Vole Resisting Plants
- Voles (Microtus spp.), commonly called "meadow mice" or "field mice," are compact rodents with sturdy bodies, short legs, short tails and small eyes. Their fur is brown or gray, with a thick, dense undercoat. Voles have well-developed incisors made for clipping vegetation. The rodents are active year-round.
- Voles are herbivores and will attack plants. They feed on plant matter at root level, and construct elaborate tunnel systems in which they live and use to find food. Several voles may live in one tunnel. The rodents feed on forest and fruit trees, causing considerable damage. They feed on grasses and ornamental plants year-round, and on seeds, tubers, bulbs and rhizomes when they are planted in gardens.
- Some plants are considered vole resistant. These plants generally have a dense root systems that can survive attacks from voles. Perennial varieties that are vole resistant include hellebore, lily-of-the-valley, iris, yarrow, day lily, bleeding heart and bugbane. Ground covers that resist voles include monkey grass, false lamimun, crosswort and leadwort. Examples of vole-resistant bulbs are snowdrops, hyacinth, glory-of-the-snow, daffodils, grape hyacinth and autumn crocus.
- Voles can cause extensive damage to orchard trees, especially apples. In recent years, efforts have been made to determine apple varieties that are resistant to damage by voles. As a result, the "Novole" crabapple was cultivated, a species which resists the gnawing of common garden voles, particularly pine voles and meadow voles. The crabapple variety was developed by the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station and patented in 1982.