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Bethlehem CT

For the past week or two I have noticed that on most of my plants, the leaves are curling to the sky. I have had a tough time trying to idea what sort of disease, virus or insect would cause this. This morning it occured to me to check the base of the plants and see what was going on. I went to push my finger into the soil and it went right into a vole hole. I checked the other plants with curling leaves, same thing. The roots are being eaten by voles under the landscape fabric. Has anyone else dealt with this before? I am hoping to salvage my season here.

6/23/2012 9:28:47 AM

formerly RGG

It could be affecting my plants. My cats had two dead ones on the front porch just this morning. I see dead ones all the time and they make me wonder how many live ones there are around my patch.You may need bait or traps or both to help salvage your season.

6/23/2012 4:16:23 PM

Bethlehem CT

My cats have caught a few,but they are really low on their list of priorities (they must taste really bad) I have never seen one even partially consumed.
The voles (meadow mice) seem to really like the watermelon roots, must be nice and sweet. It is always a fight with nature. I used the fabric to hold down weeds and it worked well for that. But... I think the voles like the safe and dry protection that they get underneath it. argghh!

6/23/2012 9:09:01 PM

The North Coast

Very sorry to hear that big moon, I feel your pain. This year I have been totally hammered by voles. I started to set up traps over their holes and over the coarse of 10 days I caught 5 voles and countless other vermin. After the initial high number of kills I have not had anymore in two weeks and new vole hole activity has stopped. To me that says that just a small number can cause major losses. Also, mole/vole granular treatment works well for moles but voles were not phased one bit.

Here is the video that shows a very effective technique that I use:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9cFspBjb-U

I am getting ready to re-plant my long gourds (both eaten by voles) and I will be burring a homemade vole barrier consisting of expanded metal lathe used for stucco (from Home Depot). I will form it into a mesh pot, leaving a few inches above the ground. With this they will not be able to eat the plant from the stump up, killing it overnight.

6/24/2012 5:37:04 PM

The North Coast

...and moles can do similar damage in their search for worms and grubs. Voles much rather eat solid plant tissue rather than foraging on roots. All of my vole attacks this year resulted in a perfect hole in place of the plant. Some times a plant 10-12" would be pulled down through the hole...like there that night and gone in the morning. Make sure you are dealing with voles and as a precautionary get a big bag of the Mole Max.

6/24/2012 5:43:19 PM

Bethlehem CT

Thanks Nate, I am pretty sure they are voles, Somehow my plants are still clinging to life. I will hopefully have the time to get some traps set up tomorrow. That video was super helpful. I had no idea how to trap one.
I have one plant that they have not touched and I don't want them getting it, since it is my best plant. A 144 Cantrell. They also got 4 of my Jala corn plants, they must be nice and sweet too. They left the tomatoes alone!

6/24/2012 8:54:32 PM