Voles girdled my peach tree

Has anyone had experience with voles girdling their young fruit trees ? I have 4 that I put out last fall and one has not done very well. I just found out about voles and checked it, and sure enough, they've eaten all the bark from around the base. It seemed to be wilting and dropping leaves early compared to the others.

Is there hope for this young tree ? Or will it just die completely now ? It was coming along nicely until about mid-summer. Now it looks worse, and winter is coming on.

Once in a while they will recover to an extent, but I have never had one recover completely. Ends up a stunted tree.

You can do a bark graft if you have a mature tree to take the bark from.

I'm not too good at grafting etc. I did well just getting the trees planted LOL.

I guess I should start over with that particular tree. I will have to watch the others carefully now.

I can see where they have started to chew on one of the other trees, but haven't girdled it all the way around. Hopefully, it will be ok, and I caught it in time.

I did put out a lot of rat posion today. I went around the yard and put it directly into their holes to their tunnels. Maybe this will help. I put it under the mulch around the trees too. These are peach trees, and I've never grown any before. I'm glad I put out 4. Thanks for the info.

PeggieK You can loosely wrap the bottom of the trunk with aluminum foil.I believe this will stop their nibbling.
Charlie

That's a great idea. Thanks