It feels like I am filing the annual varmint destruction report involving voles, packrats, etc. In February 2013 I reported on a devastating vole episode that I thought had completely killed my three outdoor figs.   One recovered that year but felt certain that the other two were gone (one was a 9 year old tree).   

  So, no signs of life throughout 2013 and had not noticed anything through mid summer 2014.    While making the rounds in my yard, gathering up my potted figs, I walked through the remote part of the yard where the other figs once grew and discovered that the two that were "dead" for more than a year had sent up a shoot from below.

 I've posted some stories about figs that I thought were dead after winter storage in my garage.   Then the pot containing the "dead" fig came to life in July.

It is apparent that figs are tenacious.   I was quite surprised to see this today!

By the way, a packrat has only trimmed a few of my figs this late fall.  Traps are set!

Byron (Ingevald) 

HOLLY VOLEY!!

buy rat poison, I'd do it out of anger. LOL

I'm glad to hear that!

Congrats! It does seem that figs are tougher then once thought.

Nice to hear about resurrections like your fig. Not very familiar with voles and how they work but for me and my experience with gophers, the simple remedy is garlic. I make an invisible barrier around trees and yard lines by digging a hole 6 inches to a foot deep and drop in a couple cloves of garlic and separate them from a foot to a foot and a half. Picked that up from my dad and had always worked. I've noticed my neighbors cat doesn't come around as often. They only draw back is you get little green shoots popping up from the dirty but better then critters right. I'd be curious to hear if that would work on voles.

Do you harvest garlic too? I imagine you could probably leave it as a perennial.

Hi Ingevald,
You're lucky !
My first BT got chewed by a vole; all root system gone and stem as sharp as a pencil ...
She made a bud with two leaves and then everything dried out.
Normally the tree should have bounced back. That was in Mai, just after February 2012, and I thought that the problem was the winter damage.
I decided to replace the BT, and while making the new hole, the situation got clear as I found the underground tunnel leading to my neighbors garden.
After 50 cm of depth I gave up and put some broken glass in the tunnel and put the new BT tree in the exact same place ... Knowing that, I felt uncomfortable - and what if the vole found another way ?...
That lead me to the 80 liters buried trashcan with bottom removed.

Figtrees are resistant, but an helping hand is always welcome !

That is an encouraging story, who would have thought the tree could sit that long without photosynthesis occurring and start growing again. I am definatly concerned about voles during the winter, I might try the garlic, maybe some hot pepper powder.

Mike in Hanover, VA