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Post by steev on Jan 28, 2018 21:36:42 GMT -5
farmermike: thanks for the vole info; I have indeed been calling these field mice; a few years back they were a plague for me; when I went to investigate bridge-grafting, I found they'd not just eaten a foot of bark above ground, but a foot down the roots, so no bridge possible. Their over-population led to a bumper crop of coyotes (and even foxes, which I'd not seen before in the area), which greatly impacted the local ranchers, due to loss of sheep and goats. Natural cycles can be a bitch, especially if one has to be in control for income, investment, or emotional reasons.
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Post by farmermike on Jan 30, 2018 20:39:48 GMT -5
Well, the bummer is that unless you resolve the issue of vole damage during peak populations it doesn't really matter where the orchard is located. Happen to know the timeframe of the population cycle of those critters? I suppose I can web search for that answer... I can easily stop bunnies girdling my saplings and chewing off my seedlings by using chicken wire or hardware mesh cages, I do not know how you would use such a thing for voles being they can just burrow under the cages or below the soil surface to chew on the trunk just above the roots. Can't use those plastic tree saver tubes because of same issues plus they could just chew through the plastic. I am curious, did you notice an increase in predator populations that coincided with the increase in the vole population? First thing that comes to my mind is what eats voles...or perhaps simply what are they afraid of/what chases them away? Maybe regular coyote or fox urine applications? Just thinking out loud... Update: A quick check and they claim trunk protectors work... ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7439.htmlThe good news is that, once the tree trunks get to about 3-4" in diameter, the voles don't seem to bother them much. Part of the reason I would rather have the orchard on the north facing slope is that I think they may grow faster there, and get past the vulnerable stage more quickly. I'm sure that our hawks and owls were gorging on voles the past 2 years. Probably coyotes and foxes too. I definitely saw all of our barn cats eating voles regularly. The predation wasn't enough to save our crops, but eventually something did the pests in during early fall. I wonder if there was some disease outbreak among them. We were seeing dead voles around the ranch all summer long. They don't live very long, but they can have up to 10 litters per year of up to 10 babies (under ideal conditions)...so, exponential population growth! I posted some photos on this thread. |
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