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| Okay, after at least 3 years of watching plants die, I have figured out it is Voles. Now, I have used the urine, castor oil & water treatment (too soon to know if it will be successful), but I have read that mixing pea gravel in w/ the soil deeply discourages them. Anybody tried this? I have a lot of area to cover, but I thought I could start w/ digging a trench around the outside of one garden and work the pea gravel in about a foot deep, then just gradually keep extending it. I also thought that new plants should be planted w/ pea gravel in the soil. I hope some of you more experienced gardeners will share what worked for you. Thanks, Brandy |
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| Pea gravel has edges that are too round to be an effective barrier for much of anything, you need something with sharp edges such as maybe crushed limestone. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Tue, Feb 12, 13 at 8:15
| many east coast hosta peeps.. build hardware cloth cages.. bury them.. and plant inside ... i have never heard of ringing a bed.. with any success .. population control is the solution.. you cant really play nice with rodents .... it sounds like your population is out of control .. i figure you dont want to hear this.. but it has to be said ... hire professionals.. and save the backbreaking labor of moving stone/rock ... a great place to start is with a FULL AND COMPLETE ID of your vermin in particular.. i suspect you are guessing ...and you are going to have to trap one.. or find a dead one .... and either take it to your extension office .. or post a pic .... speaking of which.. your COUNTY extension office.. may be fully aware of this plague in your area.. contact them ... good luck ken |
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| Thank you, kimmsr. I will check into limestone. Ken: I have both moles and voles here but the moles are not a problem (being carnivorous), the voles are plant and bulb eaters and they are the problem. My cats catch one or the other from time to time and bring it to us-they just don't catch enough to run them out of my yard. But you're probably right, I need to take enough time from my work day to call the extension office. Thanks, Brandy |
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| I have used snap traps with peanut butter. Find a trail and put it crosswise in it. Then I cover it with a flower pot or bucket-something that will stop other animals from getting to the trap. |
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