How do You Get Rid of Voles in Your Lawn? - Plant Care Guide

To get rid of voles in your lawn, a multi-pronged approach combining habitat modification, trapping, and exclusion is often the most effective strategy. While eliminating them completely can be challenging due to their rapid reproduction, reducing their populations and making your yard less appealing can significantly mitigate their destructive impact on your lawn and garden.

What Are Voles and How Do They Damage Lawns?

Voles are small, mouse-like rodents often mistaken for mice, shrews, or moles. They are a common pest in lawns, gardens, and agricultural fields, capable of causing significant damage in a relatively short amount of time. Understanding their behavior and diet is key to identifying and addressing an infestation.

Here's what voles are and how they damage lawns:

What are Voles?

• Appearance: Voles are typically 10-23 cm (4-9 inches) long, including their tails. They have a stout body, short legs, small eyes, partially hidden ears, and a short, hairy tail (which helps distinguish them from mice, who have longer, less hairy tails). Their fur color ranges from gray to reddish-brown.
• Species: The most common species causing lawn damage are the meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus) and the pine vole (Microtus pinetorum). Pine voles are smaller and spend more time underground.
• Behavior: Voles are active year-round, day and night. They are prolific breeders, with females producing multiple litters per year. They live in colonies and are often found in areas with dense vegetation.

How Voles Damage Lawns and Gardens:

• Surface Runways: One of the most common signs of vole damage in lawns is the presence of distinct, intricate networks of shallow tunnels or "runways" at ground level, just under the grass. These runways are about 1-2 inches wide, appear as flattened grass paths, and lack raised soil mounds (unlike moles).
• Root Damage: Voles are primarily herbivores. They feed on a wide variety of plant material, including grasses, bulbs, tubers, and the roots of young trees and shrubs. Pine voles, being more subterranean, are particularly notorious for consuming roots underground.
• Girdling Trees and Shrubs: During winter, when other food sources are scarce, voles often strip bark from the base of young trees and shrubs, particularly fruit trees and ornamentals. This "girdling" can severely injure or kill the plant by interrupting the flow of nutrients.
• Damage to Garden Plants: They will eat vegetables (especially root crops like carrots and potatoes), flower bulbs (tulips, crocuses), and the stems of many herbaceous plants.
• Unsettling Soil: Their tunneling can destabilize newly planted lawns or garden beds.

Distinguishing vole damage from mole damage is crucial for effective control. Moles create raised tunnels (molehills) and feed on insects, while voles create visible surface runways and feed on plants. Recognizing these signs early is the first step in getting rid of voles in your lawn.

What's the Difference Between Vole, Mole, and Mouse Damage?

Identifying the correct culprit for lawn or garden damage is essential because different pests require different control strategies. Vole, mole, and mouse damage are often confused, but they have distinct characteristics.

Here’s a comparison to help you distinguish between them:

If you see raised soil mounds, you likely have moles. If you see distinct, unraised surface runways in your grass and plants (especially roots or bark) are being eaten, you likely have voles. Mouse damage is often more focused on specific fruits or seeds and lacks extensive surface runways. Accurate identification is the first step in effective pest control.

How to Get Rid of Voles in Your Lawn: Habitat Modification

Habitat modification is a foundational and often very effective strategy for getting rid of voles in your lawn because it makes your property less appealing to them. By removing their preferred shelter and food sources, you can naturally deter voles and reduce their population.

Here are key habitat modification techniques to control voles:

1. Mow Your Lawn Regularly and Keep it Short:

   • Why: Voles prefer to move and nest in tall, dense grass that provides cover from predators.
   • Action: Keep your lawn mowed to a consistently short height, especially in areas adjacent to garden beds, wooded areas, or other dense vegetation. This exposes them to predators and makes them feel less secure.

2. Remove Weeds and Tall Grass:

   • Why: Weeds and tall, unmanaged grass provide excellent cover and food sources for voles.
   • Action: Maintain clean borders around your lawn, garden beds, and property lines. Eliminate broadleaf weeds and tall grasses that can serve as their highways and hiding spots.

3. Clear Mulch Away from Plant Bases:

   • Why: Mulch provides insulation, cover, and a warm, moist environment where voles can tunnel and feed undetected on the bark and roots of plants.
   • Action: Create a mulch-free zone (3-6 inches wide) around the base of trees, shrubs, and susceptible perennials. This creates a barrier that voles are less likely to cross. A garden hoe can help manage mulch.
   • Alternative: Consider using gravel or coarse sand around plant bases as these are less appealing for tunneling.

4. Keep Garden Beds Tidy:

   • Why: Overgrown, dense garden beds offer extensive cover and food.
   • Action: Regularly weed and thin out dense plantings. Prune lower branches of shrubs and perennials to lift foliage off the ground, reducing ground cover.

5. Remove Leaf Litter and Debris:

   • Why: Piles of leaves, brush, woodpiles, and other garden debris provide excellent nesting sites and protective cover for voles.
   • Action: Rake up leaf litter promptly, especially in fall and winter. Keep woodpiles stacked neatly and away from garden areas. Eliminate any unnecessary brush piles.

6. Maintain a "Buffer Zone":

   • Why: Voles often migrate from adjacent natural areas (woods, fields).
   • Action: If possible, create a buffer zone of short grass or an open, unplanted area between your cultivated garden/lawn and any natural habitats.

By consistently implementing these habitat modification strategies, you make your lawn and garden a much less attractive place for voles to establish and thrive, which is often the most sustainable and long-term solution for vole control.

How to Get Rid of Voles in Your Lawn: Trapping

Trapping is often considered the most effective and reliable method for directly getting rid of voles in your lawn and garden, especially for smaller infestations. It provides a way to physically remove existing voles and can significantly reduce their population quickly.

Here’s how to effectively use trapping for vole control:

1. Choose the Right Traps:

   • Mouse Traps (Snap Traps): Standard mouse snap traps are highly effective for voles. They are inexpensive and easy to set.
   • Live Traps: Small live traps designed for mice or shrews can also be used if you prefer a humane catch-and-release method, though voles are prolific, and relocating them may just move the problem. A small live animal trap can be effective.
   • Avoid Glue Traps: Glue traps are often considered inhumane and can indiscriminately catch other animals.

2. Select the Best Bait:

   • Since voles are herbivores, they are attracted to plant-based baits.
   • Apple slices: Thin slices of apple are a very effective bait for voles.
   • Peanut butter: A small smear of peanut butter works well, especially mixed with a tiny bit of oats.
   • Other options: Oats, birdseed, or small pieces of carrot.

3. Strategic Placement of Traps:

   • Locate Runways: The most critical step is to place traps directly in active vole runways. Look for flattened grass paths where they travel.
   • Perpendicular Placement: Place snap traps perpendicular to the runway, with the trigger plate directly in the path of travel.
   • Cover Traps (Optional): You can cover traps with a small piece of wood, a bucket, or an overturned flowerpot, leaving openings for the vole to enter. This makes voles feel more secure, protects traps from weather, and prevents non-target animals (like birds) from accessing the bait.
   • High-Traffic Areas: Place traps near known entry holes or areas of heavy feeding damage.
   • Multiple Traps: Voles are territorial, but they also reproduce quickly. Use multiple traps (e.g., 5-10 traps for a small infested area) and set them regularly.

4. Check Traps Regularly:

   • Check traps daily, preferably in the morning and evening. This allows for quick removal of caught voles and resetting of traps.
   • Safety: Always wear gloves when handling traps or dead voles.

5. Relocation (for Live Traps):

   • If using live traps, release caught voles several miles away from your property, preferably in a natural habitat where they won't become a nuisance to others.

6. Persistence is Key:

   • Voles reproduce rapidly, so you might need to trap consistently for several weeks or even months to get populations under control. Don't stop trapping as soon as you catch a few.

By combining well-placed traps with appealing bait, trapping offers a direct and efficient method for actively getting rid of voles in your lawn.

How to Get Rid of Voles in Your Lawn: Exclusion and Barriers

Exclusion and barriers are excellent long-term strategies for getting rid of voles in your lawn by physically preventing them from accessing and damaging your most valuable plants. While trapping reduces existing populations, barriers prevent new voles or future damage.

Here are effective exclusion and barrier methods for vole control:

1. Bury Hardware Cloth Around Valued Plants:

   • Purpose: Protects the roots and lower stems of trees, shrubs, and prized perennials from subterranean vole activity.
   • Material: Use 1/4-inch or 1/2-inch galvanized hardware cloth. Chicken wire is generally not effective as voles can squeeze through or chew through it. You can find galvanized hardware cloth online or at hardware stores.
   • Installation:
     1. Dig a trench around the plant at least 6-12 inches deep.
     2. Form a cylinder of hardware cloth around the plant's root ball, ensuring it extends several inches above the soil line (especially important in snowy areas where voles tunnel under snow).
     3. Backfill the trench with soil.
     4. For new plantings, you can create a basket of hardware cloth before planting.

2. Tree Trunk Guards/Wraps:

   • Purpose: Protects young trees and shrubs from bark girdling, especially in winter.
   • Material: Use hardware cloth cylinders (as above), plastic tree wraps, or even rigid mesh.
   • Installation: Place a guard around the base of vulnerable tree trunks, extending from slightly below the soil line (to prevent tunneling underneath) up at least 18-24 inches high. Ensure there's space for trunk growth and good air circulation. Remove in spring if using temporary wraps.

3. Protect Bulbs with Wire Cages:

   • Purpose: Prevents voles from eating expensive flower bulbs.
   • Material: Use 1/4-inch or 1/2-inch hardware cloth.
   • Installation: Create small cages or baskets for individual bulbs or groups of bulbs before planting. Line the bottom and sides of the planting hole with hardware cloth, place the bulbs, then cover with a hardware cloth top before covering with soil.

4. Raised Beds with Wire Mesh Bottoms:

   • Purpose: Protects entire garden beds from subterranean vole damage.
   • Material: Line the bottom of your raised garden beds with 1/4-inch hardware cloth before filling with soil.
   • Benefits: This creates a physical barrier that voles cannot chew through or burrow under.

5. Perimeter Fencing (Limited Effectiveness for Voles):

   • Purpose: While fencing helps with larger animals, a typical fence is rarely effective against voles unless specifically designed for them.
   • Effective Vole Fence: A specialized vole fence would need to be very fine mesh (1/4-inch hardware cloth), at least 12-18 inches high above ground, and buried 6-12 inches deep below ground, with a bent-outward "L" shape at the bottom to prevent burrowing underneath. This is usually only practical for very small, high-value areas.

Implementing these exclusion and barrier techniques is an investment in time and material, but it offers robust, long-lasting protection against voles for your most cherished plants.

Natural Predators and Repellents for Vole Control

Leveraging natural predators and repellents can be a complementary strategy to get rid of voles in your lawn, working in conjunction with habitat modification, trapping, and exclusion. These methods aim to deter voles or reduce their populations indirectly.

Encouraging Natural Predators:

• Owls, Hawks, and Kestrels: These birds of prey are voracious vole hunters.
  • Action: Install raptor perches (tall poles with a T-bar on top) in or near your garden. Leave tall, dead trees if safe to do so. Avoid using rodenticides, which can secondarily poison predators.
• Snakes: Garter snakes and other non-venomous snakes are excellent rodent controllers.
  • Action: Create a snake habitat by having rock piles, logs, or brush piles in out-of-the-way areas of your property.
• Foxes, Coyotes, and Weasels: These mammals also hunt voles.
  • Action: If they are present in your area, and you are comfortable with their presence, allowing them to hunt can help. However, these predators can also pose risks to pets or livestock, so consider carefully.
• Domestic Cats: Some cats are natural hunters and can help reduce vole populations, especially if given outdoor access.
  • Caution: Cats are predators of many native bird species, so this should be weighed carefully.

Vole Repellents (Effectiveness Varies):

• Castor Oil-Based Repellents:
  • How it works: Castor oil is believed to be distasteful to voles and can make their food sources unappetizing. It can also cause stomach upset.
  • Application: Often sold as granular or liquid products that you spread over affected areas or mix with water for drenching. The smell is also a deterrent. You can find castor oil repellents online.
  • Effectiveness: Generally considered moderately effective for temporary deterrence, requiring reapplication after rain or irrigation.
• Commercial Granular Repellents:
  • Ingredients: Often contain a combination of castor oil, essential oils (peppermint, garlic), or other bittering agents.
  • Application: Spread over affected areas.
  • Effectiveness: Similar to castor oil, they offer temporary deterrence and need reapplication.
• Ultrasonic Devices:
  • How it works: Emit high-frequency sound waves intended to annoy and drive away rodents.
  • Effectiveness: Scientific evidence supporting the long-term effectiveness of ultrasonic repellents for voles (or most rodents) is very limited and generally considered unreliable. Rodents tend to habituate to the sounds.
• Home Remedies (Limited/Unproven):
  • Garlic, Hot Pepper, Coffee Grounds: While some people swear by these, their effectiveness against persistent vole populations is largely anecdotal and not scientifically proven.

When using vole repellents, remember that they work by deterring, not eliminating. They push voles away, so if you have extensive habitat for them nearby, they might just move to an untreated area. Combining them with other methods is always best.

When to Consider Professional Vole Control?

While many homeowners can effectively manage vole problems using a combination of DIY strategies, there are specific situations where it's advisable to consider professional vole control. Professional pest control services have expertise, specialized tools, and often access to stronger solutions.

You might want to consider professional vole control if:

1. Large-Scale Infestation: If you have an extensive network of vole runways, numerous entry holes, and widespread damage across a large property, the problem might be too big for individual trapping efforts to effectively manage.
2. Persistent Problem Despite DIY Efforts: You've diligently tried habitat modification, trapping (using proper methods), and exclusion barriers, but the voles keep returning or their population doesn't decrease significantly.
3. High-Value Plant Damage: If voles are severely damaging expensive trees, shrubs, or a significant crop, the investment in professional control might be justified to save your plants.
4. Desire for Faster Results: Professionals can often bring down populations more quickly due to their experience and larger-scale application methods.
5. Safety Concerns: If you're uncomfortable handling traps, disposing of dead rodents, or using certain types of repellents/baits, a professional can handle these tasks safely.
6. Use of Rodenticides (Cautionary Note): While homeowners can purchase some rodenticides, professional exterminators have access to a wider range of products and the expertise to apply them safely and effectively, minimizing risks to non-target animals (pets, wildlife).
   • Important Caution: Rodenticides carry significant risks. Voles might consume the bait and then be caught by predators (owls, hawks, foxes, even cats/dogs), leading to secondary poisoning. Always discuss these risks with a professional and consider alternatives first.
7. Identifying Difficult Species: In some cases, correctly identifying the rodent (vole vs. shrew vs. mouse) can be challenging. A professional can accurately diagnose the pest and recommend the most targeted approach.

When contacting a professional, choose a licensed and reputable pest control company. Discuss their methods, especially concerning the safety of pets, children, and beneficial wildlife. A good professional will integrate various control methods, not just rely on chemical solutions, to provide a comprehensive vole management plan.