We listened to the weather radio yesterday morning, cringing when they talked about significant snowfall for our area and south of us. Eek! Luckily, we only got a dusting but Duluth and parts south and east got hammered with 12 to 18 inches of snow.
We knew it was coming and Will and I have been working like mad to get things done ahead of winter. I pulled the last ears of our Glass Gem popcorn and was really happy with the ears (and colors!) we got. We didn’t get a full crop as it was quite late-maturing. Next year I’m planting it farther apart so the stalks get more sunlight. I discovered that the rows on the outside matured faster than those on the inner rows because it’s such a thick-growing corn. But the colors — Wow! Colors I’ve never seen in corn: light blue, pink, mauve, and pastels. We’ll definitely plant it again!
I wrapped up the last of the fruit trees and bushes yesterday. Will salvaged some heavy aluminum screening from an old TV dish so we could wrap the honeyberries and a couple of bush cherries that were too bushy for a regular screen to fit around. It worked great. We had quite a bit of vole damage to our trees last winter so we wanted to make sure the same wouldn’t happen this year. We have a friend whose big apple tree was killed because the voles had totally girdled the trunk. That’s depressing. Some of our orchard trees have grown so much that the white spiral plastic tree guards won’t fit. I used old aluminum window screen instead. We aren’t taking any chances!
I got a whole pork loin on sale at our local store for $1.99 a pound. I roasted it up for dinner, cut into two chunks to fit my roaster. Then the next day I warmed it up and canned what was left from dinner, using the pan drippings with water added for a broth. We got two meals plus three quarts and a pint to add to our pantry. And I also got busy and readied another batch of carrots to go in the canner after the pork came out. I’ve only got one more batch to go plus some rutabagas.
We aren’t hunting deer this fall because winter killed off about half of our local deer herd. Besides, we are butchering a steer and we already have half a pig left in my son’s, freezer. And canned venison down in our basement from last fall. And the meat chickens… We sure don’t need more meat and we feel sorry for the neighboring deer herd and decided to let them rest with plenty of feed (Will’s oats/clover patch!). There’s always next year if we need one. — Jackie
sorry – that myself. Dwarf and semi-dwarf fruit trees have shallow roots and can be close planted in screen lined raised beds. You have to maintain soil fertility and prune carefully every year. Close planting is 6 to 8 feet apart. My trees are close planted and do fine. Flower and bulb plantings are easier to do in lined holes. My voles love certain types of flowers and have eaten the roots completely off and left just the flower stalks standing. Creating lined raised beds is a lot of work that is best done for the long term, but it’s worth it to know that your food supply is safe and you are using minimal amounts of poison.
Elizabeth, I follow most of Sepp Holzer’s permaculture practices too, but my voles don’t have the discrimination to eat decoy crops. They eat everything. I’ve often wondered how Sepp gets his voles and gophers to eat decoy crops and if you have success I hope you’ll do a follow up post or write an article for Backwoods Home. I also have hawks, but they don’t eat voles. My guess is that Sepp’s voles have a lot more predators than we do. I garden for food, so at the first sign of a vole tunnel I put poison in it and cover the hole with a rock. It doesn’t take a lot of poison. They are usually dead within a day or two.
Because voles can give birth about every three weeks and the newborn females can mate about two weeks after birth and then give birth themselves about three weeks after that, you can do the math about how quickly they multiply. Voles will mate with anyone nearby and don’t have to go looking for a partner, so the newborns can mate with nest partners and of course all of them are eating anything they can find all the time.
For your raspberries, I’d suggest a raised bed which is how I grow mine. Raspberries have widespread shallow roots so the bed doesn’t need to be deep. 12 inches is plenty. If you have eqipment creating a bed will be quick. Just be sure to line it completely with a fine screen to keep the voles out – and the lining has to come all the way to the top of the bed.
I’ve read many examples of people creating a screen basin to plant fruit trees in but haven’t done
Yes! There is something natural that REALLY works! A mix of castor oil and murphy’s oil soap: Mix 1/4 each plus 6 TB water. Now add to enough water to make 6 gallons. Soak your garden, around plants, trees etc. It will not kill them but drives them to where it has not been sprayed. Internet research gave slightly different recipes but this is the one we used. There is man with the hosta farm who was going to loose everything if he could not stop the voles.
We live on 1 acre and manage to raise most all our food except for meat. My husband thought it was going to be too expensive and time consuming but it proved not only effective but not expensive especially if one considers replacing the nut and fruit trees they were killing off. Raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, asparagus, perennial flowers, garlic, you name it–they love it with few exceptions! Oh yes, sweet potatoes! Last year they ate everything of any size! So when I tell you it works, I say so because we had a lovely crop of sweet potatoes without one having been chewed on. Once you identify it is voles doing damage, it is not hard to tell their absence and their return. Yes, return! Spaying, or watering, every three months is necessary. It is not as bad as it sounds because it actually works. Think of all the things you have tried–they cost and took your time. Did they work? They articles say where you do not spray that is where they will go so after you spray let your neighbors in on the solution! We sprayed all the garden and around the fruit and nut trees in back of our house. Voles moved to the center where it is grass. We sprayed the center; they moved to in front of the house. When, after about 3 months they began moving back behind the house, we sprayed, now they are gone. We expect to see them again in the early spring when we plan to spray again.
Castor bean plants, also known as mole plants, do work but who can have mole plants all over one’s yard? We always have a few of these beautiful plants but not enough scattered throughout to make a difference. They throw seeds something furious and we don’t need another kind of weed with which to deal. Some people put the seeds in the vole’ hole as they are poisonous to moles but it seems to us that Mole plants would be growing everywhere. Now if the voles would actually eat the castor bean seeds then the vole die, that would work. Has anyone had experience with using the seeds to kill voles?
So glad that you weren’t hit with that big snow yet! Sounds like you’re squared away for winter! That corn is just gorgeous!
We had something burrow 4 inches down below soil surface and eat all the roots out of two of our apples last winter (pocket gophers?). The same rodent eats the roots from our raspberry bushes each winter so that we have to start with new raspberry brambles each spring. We’ve tried all sorts of remedies.
Sepp Holzer recommends adding enough other vegetation so that the rodents have something other to eat than our precious fruit tree roots. So I planted beets and carrot seeds at mid summer. Just before this cold snap I went out the check on the progress of these decoy roots and they were growing nicely although a bit small. It this works, I will plant the carrot and beets seeds in the spring along with the garden and just leave them in the ground for the gophers to enjoy all winter long.
I REALLY hope they go for the decoys. Otherwise we might loose all our fruit trees- one at a time- and have no raspberries in our future…….what a shame!
All,
I wish there was a product you could paint/spray on that would protect trees and shrubs from voles but like stuff you spray on gardens to keep out deer and rabbits, I just haven’t found one that was reliable yet. (Any conpanies out there who want me to trial their ” sure-fire” product and let me tell everyone the results, have at it!)
For us, so far, only the screen works and even that, in winters with exceeding deep snow, sometimes they tunnel above the screen and chew branches that are unprotected. But at least it doesn’t kill the trees!
I have voles too, the most amazingly destructive little things. Last year they burrowed up over two feet from under a raised bed that I didn’t screen on the bottom in order to get to vegetables that were overwintering. They burrowed under rocks to get to asparagus roots. I use a poison that goes down in the burrow, then cover the top with a rock so the poison isn’t easy to get to for anything but the voles. I found them burrowing under screening and into the ground so I wrap my tree trunks up to the branches – burlap strips or DeWitt’s tree wrap. If you use screening, large nails woven through the screening join will hold it together. I also have rabbits that strip the bark from fruit trees. Sepp Holzer has instructions in his book for a homemade preparation that is painted on tree trunks to keep deer and other critters from chewing on them – haven’t tried it yet.
Wow, glad you dodged the snow! We were wondering how badly you’d been hit as the Michigan UP got 3 feet. Love the corn. It’s beautiful. We, too , had significant vole damage in our orchard last winter. What a sad sight in the spring. I painted them all heavily with a paint and sand mixture. Hoping that helps. (Am told it works.) Thanks for the pics and the update. Stay warm!
Hi Jackie,
Yep, winter is coming in with a bang this year — feels too early, but it is what it is.
About your vole problem: We have had problems with them too. Lots and lots of problems in the garden. I did some research and found a great website that carries organic and non-toxic products. Also safe for pets!!
Go to: http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com
Phone: 1-866-581-7378
The product we are going to use is called Vole Scram
You can read the ingredients on their website.
We haven’t purchased this yet because we are still waiting to see if our home sells and we move to the farm. But either way, we will buy and use this product to clear up the vole problems and headaches! I’d like to keep all of our veggies, cantaloupes and watermelons next year instead of the voles taking the cream of the crop.
Stay warm and safe – Bobbie
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