoes) Possibly if I had managed it better, with the sweet potatoes in highly mounded soil, with a deep trench between rows, I wouldn't have had so many sweet potatoes with gnawing damage on them. The voles didn't seem to go after my regular potatoes, planted in the same area as my sweet potatoes, or my corn, beets, or green beans. Where do you live. I am in central, western Oregon.
Anyone have luck having a dog run, chicken run, or duck run around the garden?
Juicy Fruit is the treatment for MOLES, who eat grubs. I thought Old Alabama Gardener used Juicy Fruit, but he has a video on killing moles with Tom Cat worms. - ruclips.net/video/QrhgvzjngRI/видео.html
Nothing of this will work in a very big garden (5000 m2).
do you know of any thing that will work on a one acre yard? I am desperate.?
Whatever you put in your garden you and everyone else will be eating BECAUSE YOU CANNOT STOP A RAIN RUNOFF IF YOUR GARDEN IS NEAR ANY POISON .TRUST AND BELIEVE YOU WILL EAT IT... COMMON SRNSE.. RAIN HAS NO BOUNDARIES IN A GARDEN UNLESS YOU MAKE THEM. SAME GOES FOR THOSE BOXES WITH RAT POISON
.
Don't waste my time. You are not giving information whether this worked or not.
Explosive
Damn you are cute with a great smile
Hate to be a debbie downer but you have just taken 5:24 out of my life to teach me nothing.
Voles are so cute.
Let’s go Brandon
Save the voles
🥱 "
The best way I have found is to use a small Tupper ware container ,cut a hole on each end kitty corner to each other and put a snap trap at each hole. They love to hide and can't resist going in. Empty the trap every day as you will have a constant number ,no bat needed. Recently the farm pest problem went away when an ermine moved in and since he is doing no harm to the chickens and other animals I couldn't be happier ! I don't know how you could get one to move in on purpose but they are mice and vole eating machines!