In my experience, nothing eats daffodils but there is also nothing to prevent them from going around the daffodils to get to your other plants.
I mixed daffodils and tulips in the same hole to discourage the underground munchers from eating my tulips. There are no tulips in my yard but lots of daffodils.
Although moles are not herbivores like voles, I had just the opposite result. I used the most smelly fritillaria of them all - f. imperialis, and the mole built perfectly straight tunnel right over the top of them and continued on.
When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the losers. - Socrates
My side yard is mostly Fritillaria meleagris a little over 400, the mole started going in to that area, stopped completely, could have been a coincidence. Now if I could figure out how to stop the voles!
As Yogi Berra said, “It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”
Name: Charlie Aurora, Ontario (Zone 5b) Maintenance of Perennial Beds.
In my experience here, over years, absolutely not (as with Lucy above and tulips).
I spent years planting especially crocuses in the back garden, also with daffodils. The voles (meadow mice) mined out, especially the Dutch crocuses (larger bulbs), greatly reducing (without yearly new plantings, in fall) the number of crocuses by the second spring following initial planting.
There are other poisonous bulb options, besides daffodils, like Chiondoxa (glory-of-the-snow), but most Chionodoxa, and some others, seed around chaotically and eventually end up by taking over the flower bed and invading the lawn (at least here).
Thank you all for your interesting replies!
Has anyone had any luck with trapping voles? I have too many in my yard and none of the deterrents I've tried has worked.
I would love some advice too on battling voles. We had a pair of great horned owls hanging around the yard for years and never had a vole issue. This year, the male owl came back and called to the female for a few weeks, but she did not answer back. I haven't heard him in a couple months now and we have voles darting in and out of our rock retaining walls. I don't see any visible damage yet, not sure if they are eating roots. I've been keeping the base of my trees and shrubs clear so they don't have camouflage to chew bark, but we have snow coming soon and I've heard that's when they do the most damage. Anyone have luck with castor oil or cayenne pepper?
Name: Charlie Aurora, Ontario (Zone 5b) Maintenance of Perennial Beds.
I've come to realize that how we get spring bloom is by not primarily relying on spring bulbs, some of the prettiest of which are vole feed. Below a mid-May (when many spring bulbs are in bloom here). None of these perennials seem to show any mole effect, at least in our growing conditions.
There is one hellebore (Lenten rose) in the picture. We have a number of them. Hellebores are poisonous to voles as well as ourselves. I read recently that voles do not tunnel through hellebore root systems.
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tornadobrown said: Has anyone had any luck with trapping voles? I have too many in my yard and none of the deterrents I've tried has worked.
I did once see voles fall into an armadillo trap and starve...
I've tried repellents, to no avail.
The mouse trap with a spike through, under a eaves-trough has a lot of appeal, but useless at my house.
The cats catch them... and then usually leave them to attract flies... The voles and the moles must taste really bad, the cats eat anything else they catch... even cockroaches!
The hawks and cats help with the pasture voles and mice. The only plants left in the gardens after 20 years are plants the moles, gophers, mice , voles don't bother. The best way to keep gophers and moles out are by setting traps. I do that from spring thru fall.
All the trees, shrubs, perennials that are left in the garden are somewhat critter safe / note not all are critter proof. Because most of the other plants have long been gone from the gophers and the ground squirrels. Most are listed in my data base .
Squirrels / chipmunks have now taken over with the deer . Last year squirrels ate several of the peony roots that have been in the garden for years. Then they helped themselves to the dahlia tubers in pots and replaced them with a stash of hazelnuts. So last spring had pots full of hazelnut seedlings growing instead of dahlias. Horticulture Peppermint oil spray helps keeps the squirrels at bay when it's not raining. Well this is Oregon the PNW where it rains 7-8 months out of the year.
Just when you think you have out smarted the squirrels and ground critters , the deer come along. Been using Planyskyyd pellets which has helped keep them at bay.
I’m so busy... “I don’t know if I found a rope or lost a horse.”
Milky Spore is a natural substance that supposedly only gets better with time. It helps to eradicate the Japanese beetle grubs that voles like. If you get rid of the food source, the voles may move on. Being JB are not native, I don't feel bad about their demise! The Milky spore is quite expensive, but it's once and done. I took the bags of powder out with a tsp. and, in a grid pattern, I walked the property and dropped a tsp. full every four feet. So far, it has seemed to make a difference. I live in zone 5 Vermont.
crawgarden said: My side yard is mostly Fritillaria meleagris a little over 400, the mole started going in to that area, stopped completely, could have been a coincidence. Now if I could figure out how to stop the voles!
I have never had a problem with voles messing with my fruit trees which have daffodils planted around them about 2 to 3 feet away that have been there for 1- to 15 years.
Hmmm...
Actually had strawberries in mind... but have lost plenty of bushes after voles ate roots...
can't recall them eating tree roots right off... but, sweet potatoes, irish taters, echinacea, beans, watermelon roots... surprisingly, I've even seen poke and blackberry roots that had been eaten...
Name: Nooney Sigesmund Toronto Ontario Canada (Zone 4b) Hello from Permastake garden marker
I planted Hyacinths around the perimeter of a garden area 20 years ago. They are still coming back every year and no signs of any nibbling intruders.
Good Luck
