This damage is done by a particular type of meadow vole, not regular mice.
These guys are big! About 5 inches long... they look like a cross between a
mouse and a rat. In winter, they are very highly destructive to young
trees... they've hit almost all of mine within the past two winters. Also,
they only do this under snow. Anything above snow level is perfectly fine.
Since they are under the snow, they are also slowly destroying my front and
back lawns building their nests so I'm trying to come up with ways to
protect my trees and bushes but also lessen the amount of grass we have.
These voles are on a major population upswing here the past 3 years. The
first two years, we would see them under my bird feeders, on the front lawn,
running on the roads, you name it! That part seems to be slowing down but
they are still doing major damage to my plants. Hopefully, it won't last
much longer... maybe one more winter. In the meantime, I don't want to lose
all my trees and bushes (including the ones I have coming to plant this
spring!) so I need ways to help them for the winter.
--
Tammie
Zone 2b-3a Far Northern Ontario
http://community.webshots.com/user/_tammie57

"jammer" wrote in message
news
There are lots of mice and rats around here and i have never heard of
such a thing.



On Tue, 25 Mar 2003 12:41:38 -0500, "bthache"
wrote:

Hi Group,
I'm new to this newsgroup but I'm really hoping someone here can help me.
Last spring, for the very first time, when the snow melted, we realized
that
all the bark had been chewed off of our willow tree (very young tree..
only
3 feet high). Then, we started seeing trees or branches all over town
here
that had been chewed. Anything that had been under the snow was
completely
stripped and had little teeny tiny chew marks. This morning, I noticed
the
branches on my cherry bushes (just planted last summer) have the same
damage
and I don't know if they'll survive.

Can anyone recommend a way of protecting these trees and bushes? I have
new
bushes coming to be planted this summer and don't want the same thing to
happen. Any help will be very greatly appreciated!

·.·´¨ ¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
jammer
((¸¸.·´ ..·´
-:¦:- ((¸¸