:D, I'll have to make sure they go to the neighbor on the left, the crazy on the right has guns!
Lasagna gardening vs Voles vs Herbs?
Hey maybe the crazy neighbor would shoot them lol My neighbors have as many moles as I have and complain about them as much as I do lol I think I have more voles though they don't have leaf beds like I do :(
So shoo them over from your yard and when the neighbors complain about the extra moles, just say ever so sweetly "they must multiply as quickly as rabbits".
LOL I have my share of baby rabbits this year too my cat just chases them until they stop then she stops too and just looks at them too many baby rabbits this year here the feral cats and hawks need to clean them out mine is fed too well to even want to really catch one she just runs thru my beds after them turning all the pots over and trampling my plants LOL She stays in the house at night then I let her out thru the day and she comes back in to cool off, eat and use the litter box 'good kitty' she used to go in my flower beds when the people that used to own her first moved here that's how I first met them now I have her and two of her kittens they don't go out at all the only reason she goes out is because she is so used to being out she makes my life miserable if I don't let her out lol
She doesn’t clean the voles out either she ran all the chipmunks away after she first got here but now she is spoiled too much! When the other people owned her she used to leave all kinds of presents on my door step haven’t had one of those for over a year now she was just warming me up for the move :) I think the last presents she gave me was moving her two kittens over here that was two years ago :) I told her no to her family and I guess you can tell who won! She needs to earn her way around here with all the vet bills going to have to talk to her about that!
I had never heard of voles until a few years ago. A friend mentioned that voles were stealing her irises. She had 1000's of irises and tended her iris fields daily. While she stood there, a vole would suck an entire iris underground! They love plants!
I have moles; they don't eat my plants, altho they do tunnel thru the root systems sometimes on their way to where they're going. They're after those nasty grub worms (Jap beetle larva) I keep digging up. If you get rid of all the grubs, the moles move on since that's their main diet. This article suggests different ways to rid your lawn of grubs:
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/problems/lawn-grubs-how-to-get-rid-of-grub-worms.htm
People say a stick of spearmint chewing gum in the mole holes will deter the moles.
Of course getting rid of the grubs doesn't help get rid of the voles, but it does eliminate the Jap beetles that strip rose leaves. I hate it when they do that!
My friend with all the irises couldn't find a way to get rid of the voles, so she ended up digging up all her irises and putting wire netting down, then replanting the irises. That at least prevented those hungry voles from stealing her plants.
This article may help you get rid of your voles:
http://www.bugspray.com/article/voles.html
They offer chemical and natural solutions. (I especially love the coyote urine treatment. LOL)
By the way, if your moles are not too out of hand, their tunneling actually aerates the soil, much like a worm does. I don't even bother removing mine. I only have a few tunnels each year and they don't seem to be getting out of hand. If they're eating those grubs, I'm appreciative. I think it's really too hot and dry here and the soil can pack pretty hard; I think that's why the mole population here doesn't become a problem--too much work to dig thru perhaps during a drought.
Exactly ButterflyChaser lol With those moles around it makes it easier to pull the weeds out too I'm starting to appreciate them in a way here esp. in my new bed where all the crab grass is trying to come up again and wild violets sure makes it easier to dig those out too lol I could use granules but think it's too late for those as many moles as I have I'll use the granules next year for the moles early in the spring after they help me with this bed this year ;)
I planted an annual that was really pretty the other day and I think a vole kept knocking it out of it's hole put some cat hair in it after replanting and it hasn't bothered it since and now per herbsprit I have several rues planted there but doesn't seem to work away from the rues but next year when they are bigger I'm hoping they work and I hope they keep my cat out of the bed like she is talking about above lol She lays on all of my seedlings and breaks them off at the ground, I'm sweating a peony start she broke off at the ground! So if that rue works for that, that will be a blessing lol She is an inside/outside cat so she is fed too well to be a hunter. If I thought she would allow another cat outside I'd get another one but she is starting to keep all of the feral cats out now so I don't think that would work lol
Also, I've heard that daffodil bulbs deter voles and I happened across a bunch of bulbs to dig this fall so I'm planting those by each and every plant that I have in the side yard. I planted some by some hosta by the house and haven't had any trouble with them since then but couldn't afford to buy a bunch. A little ways from the hosta by the house they got my June hosta only three small leaves came up and the same with a Patriot that was out there they were full grown plants! Be glad you don't have these nasty voles! lol
I don't have roses too much trouble for me but I do plant dahlias in pots every year and have only seen one full bloom this year because of those JP beetles! They eat them as fast as they bloom :( No more dahlias for me here this is the last time for them and cannas too! Just not worth storing all of those bulbs I end up giving half of them away in the spring anyway lol
The uses for that coyote urine really trips me out too LOL I'll check that link out thanks and thanks for replying to my thread and it's nice to hear from you, we've had trades in the past but it's been a while :)
LeBug, you can call it "urine therapy". LOL There are all kinds of uses for all kinds of urine these days. A friend says her tomatoes grow HUGE because her hubby "waters" them. My grape tomato plants get huge and my dog does all the "watering". The tomatoes on the back forty get pretty much ignored. I guess I oughta send him out that way. LOL
You know I've found grub worms in my potted plants that are waiting to be planted. I find them rolled up in my rose leaves and stuffed in the pot. Those crazy Jap beetles!
I gave up on dahlias years ago too. They're not even hardy here in zone 7. But I've seen some really pretty ones lately and I'm thinking about building a greenhouse again. Had one years ago and I ended up collecting every tropical I could find to stuff in it. What work!! Nah, I better not get back into dahlias. LOL Let's just pack up and move a little further South, maybe to a zone 8. We could grow almost anything there. I have a microclimate that is almost a zone 8, so I'm always trying to squeeze another tender plant in that area. If I was really smart, I'd just glass in all my gardens. Don't think I haven't considered it! LOL I have zone envy so bad!
OMG I have found those grubs rolled in leaves in my pots too! I haven't heard of anyone else finding them that way! Now I know I'm not crazy thank you LOL
My neighbor is always telling me my dog is going to kill my plants I just laugh at her and go on I've never had Max to kill a plant and you are right they do do better lol Not sure about some person going on my tomatoes though would have to think about that one lol
I tried to get my son to move south with me years ago but he wouldn't so guess I'm stuck here couldn't without him he's my bud and now that I have a grandson that is a teen so I can see him it's even worse lol I guess I'm stuck! But it's a good stuck now ;)