Monday, March 8, 2010

Vole Damage even with the lack of Snow

I thought that this year would be one where the voles would not do too much damage to the lawns. We have had a minimal amount of snowfall this winter. Voles (or really field mice) often like to build runways and nests under piles of snow. The snow protects them from predators. I haven't talked to any voles (at least recently), but I imagine that for a vole, the snow pile or snow drift acts as a sort of a dome. It protects them, yet allows light in. Normally, the voles will be found in the fields or under some shrubs where they have protection.

When there are piles of snow, it allows them to spread out into areas that they normally cannot access safely.

But even though we did not have a lot of snow, we did get one heavy snowfall. It was enough to pile up along our privacy fence. Lo and behold when the snow melted, the evidence was there. The little creatures had spent enough time to make some trails and tunnels in the lawn.

What can be done with vole trails? The damage done by voles is usually just on the surface. They take grass blades to fashion nests. The trails are stripped of the grass and create ugly patches in the lawn.
Generally, I recommend a small bag or two of topsoil and a few handfuls of grass seed. Most often the damage will go away and not be noticeable once the grass starts to grow. In some cases, a small portion will not recover without the help of some soil and grass seed. Just to be safe, adding some soil and grass seed will speed up the process.




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