voles ,palmettos, and grief

I had 3 tall bare root palmettos installed last April,2009. I faithfully watered them throughout last summer and by about this time they had started feathering, and the shortest, about 8', even had a frond that was beginning to fan out. So far this year there has been no new growth. I recently discovered vole infestations around the base of each palm. I was treating them with a mix of dishwash liquid and castor oil, but I just noticed today that the drugstore castor oil I've been using is odorless and tasteless. I'm worried that I've been wasting my time and money on a product that is probably useless, since it's odor free. I bought a product called Sweeney's gopher and mole repellent that is also supposed to repel voles. (It also had no detectable odor.) The innermost fronds are still green, but the surrounding sheared fronds have turned brown. I'm worried sick that these palms might not survive, especially the tallest, which is about 12' . I've read online that there is a granular castor based product that works well. I know that pinwheels, chewing gum and mothballs are useless. Does anybody know a sure fire product that might work for me? I have 7 outdoor cats, but they're useless. I've already lost 4 rhododendrons, 2 hydrangeas, a large established fatsia, and tons of perennials this summer alone to voles. I'm at my wits end! Please advise.

That has to be the worst vole damage I have heard of. I feel for you, it makes my deer damage seem trivial. Via Clemson's HGIC, I came across this site on voles. http://icwdm.org/handbook/rodents/Voles.asp
Not sure if it is helpful or not, we do not have voles around here, I don't think they like my salty soil.

As I mentioned on another thread recently, I have been using PermaTil for another issue but it is also marketed as VoleBloc. It is an expanded shale product that is similar to gravel and you would use it in your planting holes. Not sure how it would work in your situation.

I hope someone come up with an answer for you.

You might take a look at this article at About.com:




http://landscaping.about.com/cs/pests/a/vole_control.htm

Thanks for the helpful links. Mountain beauty, I came upon your website yesterday, and I learned a lot. I was thinking about having barn owl nesting boxes built, but, Ardesia, from your link I learned that predators can't control large infestations. I've repeatedly tried 2 different types of mouse traps baited with with a tiny smear of peanut butter, but each morning I've been puzzled (and incredibly frustrated) to find the peanut butter gone and the traps unactivated. I didn't mulch this season, hoping that taking away their ground cover might help. I realize now that my love of creating lush, dense gardens is my downfall. Also living in a rural, heavily wooded area doesn't help. I've read that installing mesh wire is useless, too.
I must check out PermaTil, Ardesia. Last summer, I lost a large pittosporum to voles. When I replaced it, I lined the bottom and sides of the hole with crushed gravel. I don't know if this is working, but it does seem logical that it would be a deterrent. My next tactic is researching poison options. I wonder if local farmers use poisons. I'm going to call my local Clemson extension agent, but on Making It Grow, Amanda McNultey said that she doesn't have ground voles because she has cats! I'm really feeling defeated, but I won't go down without a fight! DEATH TO GROUND VOLES!

donna, I really do feel for you. I almost wish I had made my username 'killdavole' because I have had more problems from them it seems than rabbits. Voles killed two large hostas I had. Just ate the entire root system.
Almost lost some Heucheras to them and other plants as well.

Love your username, killdawabbit. My cats are effective at keeping away rabbits, although I'd prefer dealing with rabbits(or the taliban) than ground voles. I applied rodent poison yesterday afternoon by opening tunnels and placing the poison pellets inside, then covering with buckets and bricks. This morning only 2 tunnels were missing most of the pellets - the others looked untouched. The holes missing the pellets were covered in ants who were carrying little bits of the poison away! I'm wondering if should first put sevin powder down to keep the ants away from the bait. Today I bought nonpoisonous granules with castor oil and applied them throughout the most infested areas. Hopefully promised thunderstorms this afternoon will wash the granules into the soil. I'll be checking for fresh tunnels tomorrow, in which I will place more poison pellets. I'm also applying a rooting hormone around the base of each palmetto.(This is getting really expensive!) Send money, guns, and lawyers, cause this battle ain't over yet!

Pic of palmetto crowns - innermost fronds still green

Tallest palmetto pic

donna, I hope those recover for you. That would be a beautiful sight. I am trying to grow Rhapidophyllum hystrix here in z6b. It survived last winter but barely I think. It's very tiny and short but hasn't put out a single frond this year yet. I can tell it's still alive though.
I have read that they are not to be watered but only let them have what rain falls. Any tips for me?

A guy down the street has a jack russell who is a mole killing machine. Might want to see if anyone has a killer terrier for rent. I can say where my dogs roam I have no tunneling creatures, they're not so successful with squirrels but they use the trees giving them a pretty good advantage.

Hi killdawabbit, I've planted many needle palms and dwarf palmettos throughout my yard and beyond. My property borders a low lying swampy area, and I'm hoping that they naturalize and spread up and down the length of the swamp's meandering stream. They are native here and some larger area swamps are covered with them. You might want to mulch your palm for the winter, especially if it's a small specimen. There other gardeners on this forum who are much more knowledgeable about palms than I am.

Core, I've heard jack russell's are incredible vole killing machines and I would love to own and spoil one. But my property isn't fenced in and the road I live on has a terribly dangerous curve that is a killing machine for dogs. I know the voles are no longer around my palmettos and I'm hoping over the next 2 mos that they can grow enough new roots to get them through the winter. Just wish I could get over the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I think about them. If they die, I can't replace them because the areas where they are palnted are no longer accessible. To quote Nancy Kerrigan, Why me?-why me?-why me?......

Have any of you tried using Castor Bean Seed? You can get them at your local farm supply store. You just poke a hole in the tunnel and drop them in every few 10-12". Worked great for me. No more voles or moles. As you know they are poisonous, so check out using them if you have outside pets. My cats didn't bother them at all.
Also, castor bean seeds are inexpensive !

Donna, you cracked me up with that last sentence. LOL

killdawabbit, I have to try and laugh about the vole damage, although I have flirted with the idea of getting on a rooftop and taking hostages. I called my local Clemson ext agent and she said it sounds like I've tried just about everything. She was surprised that I have this problem with 7 mostly outdoor cats.

BSD, I planted castor beans 4 years ago and they keep popping up every spring. I allowed 3 to grow this season and they're very big now. If it works, it would be a cost free solution. I also came upon a website that recommended putting crushed vitamin D tablets and peanut butter inside buried PVC piping. Supposedly the vitamin D will cause some bodily imbalance that will result in death. Wish this was something I could delay until Oct - this heat and humidity is unbearable! I'm seriously thinking about burying lots of PVC piping with a mixture of peanut butter and rat poison. I saw one of my cats, Miss Darla, this morning with a small animal in her mouth. I ran outside praising her until I got up close and realized she had a young bird!

Those little voles are watching your efforts and saying, "Lunch!!" LOL
Question is, which "lunch" will they eat?

Oh, boy, I wish you the best.

"Miss Darla" is precious. I see you have an abundance of Mexican petunias like I have. You only need to plant one and boy do they spread.
Good luck with your vole destroying techniques. Just keep trying until one works.

I thought I had dug up and moved all of my mexican petunias last March. They're the gift that keeps on giving, as are canna lilies. Miss Darla, aka Miss Fluff Fluff, has caught a few ground voles and moles, but she prefers young birds, giant grasshoppers. butterflies, and geckos. Eating rodents just isn't ladylike. Her favorite watering hole.

Donna, that is a beautiful scene. I like your style.

Today was not a good day. At 8:00 this morning, I was outside mixing peanut butter and rat poison to place in PVC piping. The plastic spoon I was using was too big to fit in the piping, so I had to go back inside for a smaller spoon. This took less than a minute, but when I returned outside I saw one of my cats, Miss Darla, EATING the peanut covered poison granules!! I immediately called my vet, who told me to induce vomiting by forcing hydrogen peroxide down her throat - not an easy task. Within 10 minutes , she threw up and I took her in town to visit her vet. He gave me 7 tiny vitamin K tablets , and told me to give her one a day. The bill was $80.00, which I thought was rather steep, especially since I had done the dirty work - inducing vomiting. Wonder what palmbob would have charged? Oh well, live and learn. I will never leave rat poison unattended again. And Miss Darla is priceless, as are all of my cats. Tomorrow WILL be a better day.

OMG!! (sorry folks, this calls for double exclamation points)

My heart just leapt to my throat when I read about your sweet kitty and the poison.
What a horrible experience for you.
$80. is steep, but then I always think vet bills are steep.

What is vitamin K supposed to do?

I thought my day was bad, but it doesn't compare to yours. Best of luck to Miss Darla, and to you. :o)

Thanks for caring, Mountainbeauty,
Now that the day is drawing to a close, in retrospect, it wasn't such a bad day after all. I learned to never be careless with anything designed to kills animals. And knowing that Miss Darla is going to be okay is priceless.

I forgot to explain why vitamin D kills voles. I don't know how to add web links, but if you google connecticut gardener voles, they explain that it causes a fatal calcium imbalance. I wonder if that's why the coastal low country doesn't have voles. Would layer upon layer of decomposed sea shell raise calcium levels in their soil?

This message was edited Jul 30, 2010 7:34 PM

We do have high calcium levels, not always in a usable form for the plants,but voles must not be fussy about their Calcium. I wonder why it doesn't repel moles, we have plenty of those.

So glad to hear your kitty will be OK, it must have been quite a scare.

I was also wondering why vitamin D doesn't harm moles . I wonder if palmbob has the answer. My vet told me yesterday that even odorless castor oil mixed with dishwash liquid should repel moles and voles. I think the cheapest way for me to keep voles away is to buy a 10 lb bag of mole and gopher granule repellent each month, and broadcast it every other week. One bag costs $20, and it covers 10,000 sq ft. I'm hoping this, combined with traps(and spoiled cats), will prevent future heavy, damaging infestations.

Okay, now that we know what vitamin D does to the voles.......

What is the vitamin K supposed to do for Miss Darla?? ;o)

Vitamin K is a true antidote for poisoning by 4-hydroxycoumarin anticoagulant drugs (sometimes loosely referred to a coumarins). These include the pharmaceutical warfarin, and also anticoagulant-mechanism poisons such as bromadiolone, which are commonly found in rodenticides. 4-hydroxycoumarin drugs possess anticoagulatory and rodenticidal properties because they can completely block synthesis of vitamin K in the liver. Death is usually a result of internal hemorrhage. Treatment usually consists of repeated intravenous doses of vitamin K, followed by doses in pill form for a period of at least two weeks, though possibly up to 2 months, afterwards (in the case of the more potent 4-hydoxycoumarins used as rodenticides). If caught early, prognosis is good, even when great amounts of the drug or poison are ingested.

From Wikipedia

Thanks for explaining, Core. When I told my vet that Darla ate warfarin based poison, he seemed relieved and said a vitamin K injection wasn't necessary-pills would work just as well.

I broadcast more mole/gopher/vole repellent granules yesterday, but we received 2" of rain in less than hour. I'm afraid it probably washed the granules away into the adjacent swamp.

The shortest of my 3 imperiled palmettos has fanned out a little more. Hopefully the taller palms will soon follow suit. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Thank you for the explanation on the vitamin K. Very good to know. I have an "inside/outside" cat, so I want to be informed. He's my last cat. I have lost several over the last few years to teminal afflictions related to age. We had wonderful years with all our cats. Sweetpea is the last one left.

Sweetpea looks very content snuggling next to Daddy. My husband is even more obsessive and observant about our cats than I am. (Men who love cats are a cut above.) Since I'm in a rural area, I'll never be without them. . There are cold hearted people around here who will "set them free" in my neck of the woods, and they all seem to wind up in my backyard hungry and frightened. Darla is doing well, and she still trusts me, even after I had to force hydrogen peroxide down her throat.

Yup, you must have the same experiences with "dump-ees" that we have. We
are in the woods, and every year, it seems, that some "cold-hearted" person dumps a kitten or two in the woods. The last two cats we have had were that way.(including Sweetpea) And everything scares him. Television, especially. He watches it.

Poor babies. They always find our door, too! LOL Love em. ;o)

About a month ago, my two shorter palmettos fanned out a little. Wish my tallest palmetto would do the same, but the innermost frond is still very green. Hope springs eternal.