Growing figs in ground. After seeing the Vole damage on one of my young trees, and thinking all the time that I had spent in wrapping and unwrapping the trees. Loosing couple of them due to cold Winters- I decided to dig up my in ground trees. Already dug up and removed 5 of them into the basement.

There are still few in ground. Early Spring, I will either plant them in ground in another location (where they get more sun) or I'll grow them in containers. Due to my climate (Z6) when it comes to figs, container-culture is much easier for me than growing them in ground.

Photos; 1) The culprit. 2) One of my mature trees being taken out of the ground. Took out 42" of the root ball, a bit heavy for one person.


Navid.

PS. That was the only tree that I had wrapped, without placing few moth balls in a container close to its trunk. The rest of the trees with moth balls had no Vole damage.

Wow Navid, sorry to hear about the damage. It doesn't take much time for them to eat into a tree. I've had my share of damage from them too. It's an all out war on rodents at my place. I got traps set, mothballs and garlic spread around to keep them in check.

Sorry to hear as well. I wonder for those with these troubles if those plastic tree protectors have ever been tried? Work wonders in my yard, especially considering how cheap and insanely simple/fast they are to put on and take off.

I have millions of voles in my alfalfa fields but have never seen any bit of damage from them or any other rodents on any of my trees.  Maybe they have enough green grasses, etc. to eat here in our milder winters that they don't bother chewing on something hard like bark.  Sorry to read of your problem!

Yeah I definitely see the damage happening in winter time more when I assume they get hungry in our colder zones.

Sorry to hear vole damage.  It must be a lot of work to dig trees out from hard frozen ground.  
The container growing will be just another way to harvest some delicious figs.  Keep up the good work.  
Good luck and best wishes!

Sorry for your misfortune.  I hear vole soup can be very nourishing.

Voles? You mean moles? Like rats correct? I see the havoc it caused. I glad you killed it. Darn pests. I am happy that you dug up you trees, Navid. Sounds like you were pretty fed up with the damage. I would have done the same if I had pest issues. All my "price tag" trees are spending the rest of their lives in POTS FOREVER. Observing this freeze in Idaho, zone 5/6a worries me. Wrapping up trees do costs me $30 of materials per tree.

I am surprised you were able to dig them up. My backyard is hard like cement

Jennifer

Moles eat mainly meat like earthworms, grubs and other insects. Voles will use mole tunnels to travel and eat roots. They also eat bark and other vegetation. Not sure if they munch on insects but I'm 100% sure they eat fig trees. Death to all voles!

That little guy in the picture looks well fed.
Sorry they are such a problem there Navid.

http://plantdiagnostics.umd.edu/_media/client/diagnostics/gallery/vole_l2.JPG

There is a spreadable vole/mole repellent preperation made out of Castor oil, sawdust, and rock dust.
you spread it, and work it into the soil. then water.
Rodents hate the taste, and smell Castor oil leaves in the soil, so they scram.
I wonder if spraying a diluted Castor oil solution on your tree bark would make it taste bad enough without harming the tree? It may deter bugs also?
Serious note: Castor oil is poisonous.
And It would have to be applied after sunset to avoid burning the plant by the sun. 

Vole soup? eeek!!

Navid,
I hope getting the little bugger gave you some satisfaction. It's good to know the moth balls worked though.

Poisonous? They make ricin out of it.

That is a lot of extra work and setback for the plants.
I am sure planting in big pots will prove a satisfactory solution for your zone ( except a week or two of extreme cold around this time of the year).

Containerized trees are not a sure way to prevent vole damage. All my damage last year, was from voles that got in the garage and ate til their bellies were full. By the end of winter I had a head count of 9 voles. It was too late for a few trees but I learned my lesson on prevention and this year I've caught 2 mice and 4 voles so far. I'm sure the head count will still climb since every vole and mouse has a bounty on their heads. I still got a couple more months to go before I'll stop trapping them.

Wow, I sure hope I don't have a similar experience when I unwrap my figs in the spring.

Thank you guys. As I removed the tarp, I was surprised to see the "little guy" taking a nap between the Straws. Made a mistake of grabbing it right away and it bit my finger. Was not a friendly Vole as what is showed in Mike's photo.

Luckily that was an extra plant of Beall. I keep the mother plant in a large container.

From what I searched online, it looks to be Vole. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

Navid.

Here's what I found about the varmint.

Voles are small rodents that grow to 3–9 in (7.6–23 cm), depending on the species. They can have five to 10 litters per year. Gestation lasts for three weeks and the young voles reach sexual maturity in a month. As a result of this exponential growth, vole populations can grow very large within a very short period of time. Since litters average five to 10 young, a single pregnant vole can result in a hundred or more active voles in less than a year.
Voles are commonly mistaken for other small animals. Moles, gophers, mice, rats and even shrews have similar characteristics and behavioral tendencies. Since voles will commonly use burrows with many exit holes, they can be mistaken for gophers or some kind of ground squirrel.
They will readily thrive on small plants. Like shrews, they will eat dead animals and like mice or rats, they can live on almost any nut or fruit. Additionally, voles will target plants more than most other small animals, making their presence evident. Voles will readily girdle small trees and ground cover much like a porcupine. This girdling can easily kill young plants and is not healthy for trees or other shrubs.
Voles will often eat succulent root systems and will burrow under plants or ground cover and eat away until the plant is dead. Bulbs in the ground are another favorite target for voles; their excellent burrowing and tunnelling give them access to sensitive areas without clear or early warning. The presence of large numbers of voles is often only identifiable after they have destroyed a number of plants.[1] However, like other burrowing rodents, they also play beneficial roles, including dispersing nutrients throughout the upper soil layers.[2]
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 Hi Navid,
Dont know if this will help you identify it or not , according to Wikipedia.

A vole is a small rodent resembling a mouse but with a stouter body, a shorter, hairy tail, a slightly rounder head, smaller ears and eyes, and differently formed molars (high-crowned and with angular cusps instead of low-crowned and with rounded cusps).

Voles are real issue for my garden and flower beds, they are plentiful here. They go after the roots and lower bark in the mild spells of the winter months. There is a special trap one needs to make and place along their "runs" and bait, I made several out of 2" pvc in a T shape, it basically keeps the poisin dry and the pvc pipe is simply a tunnel for them to run into.

Martin, there might be a Vole or two munching on your "dark" figs ;)

It definitely was a Vole. I was about to pot up the trees that I had dug up and saw the same tooth marks on my CddB. Now, what makes me wonder, why the moth balls did not deter these pests, since I had placed moth balls in a container beside the trunk of my CddB plant. Don't like to use poisons, but at this point I am left with no other choices.

The first three photos are from the CddB and the last one is the Beall.


Navid.