The water vole causes considerable damage in the garden because it tunnels under beds to gnaw off the roots of ornamental and useful plants. Even the environmentally conscious gardener wants to put a stop to this activity. However, he does not condemn the pests to death. Read here how you can fight the voracious burrowers without using poison.
How do you fight water voles in the garden without poison?
To combat water voles in the garden without using poison, you can place vole gas, spruce and thuja branches, turpentine or vinegar cloths and hair with walnut leaves in the aisles. These smells scare away the rodents without harming them.
Send into exile with gas – this is how it works
In ecologically managed gardens, people are increasingly turning away from the use of toxic substances. This applies equally to plant protection and pest control. This trend prompted the industry to specifically develop non-toxic methods to scare away the uninvited guests instead of killing them. With the innovative vole gas (€14.00 at Amazon) based on vegetable lavadin oil, there is a good chance that the rodents will run away. This is how it works:
- Open the gas cartridge and push it into the water vole passage
- Lighting the fuse
- Immediately close the passage so that the gas doesn't escape
As a result of the smoke, an unpleasant smell for the voles settles on the walls of the tunnels. The animals then leave your garden to look for other sources of food.
Chasing the devil with smells – tips & tricks
Proven home remedies for combating vole gas are aimed in a similar direction. The following smells will drive the water vole away forever:
- Pour manure from spruce and thuja branches into the aisles
- Soak cloths with turpentine or vinegar essence and stuff them into the aisles
- Mix animal and human hair with walnut leaves and place in it
The ultimate in repelling water voles is butyric acid. Anyone who has ever been hit with a stink bomb by rascals knows the infernal smell. Since extreme caution is required when using it to avoid becoming a victim of this strategy, we only recommend using butyric acid in extreme emergencies.
Tip
The burrows of water voles and the strictly protected moles look very similar. You can use the rooting method to find out who is really undermining the garden. To do this, dig up the suspicious passage in various places. If the holes are closed again within 6 hours, you are dealing with a water vole. A mole does not close the holes at all or only after a few days.