Meadow Voles

Two alternative strategies can be used to control meadow voles. First, if the damage is extensive, you may need to treat the planting immediately with a rodenticide. Second, following successful rodenticide treatment, you can reduce or remove grass thatch to deter meadow vole populations. In mature orchards, a 4-foot grass-free strip on each side of the tree row is recommended, but narrower bands may be used on steep slopes to reduce soil loss. Close mowing also prevents meadow vole populations from becoming established.

Pine Voles

Currently, trapping or rodenticides are the only ways to control pine vole populations in home or institutional plantings and orchards. Careful and routine application of the apple sign test will reveal the locations of pine vole activity. Trapping or rodenticides should be applied only in those areas. After control measures have been taken, the apple sign test should be repeated. Make the test at least twice each year, once in the fall and once in the early spring.

Using a Rodenticide to Control Voles

Currently, chlorophacinone formulated as paraffinized pellets (sold as Rozol Rat and Mouse Killer Pellets) is recommended for use by managers of horticultural landscapes for controlling voles. It is effective and safe if used according to the following directions. However, pets should be prevented from coming into contact with this or any other pesticide.

Place 2 tablespoons of pellets under a covered runway that is actively used by voles. Establish these covered bait stations at 10-foot intervals throughout the infested area. After approximately 21 days, repeat the baiting. After another 21 days, conduct the apple sign test to confirm control. Repeat the baiting process only in those areas still showing vole activity.

After control has been achieved, repeat the apple sign test twice annually in the spring and fall.

Using Traps to Control Voles

Trapping has been used to eliminate pine vole infestations. Meadow voles have much larger home ranges than pine voles, making it impractical to control meadow voles by trapping. As noted above, damage from meadow voles can be all but eliminated in most cases by close mowing or removal of grass cover.

It takes persistence as well as skill to be a successful trapper. Individual traps should be set as outlined previously under the identification section. Remember, when trapping pine voles it is essential that no light from the sky reach the trap site. Another tip is that bait is not necessary if the trap is set across the runway and the trap trigger is expanded. To do this, fix a piece of cardboard (such as is found on the back of a writing tablet) to the trigger. The new trigger should be just slightly smaller than the wooden base of the trap. Traps should be set at 10-foot intervals throughout the damaged planting. They should be checked daily and reset until no voles are caught over a one-week period. In large landscaped areas, you can concentrate trapping in a particular plant bed, achieve control there, and then move the trapping effort to another area.

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