From mypmp.net-
“Distinguishing between vole and mole damage can be tricky. Both pests construct tunnels, which can result in lawn and garden damage. Moles frequently get the blame for these landscape eyesores, but the real culprit may, in fact, be voles.
Erroneously referred to as meadow mice, voles are rodents. By contrast, moles are insectivores with completely different diets and behavior. Even the damage they wreak on lawns and garden has a distinctive look. As always, properly identifying the pest (mole or vole in this case) can be the difference in a pest management program that works and one that is a continued source of frustration.
That was the dilemma technicians at JP Pest Services in Milford, N.H., faced this summer when they were asked to manage pests that were decimating showcase gardens at a large food manufacturing facility.
MOLES
As the focal point of the manufacturer’s main courtyard and public tour area, the landscaped gardens typically were resplendent with colorful summer flowers and shrubs set against dark, green junipers and lush lawns.
An on-site horticulturist designed the grounds, which were maintained by a local landscaping company. What was a landscaper’s paradise turned nightmarish as day after day newly planted flowers were eaten and lawns marred by tunneling.
With losses mounting to thousands of dollars, the landscaper sought help from JP Pest Services, which had handled the facility’s interior and exterior perimeter rodent management services for more than a decade. Besides having certified applicators, JP Pest Services offered a wildlife department, which it started last summer to deal with mole problems.
Inspection first
Gary Nielsen, an entomologist and troubleshooter for JP Pest Services, inspected the grounds. In addition to severed flower stems, he found visible runways and tunnels. He also discovered signs of trouble from last winter ? chewed bushes and girdled stems ? though the real trouble started in mid-May when flower beds were planted and mulched.
“We do structural pest management and just started doing mole work last season, but this was beyond our strong suit and unlike any mole damage we’d seen,” Nielsen recalls.
VOLES
With a lot at stake, Nielsen consulted with Sheila Haddad, a Bell Laboratories technical representative, for a second opinion. Was it voles or moles?
Vole versus mole damage
Visible identification of the two pests is difficult because moles rarely appear above ground. Voles, on the other hand, freely travel in and out of their tunnels.
“There had been some sightings in the early morning and evening at the facility, but they never had vole problems before,” Nielsen notes.
He and Haddad next took a closer look at the damaged plantings. Both moles and voles can damage plants.
With moles, above-ground plant damage results from injury to roots during their constant burrowing. Moles are insectivores and prefer to eat earthworms and grubs.
Voles, on the other hand, are voracious herbivores with an appetite for green vegetation in warm months and bulbs and tubers in winter. They also gnaw bark at the base of trees and shrubs.
“Voles are pretty voracious,” Nielsen says. “A mature female can decimate a bedding. We had one 6-foot-by-6-foot plot and every single plant was gone, probably by one vole.”
Plants put in on Friday, he says, would be gone on Monday. He also notes that voles, like lemmings, like to cut vegetation and make hay. They’ve been known to clip grass and other plants at the base and drag them into bait stations to dry and eat later. Sure enough, Nielsen and Haddad found flowers that were chopped off and dragged into juniper bushes and tunnels. ”
You can read the article here.
There is a difference between Mole and Voles. Moles are considered a lawn pest, and voles are a wildlife animal. It is good to know what you have before us so we aren’t treating for voles, when they are moles.
