This topic contains 8 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by Theresa French 8 years, 2 months ago.
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Over decades of no dig, I have never suffered this. The only time I suffered voles was in a dug bed. Are they mice or voles in fact?
Hi,
I have experienced this with my late summer cauliflowers! Nibbles all over the flowers buds and, rather grimly, droppings too
I rescued a few but the rest have gone to compost unfortunately. Can’t say if it is mice or voles etc. but the veg are meshed so it is not pigeon damage and I saw ‘something’ mouse like on one of the heads the other day.Traps might be a possibility I suppose?
Yes unfortunately we have had lots of damage here…
First squirrels had all our unripe strawberries, then voles and mice ate a whole row (5m) of beetroot before i realised what was happening! Then when I cleared the beetroot they moved onto some squash nearby, nibbling the skins of kuri, So I had to snaptrap them, about 6 or 7 voles and mice, and now no more damage to squash.
And now the worst, rats have eaten about 15 kuri squash in a different part of he garden, when the leaves died down i realised some were nibbled and holed and had been hollowed out from the inside! On a night patrol I saw a family of rats quite unafraid of me nibbling away! They ate them very quickly indeed! Rats have also been nibbling carrots and french beans,
and now my winter beetroot is under attack, again snaptraps set, they have been tripped but no catches, which indicates rats again,
Problem with rats is they are difficult to trap as they are clever, you have earn their trust with food and unset traps, then set them, Poisoning is another option but not eco friendly as posion would find its way into the food chain.
Last year I lost some raddichios to voles and some beetroot but not this much! My friend nearby in Devon has also lost all his beetroot this year.
As for no dig, I’m not sure if that is a factor, we have many moles , drawn to the abundance of worms, and i think voles do share their tunnels a bit. But our garden is quite wild at the edges, being in a woodland clearing, so many places for rats to hide. And voles love our grassy banks, making many runs and homes. We do have a family of tawny owls on night patrol every night
but i think this year they have their fill and still rodents to spare!We have had the opposite experience, our no dig garden has reduced the damaged caused my mice etc.
We used to loose over 25% of our root crops to voles and mice. First I tried to catch them, but as our war progressed I learnt to kill them, it was a question of veg or no veg. I wasn’t very successful at killing them and they were very good at destroying my crop.
As my garden grew I moved the potatoes out and finally had a real no dig garden, and wonders of wonders almost no voles damage. This was too good to be true so I started asking my neighbours – no change for them.
I know the tunnels are still there and I have come to the conclusion that if I don’t disturb the tunnels they go about their business and leave my veg alone. This is the second season with hardly loss of my root veg, I have been gardening this plot for 8 years. I actually have parsnips (a great favourite of my furry friends) this year.
I did wonder last year if we were just having an exceptionally lucky year but my neighbours continue to have lots of problems (they turn their gardens over each sprint) and I am a very happy gardener!
PS I guess the voles are happier too
Please could someone advise as to the best way of killing voles, without poison. I wasn’t sure what it was eating all of our beetroot until I read this forum. They have also consumed all of our lettuce in the polytunnel over the winter. We have a business where we use our own organic homegrown vegetables for cooking and it is devastating when you spend hours loving and tending to your crop only to have it eaten completely. I am happy to loose 25% to garden pests and but 100% is too much. No suggestions of cats please, we love our birds too much.
I used an ordinary spring mousetrap with a little peanut butter. It must be out of sight from above, under some overhanging leaves as voles are so wary of raptor birds. They are not easy to trap but I agree, they do so much damage that its necessary and worth persevering.
this year we have had plenty of problems in the winter, first the rabbits took a liking to the outside curly kale and parsley, the frilly mustard and chervil. Then the rats moved in and damaged the last few peppers in the tunnel. The mice and shrews are also around but only cause a little damage compared to the other larger rodents. We have had to build rabbit proof enclosures about 11 m by 6 m each and they do work so good luck to you if you try this do remember to put some of the rabbit netting on the ground otherwise they just dig for access !!
Is it just me, or are these posts a bit depressing?.Some voles and shrews are, I think, protected. In any case without them we will lose eg birds of prey….. Reminds me of Spike Milligan’s Once Upon…
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