Voles have eaten 250 tulip bulbs. Never even knew what the little buggers were till now. They are eating a rosebush now and ate a small tree. They are only in the backyard and left my daffs alone.Buying a system to eradicate them, tho I know its not easy.
It's war!
Anyone have any battle tales?

I've battled them too, but unfortunately, I lost the battle. The only way I've found to deal with them is bulb cages, and outdoor cats help too. I hadn't had any problems with them here until this winter, and this is our 4th year here. In one bed out of 15, almost every Lily was devoured. At least 50 bulbs are gone. I haven't seen any damage in the other beds, which is kinda surprising. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks, Neil!
We put in this bait system. We shall see if it works. People tell me they have success with Permatil. Maybe we will try that too. Here is the system... http://www.volecontrol.com
PS This system HAS WORKED PERFECTLY!!! Could not be more thrilled. Easy and you leave it in place and it is invisible.

I have voles, too. I'm going to say that I haven't noticed them eating anything much, though. For a while, the best deterrent was my trusty Jack Russel. Finding them and giving them a good chomp was in her blood. Seems now the job has been turned over to the resident black snake(s?).
I'm sorry to hear that y'all lost so many bulbs. Hope the new bait system works well, Janice. I have a friend who had to resort to that after the critters started in on her hosta collection. The seemed to work for her.

My dog got good at killing them too. It was cute, she would suddenly notice a spot in the garden, and look with her head cocked, then suddenly she would pounce and stick her nose in the dirt, then all of a sudden she emerged with a fat vole in her mouth. She was raised hearing "get out of the garden", and is really good about staying out of the beds, so when she was hunting I just went with it- she didn't do any damage compared to the voles.

I have found planting Euphorbia around the beds works. I don't have voles, but do have gophers. They love tulips and lilies. Since I planted the Euphorbia they haven't even gone into the beds, let alone eat anything. Even the roots are toxic to them so they won't dig in the area where the E. is.

That is great to know, thanks!

Thanks for that, Lynn! If things get bad they'll be a whole new obsession.

I am so relieved to know I don't have to worry about my bulbs anymore. : )

Thank you, Bev, Neil and Lynn!
It's good to hear the bait system worked for someone, Bev! There is hope!
Lynn, I like the Euphorbia idea and want to try that. Can you tell me what variety of Euphorbia you planted??
Neil, do Iris fall under this cubit...they are a rhizome not a true bulb? Because I visited a lovely place yesterday.
http://flowergardengirl.wordpr......
Here are some of my pics from yesterday.
My son took me there for Mothers Day and got me Irises. What fun!
This is Thelma "Mom" the founder. She started in the 1950's so there are lots of older varieties. They add new ones every year, as her daughter(and digger ) has taken over, but Mom says she still loves to weed.
She is 90 now and fun to talk to.

I

What a fun day you must have had Janice.
I have used the native Euphorbia and also some of the ornamental ones. All seem to work.

Janice, Bearded Irises sure do have a home here! A lot of folks refer to bulb like plants as bulbs, like corms, tubers, and rhizomes, and many require similar treatment as true bulbs. What a great garden to visit!

Janice, that looks like a really fun garden to visit. No way does that lady look 90. See what gardening does for us.

I did a mini experiment this year with my lilies. I put daffodils along the lily rows. I read to put them about a foot apart, and something in the daffs repels the voles. i don't have a huge vole problem, but I have some vole damage yearly. This year I had some in other areas, and so far none where the daffs are planted.

Polly thank you so much for that information. I will give that a try with plantings done this year. It should work for gophers if it works for voles.

I don't know Lynn, but it's worth a try, and the daffs are pretty.

Thanks, Polly!
YES! that did work for me this year and only accidentally did I plant tulips among daffodils. They were the only tulips that survived in the backyard out of 250.
After that loss we discovered the vole problem. I think the baits have worked, as we have had to refill a few times. We were told it usually takes 6 weeks to clear them out....until their cousins come in from other areas~!!! LOL

Janice,

I planted some tulips there too, inside the daffodil border, and none of them were touched by the voles. maybe we're on to something!

Janice, that is such a cheerful and gorgeous planting! Do you recall what variety that Daff is? I obviously need more Daffodils,....as organic rodent defense! LOL

Janice what is the little orange/red tulip?

Polly! This is a big help and I think we have discovered something!!
The bait stations really work well, too, and I feel secure planting there now. Voles multiply like crazy, so we keep the bait stations in place for any newcomers.

Thanks, Neil. The daffodils planted there are Pappy George, Kedron and Falconet. I got most of the Daffs this year at Brent and Beckys end of season 50% off sale.

Lynn, I am not sure what the tulip is. Think it came from Costco.
I was so tired after planting 750 bulbs, I did not keep the records the way I should have...plus I planted late and it was cold.