The Best Ways to Get Rid of Voles, According to Gardening Experts

When you see damage to your trees, shrubs, roots, or bulbs, you might initially blame rabbits or other small rodents. However, it’s equally possible that voles—commonly known as “meadow mice”—are to blame.

Although adorable, voles can wreak havoc by chewing on plants and digging runways throughout your landscape. Voles also damage trees and shrubs by gnawing on the bark, which weakens the plant. To help, we spoke to gardening experts who shared tips on the best ways to get rid of voles in your yard.

What Are Voles? 

Voles (different from moles) are small rodents that cause damage to garden plants, like vegetables and fruit trees. They typically have blackish-brown to grayish-brown fur and measure about 5 to 8 inches long when mature. While they look similar in appearance to mice, voles have stockier bodies, rounder heads, and shorter tails, and don't typically invade the home.

Signs You Have Voles

There are some telltale signs your garden has a vole infestation. First, look for runs or pathways, which voles use to move through the landscape. “Vole runs are 1 to 2 inches wide and criss-cross the soil surface," says horticulturist and writer Kim Toscano. You may also see small vole “nests” made from dried grass that the voles collect and shape into small globes. 

Another major sign of voles is gnaw marks around the bark of woody shrubs and trees. Voles can do considerable damage to your garden in this way, even chewing off the bark entirely all the way around (called “girdling”), which can subsequently kill the plant or tree. 

Chances are, you won’t know your garden has voles until spring. “In my experience, voles do their worst damage in the winter,” says Kathy Purdy, garden writer and cold-climate gardening expert. “You can't see the damage they are doing until the snow melts, and then it's too late."

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How to Get Rid of Voles

If you have a vole infestation in your landscape, there are a few effective and humane ways of dealing with this issue before it gets out of hand.

Use Organic Vole Repellent

You can try to control vole populations with organic solutions, but you might not have the best success. Alliums—garlic, onions, chives—are disliked by voles, but just having these plants in your garden might not be enough to scare voles away.

Commercial organic repellents, which contain more concentrated levels of capsaicin (the chemical that makes chili peppers hot), may be more effective, but these need to be applied very frequently, including after a rain or even heavy dew.

Mow Your Grass 

Because voles are constantly on alert for predators, they prefer to stay near covered places and don’t like to be out in the open. You can use this natural vole behavior to your advantage by keeping the grass cut short.

“Regular mowing helps deter voles, which do not like to feed in the open,” says Toscano. “Keeping your lawn clipped short (3 to 4 inches tall) reduces the cover voles seek and exposes them to predators.” Use a trimmer to keep weeds clear alongside garden beds and keep the grass short around any garden décor.

Keep Garden Clutter to a Minimum

Similarly, voles want to hang around where there are convenient places to hide. While you probably don’t want to remove your garden’s bird bath, decorative rocks, or other landscaping ornaments, you can make an effort not to leave out garden tools, machines, weed piles, and other clutter that may attract voles. Try to limit mulch and similar products around the garden if possible—voles love hiding in mulch.

Add Mesh Around Your Garden

Hardware cloth or mesh with 1/4-inch holes can be installed at the base of the fence and buried 6 to 12 inches below the ground line to help keep voles out of the garden. And if a fence isn’t feasible, you can individually protect vulnerable plants by fencing a circle around them.

Set Up Traps

While habitat modification is the most effective way to get rid of voles, you can also use catch-and-release traps to remove these animals from your garden. Lure them into the traps with food scraps, like apples, peanut butter, or oatmeal. Place the traps near exit holes where voles have dug runways in your garden. The best time to trap these animals is during fall and late winter, but just make sure you follow local rules and regulations.