Voles are uninvited guests in the garden because they love our vegetables just as much as we do. They also eat tree and grass roots unnoticed, which can kill them. Learn how to effectively repel voles from your garden below.

Voles can be easily driven away with a combination of home remedies

Signs of voles in the garden

Voles are often only recognized by their damage, because you rarely see the small rodents. But their works are quickly visible:

  • Plants dead for no apparent reason
  • Several small mounds in the lawn

digression

Vole versus mole

Unlike moles, voles are strictly herbivores, making them a dreaded garden pest. Moles, on the other hand, are basically useful because they eat pests and avoid our fruits and vegetables. However, moles destroy the lawn with their large, numerous mounds, whereas voles tend to dig less aggressively.

Drive away voles with home remedies

If you want to drive away voles with home remedies, you have to stay on the ball consistently and constantly. Like most animals - and humans - voles like their homes and will only leave if they have one or more valid reasons to do so. Voles have a keen sense of smell and very good ears, which is why they can be scared off with strong smells and constant noise.

Drive away voles with plants

Voles love plants, but not all! Some plants emit an odor that voles find unpleasant, so they avoid them. Planting vole-phobic plants at multiple points in the garden can discourage the animals from invading or help persuade them to turn back.

Marigolds and garlic do not like voles at all

These plants do not like voles:

  • tagetes
  • garlic
  • Imperial Crown (poisonous!)
  • Cruciferous Spurge (Poisonous!)
  • sweet clover

tips

Plants alone are not enough to get a vole to move. However, they can be quite effective as a preventive measure or as an accompaniment.

Get rid of vole with stink

Nobody likes it when it stinks all the time. You can scare away voles with an unpleasant stench from a few simple home remedies.

Voles run away from these smells:

  • Old fish heads
  • garlic
  • elder tea
  • Nettle manure - this household remedy is also a great fertilizer for your plants
  • vinegar
  • Buttersäue, alternatively buttermilk (better for you and the environment)

Place your homemade "scent bombs" in the entrances to the vole burrow and replace them every few days to keep the stench going. Combinations of the remedies mentioned below are particularly effective.

Drive away voles with "noise".

You don't have to leave the radio on day and night to repel voles with noise. Instead, you can use sounds that you cannot hear yourself: ultrasound or barely audible vibrations.

Ultrasound against voles

Ultrasonic devices emit very unpleasant sounds for voles

Ultrasound devices are available from 20€ in specialist shops or online. Set up several devices near the vole pile. It is important that the rod of the device is in the passage of the vole. The big disadvantage of ultrasound devices is that they are also extremely uncomfortable for other mammals such as squirrels or bats. So if you are lucky enough to be home to bats, you should refrain from this method. If you have pets, buy a pet-friendly device whose waves are inaudible to loved ones.

Vole Scarecrow

Another bat-friendly option is a vole scarecrow. Sounds are generated with the help of the wind and directed into the earth and the vole burrow. You can buy vole scarers in stores or simply build them yourself.
Here's how to make a decorative pinwheel that voles don't like the vibrations:

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Flood vole exits

Wet feet in your own den? No vole can stand that in the long run. So flooding the burrows is a good way to repel voles. However, the procedure should be repeated regularly and combined with other methods.

Proceed as follows:

  1. Locate several entrances to the vole den.
  2. Insert a garden hose into the opening.
  3. Let the water run for several minutes.
  4. Then flood another entrance and repeat the process for all the vole holes found.

tips

Are you afraid the vole might drown? Do not worry! Voles are good swimmers and divers and will surely find a way out of the burrow before the water can harm them.

catch vole

Arguably the most effective animal-friendly way to get rid of a vole is to catch the vole.
For this you need a live trap, fresh root vegetables and some patience:

  1. First clean the live trap thoroughly with odorless material. Don't touch the trap without gloves so it doesn't smell like humans.
  2. Place bits of root or other vole food in the trap as bait.
  3. Enlarge one of the entrances to the vole burrow to fit the trap.
  4. Set the trap in the passage.
  5. Cover the hole again.
  6. Place at least one more trap in a different entrance.
  7. Check the trap several times a day.

If the vole falls into the trap, drive it several kilometers away and release the mouse. Do not try to stress the animal with photos or by moving it to other means of transport.

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vole burrow

Voles create a long, sophisticated tunnel system that can reach a total length of up to 25m. However, the building has comparatively few entrances: Often there are no more than five piles with a hole next to them.

kill vole

Since the vole is not under protection, it can also be killed. This is not necessary, because the range of alternatives is large and animal suffering should be avoided in any case. Anyone who decides to use this less animal-friendly method should use a high-quality shot trap that will at least kill the mouse safely and quickly. Great care must be taken when setting up the shot trap. There is a risk of injury!

Conventional mousetrap or pincer trap

Pincer traps are designed to kill voles - animal-friendly alternatives are preferable

Snap or pincer traps are not recommended, as conventional snap traps often cause the mice painful, slow deaths. The trap does not always snap shut in the neck, which would result in a broken neck. Instead, the mouse is often caught on another part of the body. In this case, the mouse dies from internal bleeding or starves to death.

frequently asked Questions

What do voles not like at all?

Voles don't like strong, unpleasant smells or constant noise. Therefore, one can get rid of voles with certain scents as well as ultrasonic devices.

What smell drives voles away?

Garlic, marigolds, stinky fish, manure and butyric acid make voles run away.

Can you repel voles with water?

Voles don't like having water in their burrow. Flooding the aisles several times a day, in combination with other home remedies, can confirm the vole that it would make sense to move.

How do I recognize voles in the garden?

Unlike moles, voles only raise a few, smaller mounds and feed exclusively on plant food. An infestation is often only recognized when plants die without any visible reason and the roots have been nibbled.

How many voles do I have in the garden?

The good news is: voles are solitary creatures. Voles are found in pairs only during the mating season. The bad news: voles can give birth eight times a year - up to four baby voles each time. Therefore, you should act quickly if you notice a vole infestation in the garden.

Category:

Animals in the garden