Re: [SG] SHADE AND CHIPMUNKS

Jan,

That sounds exactly like voles....notorious hosta root/crown munchers.
Best deterrent is a hunting cat.  When I had a bunch of young cats - no
voles; when cats got old and went to cat heaven each and every clump of
hosta could be lifted right out of the ground...voles.  Got new cat...no
voles.

Now, barring that, I read several posts on, I think it was Trillium List,
from someone who had gotten those large plastic water containers, cut them
in half and created little vole feeding stations.  He used some kind of
poison bait and put them right over their tunnels.  Poison makes me nervous
because I understand that rodents tend to surface if poisoned, just before
they die, making them easy prey for critters who eat them...with ill
effects on those critters.  But, it seems a method that works and the cover
does have the advantage of making the poison bait unavailable to passing
pets and other wildlife.

A more arduous deterrent is to dig a hole, line it with 1/4" hardware cloth
and plant your hostas in it, bending it back toward the center at the top.
The roots will grow through the holes, but the voles can't get to the major
root mass or crown.  Rather a pain in the derrière, but it does help.

This NEBGuide has more than you probably ever wanted to know about voles
and controlling them....http://ianrwww.unl.edu/pubs/wildlife/g887.htm

There are several different species of voles (isn't that grand? :->)....all
of them look more or less the same to the untrained eye - mice with short
tails and teeny eyes

Meadow Vole and Pine Vole, Tree Fruit Fact Sheet has a good photo of their
surface tunnels, plus more info
-http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ipmnet/ny/fruits/FruitFS/voles.html

Here, kitty! There’s a vole loose, By Roger Mercer - More on voles and the
damage they can do plus links to other resources:

http://www.fayettevillenc.com/foto/news/content/1999/tx99jan/f02r3cmx.htm

One interesting item on this site was a way to tell whether your problem is
a vole, as opposed to something else...put a cube of apple in one of the
runs and cover with a board...if it disappears, it's a vole.

IMHO, voles are second only to deer in the amount of damage they can
do...now, if only deer were deterred by cats ;-)

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
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----------
> From: Janet Johnson <jjohnson@FGI.NET>
> Date: Wednesday, March 24, 1999 1:33 PM
> >
> Thanks to everyone for their suggestions - I now have some new ideas on
> what I can do.  Maybe I have voles instead of chipmunk trouble but
> around here everyone calls the little critters "chipmunks".  But anyhow
> they must eat the roots because the plant just disappears along side the
> entrance to their little tunnels.    Thanks again.  Jan Johnson  Zone 5a
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