Late fall is the time you should be protecting your fruit trees from rodent damage. Voles can easily girdle and kill smaller fruit trees, causing considerable economic loss.

Three species of voles — commonly referred to as` ‘orchard mice’ — occur in Michigan, they are the meadow vole, pine vole, and prairie vole. Of these, the meadow vole is most common. Meadow voles chew mainly on aboveground tree bark when grasses, tubers, and seeds are scarce. The pine vole is far less common and tends to be restricted to southern Michigan Counties. They tunnel just beneath ground level and feed on tree roots. Their activity is often not evident until it is too late. The prairie voles live only in Southwest Michigan, and their presence resembles the activity of both meadow and pine voles.

Fortunately, control is pretty straightforward. First, IPM dictates that you monitor for the presence of voles. Look for tunnels or other evidence of activity such as gnawed-on fruit or bark. If a high vole population is suspected, control options include: Biological control, or maintaining favorable habitat for predators such as hawks, owls, snakes, foxes, and even house cats! Trapping can be used if you have just a few trees -- spring-loaded mousetraps baited with peanut butter are effective. Good cultural practices such as not allowing tall grass to grow around the base of trees, frequent mowing of the orchard floor, and weed-free tree rows all help. Be careful when mulching your fruit trees as voles use it for cover. Wire 'mouse-guards' can be used to exclude voles from your trees. The white plastic 'spiral' mouse guards can be used on smaller trees. Finally, commercial growers can apply various rodenticides to the orchard floor. If you use this approach, be sure to read the instructions for application, as their effectiveness and safety is predicated on following label directions.

That is all for today, this is Al Gaus for Berrien County MSU Extension.