Issues → January/February 2007 → Home & Garden →
Garden Pests: Combat Voles and Deer Damage
Get Rid of Voles
We'd like to get rid of voles in our yard without using poison, as we have rabbits and other animals around. -- M.S., Westford, MA
Voles (field mice) build tunnels in the landscape and lawn and can cause considerable damage to root systems, stems, and other plant parts. Vole populations are cyclical and encouraged by weeds, heavy mulch, dense ground cover, and even snow, all of which provide shelter. Maintain open ground around your plants to reduce damage. Mesh fencing, trapping, live removal, and various methods of repelling are other nonpoisonous options. But these methods can be difficult, time-consuming, and often unreliable by themselves.
Eradication is the surest control and, with some precautions, can be accomplished relatively safely without poisons. Try setting a mouse-type snap trap, baited with peanut butter or bacon, perpendicular to the largest runways. Position the trigger at the middle of the run. A wire hoop over each trap helps keep nontarget animals away.
Use multiple traps when activity is highest, usually in early spring or late fall, for best results. Natural predators such as owls, foxes, hawks, snakes, cats, and even coyotes may also be helpful in controlling vole populations.
Controlling Deer in Your Garden
Deer damage in my garden was excessive this fall. What can I do to prevent this? -- S.R., Buckland, MAI am asked this often. Here are some solutions from gardeners, with my responses.
After a haircut, keep the hair and scatter it all over the plants. See the deer run away.
Human hair can repel deer, but weather diminishes its effectiveness so frequent reapplications are needed. Also, once deer become used to humans and realize they are not a threat, the fear factor disappears.
I apply a commercial deer repellent to plants. My favorites so far are Bobbex and Deer Off.
Professionally formulated products to repel deer disrupt the browsing habits of deer with their odor or taste or by mimicking the scent of a predator. Note: When plants are actively growing, applications must be made more frequently to the new shoots, which deer prefer. Unfortunately, deer learn quickly. As population pressures increase, deer can overcome their dislike of these offensive products, learn that they are masking palatable plants, and return to graze. Using a combination of different repellents along with choosing plants less favored by deer would be more effective.
Immerse bulbs for a short time in a mixture of Tabasco sauce and finely minced garlic; remove the bulbs and allow them to dry, then plant them.
Garlic and other odiferous products are offensive to deer. The garlic "pencils" sold in garden centers can be effective in changing browsing habits. Mothballs, coyote urine, or bars of fragrant soap (specifically Lifebuoy and Irish Spring) hung from tree branches have also worked as deer repellents. Researchers at Cornell University claim that deer are repelled by the odor of Milorganite, a sludge-based fertilizer.
Each spring I unroll 4-foot-wide chicken wire on the ground around the perimeter of my garden. Deer apparently are uncomfortable with the feel of the uneven surface and will not walk on this. This method has worked for years!
Physically excluding deer is the best way to keep them away. But when deer become sufficiently desperate, they may learn to jump your barrier. Many types of fencing can work, including single- or multiple-wire strands at varying heights, electric fences, plastic or metal mesh attached to trees or posts, and solid structures made of wood or metal.
-- R. Wayne Mezzitt, chairman, Weston Nurseries
Reader Comments
Comment from Ellen Remington on February 18, 2008
My husband took the garden fork, hung an old shirt and hat on it to look like a scare crow, made sure it smelled of fresh aftershave, etc (human scent) it seemed to work better and certainly was cheaper than all the others. We tried store bought repellants and Irish spring, they work a day or two then the deer were back! If you refresh the scent every other night or so, cheap cologne works just as well!
Comment from Judy Stabley on February 19, 2008
I work at a gardencenter, and there are two things we can tell our customers for certain -
there is no such thing as a deer-proof plant, and any commercial repellant is only
temporary. Beyond that, you have to be either tolerant or diligent.
Comment from Evelyn McCarthy on February 21, 2008
This has nothing to do with deer...they are quite far away from our gardens...However we do have a problem with pigeons...the barn houses quite a few...Last spring I bought an owl and set him out in the back by the bird feeders...for the whole summer into the fall..they stayed away..sometimes sitting in a tree near by and keeping an eye on the owl. I would move it from place to place..thought I had the problem licked...now they are back full force and eat around the base of the owl...I guess they decided it would not do any harm..like the deer get used to human hair..etc...What can I do to keep them away...when we go to the window and knock..they fly off..but come back a few minutes later...any suggestions
Evelyn McCarthy
Comment from Kris Johnson on February 22, 2008
I have used this tried and true methods with GREAT results! Put a small amount of water in a blender. Add an egg and whip. Pour this mixture into a half gallon container and fill with additional water. When ready to use, pour into a spay bottle and spray what plants you do not want deer to eat. Do this about once a month or after a rain shower. Your plants will NOT smell like rotten eggs! And this is eco-friendly and safe around kids and pets. Store unused mixture in the frig or else you WILL have a stinky mess. THIS WORKS!
Comment from Aline Otero on August 23, 2011
Deer used to eat my flowers down to the ground and even ate the English Ivy off the front of my house! I too tried all sorts of commercial NON poisonous products but to no avail. I\'m not sure why I tried this but it worked. I bought a package of the thin (1/4 to 1/2 inch diameter) bamboo sticks (each stick is about 2 to 3 feet high) and stuck them around the perimeter of my gardens about three feet apart like fence posts, slanted OUT from the garden at about a 40 degree angle. Then I strung fishing line around these sticks making the fence \"rails\" at three different levels around these \"bamboo fence posts\". One about three inches off the ground. The second around 1 foot from the ground and the third about 2 feet from the ground. And voila - no deer eating my garden plants! Apparently, they are deterred when their feet get tangled in the fishing line! Hope it works for you. But maybe I\'ll try the water and egg mixture the Kris Johnson suggests too!
Comment from Jared Finkelstein on August 24, 2011
If you are having problems with deer and/or moles and voles you may want to take a look at my company\'s garden system. We use a variety of fencing around and under the garden to deter them. On top of the practical aspects, they are also attractive additions to your yard. www.teichgardensystems.com
Comment from Rodriguez, Melissa on August 24, 2011
Am in need of something to keep field mice from coming in my home. My home runs along conservation land and they (among other wildlife) are more than plentiful. This spring was brutal. I have a cat and he caught 13 from April - June. I tried traps, they didn\'t go near them. I put peppermint oil down on cotton balls and that helped a little. But w/the cold weather coming, I need a better approach. And, it must be non-poisonous because of my cat. I simply can\'t go through another season wondering what my pet is going to bring to me in the middle of the night or what I\'ll wake up to on the floor in the a.m. As for plants/flowers, the chipmunks this year have eaten nearly everything, flowers, leaves, bulbs and tomatoes! I\'ve nearly given up. On the bright side, no deer problems. Any humane and affordable suggestions for the mice/chipmunks is much appreciated.
Comment from Brenda Darroch on August 26, 2011
Melissa,
We don\'t have any articles on keeping mice out of homes, but here\'s one on how to deter chipmunks from hanging out in your yard http://www.yankeemagazine.com/issues/2008-07/home/home-garden-questions-new-engl.
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