Author Topic: Wildlife damage: What killed this oak tree? (Read 2918 times)

Dodgy Loner · « **on:** April 23, 2008, 01:54:51 pm »

Can anybody guess what did the damage to this oak tree? Penny is included in the photograph for scale.

Radar67 · « **Reply #1 on:** April 23, 2008, 02:02:21 pm »

A rat or armadillo?

Dodgy Loner · « **Reply #2 on:** April 23, 2008, 03:56:45 pm »

Rat is closer than armadillo, but no cigar.

BaldBob · « **Reply #3 on:** April 23, 2008, 04:00:17 pm »

Pocket Gopher.

Dodgy Loner · « **Reply #4 on:** April 23, 2008, 04:26:17 pm »

Also close, but you've got to think smaller...

ellmoe · « **Reply #5 on:** April 23, 2008, 08:16:48 pm »

Mole?

Riles · « **Reply #6 on:** April 23, 2008, 08:47:53 pm »

Shrew

Dodgy Loner · « **Reply #7 on:** April 23, 2008, 09:42:36 pm »

Both good guesses, but moles and shrews are both carnivores/insectivores.

Tom · « **Reply #8 on:** April 23, 2008, 09:50:45 pm »

Mice?

WDH · « **Reply #9 on:** April 23, 2008, 11:30:32 pm »

It was a gnawing thing of some kind.....a little tiny itty bitty ground dwelling beaver

.

Lanier_Lurker · « **Reply #10 on:** April 23, 2008, 11:57:11 pm »

Rodent, smaller than a rat and not a mole or shrew.

If it ain't field mice I dunno.

Dodgy Loner · « **Reply #11 on:** April 24, 2008, 12:28:51 am »

Here's another hint: it's more closely related to lemmings than to mice

Radar67 · « **Reply #12 on:** April 24, 2008, 12:48:31 am »

A vole or muskrat.

SwampDonkey · « **Reply #13 on:** April 24, 2008, 05:30:16 am »

Woodchuck? chipmunk? Both marmots I guess.

Radar is probably onto it.

ellmoe · « **Reply #14 on:** April 24, 2008, 06:33:08 am »

Is that the root or the stem?

P.S. My dog was a carnivore, and he was a chewing machine!

Dodgy Loner · « **Reply #15 on:** April 24, 2008, 10:23:15 am »

That is the taproot - or, what used to be the taproot. And Radar got it right - it's vole damage. A client of mine had planted dozens of sawtooth oaks along a creek bank in his back yard, and several of them, including one that was about 6" in diameter, were killed by voles. They feed on grasses, herbs, bulbs, and roots, and they burrow into the ground, producing holes near the surface that are about 1" in diameter. Populations can get very dense in a hurry.

Voles can be controlled with rat poison, but this does not discriminate between species and will kill anything that eats it. A safer method is to use mouse traps baited with peanut butter. Dozens of traps must be set and reset several times a week to have any appreciable effect on the population.

Radar67 · « **Reply #16 on:** April 24, 2008, 10:26:07 am »

Does the right answer hold a personal on-site visit with WDH to walk over my place and make suggestions???

Tom · « **Reply #17 on:** April 24, 2008, 11:55:54 am »

I never heard of voles before I read of them on this site. Mice were Mice and Moles were moles.

Reading up on them a little bit, I do that when it's something new, I found that a peculiarity of voles was monogamy. Only one strain, the field mouse (the meadow vole) has promiscuously mating males.

Reading on, the author says that it can be remedied by the insertion of a DNA string via a virus. "The behavior is influenced by the number of repetitions of a particular string of micro-satellite ("junk") DNA, and the same DNA sequence is found in humans." This is leading me to a supposition that human females may begin using this for social design, as if they need any help.

I can hear the nuptials now as the preacher asks, "Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

And, the woman replying, "Yes sir, as soon as he finishes his vaccinations". $:-\$

Dodgy Loner · « **Reply #18 on:** April 24, 2008, 04:10:17 pm »

Radar- It depends- Who's paying for gas?

Tom-

I've read the same thing, but can't say that thought ever crossed my mind.

Radar67 · « **Reply #19 on:** April 24, 2008, 04:54:33 pm »

I'm sure we could work something out. Danny can vouch for the food quality over here.

WDH · « **Reply #20 on:** April 24, 2008, 07:18:30 pm »

Quote from: Radar67 on April 24, 2008, 10:26:07 am

Does the right answer hold a personal on-site visit with WDH to walk over my place and make suggestions???

I ain't much on voles, but trees I can handle. If I get stumped, I can consult with Dodgy

.

The answer, Stew, is yes...

Radar67 · « **Reply #21 on:** April 24, 2008, 08:09:44 pm »

Hopefully I'll have my pool taken care of within the next month or so, and my house site leveled.

Dodgy Loner · « **Reply #22 on:** April 25, 2008, 08:56:00 am »

Alright Danny. Let me know when we're leaving and I'll have my bags packed

Phorester · « **Reply #23 on:** April 27, 2008, 09:06:42 am »

Think I've stated this before in another thread, but in the last few years voles have become a big problem in several mid-Atlantic states. I've talked with foresters from Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, they all have tremendous vole problems. They've devastated every open field tree planting project I have done in the last 5 years. Practically 0 survival. They have girdled trees with 6" diameter stumps, they have climbed into Christmas trees and girdled limbs 4 and 5 feet off the ground. Darndest thing I have ever seen. They can be poisoned in existing tree plantations.

As for new tree planting projects, we've tried herbiciding the grass, herbiciding and burning, burning alone, scalping the tree rows before planting, herbiciding the tree rows. Nothing worked. I now recommend that the landowner plow and disk the entire field for site preparation before tree planting, just as if he was planting a crop, to completely destroy the grass thatch the voles live in.

SwampDonkey · « **Reply #24 on:** April 27, 2008, 10:29:31 am »

Maybe that was what got into my spruce winter before last. I thought it was porcupines because I seen one in my cedar tops. Whatever it was chewed at the based on the stump about 4" wide, which was almost half the circumference of my trees. Always something, make a preacher lose religion.

Timburr · « **Reply #25 on:** April 27, 2008, 02:11:35 pm »

Ah, voles!

A decade and a half ago, we had a massive vole problem. They were gnawing the root collar on all new transplants, giving us a low survival rate. Since, more by luck than judgement, our forest management techniques seems to be conducive to an increase in owl population. Vole damage is sporadic now and at a tolerable level. An earlier planting and a more open woodland seems to have done the trick.

One finding I've discovered(not scientific), voles seem to enjoy a herbaceous ground cover, especially grasses and I'm guessing this hides them from owls, raptors and other predators

Left Coast Chris · « **Reply #26 on:** April 27, 2008, 03:51:30 pm »

We have voles. They love to chew wood. Flood irrigation usually does them a number.

Tom · « **Reply #27 on:** April 27, 2008, 04:36:22 pm »

What do they taste like?

Mooseherder · « **Reply #28 on:** April 27, 2008, 08:35:23 pm »

Quote from: Tom on April 27, 2008, 04:36:22 pm

What do they taste like?

Chicken!

Tom · « **Reply #29 on:** April 27, 2008, 08:42:40 pm »

Well, chicken is good!! Eat the rascals!!

Advertise them as the new gourmet treat. "Vol-aray"

Get the whole world eating them and it won't be long before the the EPA and PETA will be trying to protect them.

Jeff · « **Reply #30 on:** April 28, 2008, 12:14:53 pm »

Quote from: Tom on April 27, 2008, 04:36:22 pm

What do they taste like?

Soylent green

Left Coast Chris · « **Reply #31 on:** April 29, 2008, 12:52:44 am »

The vole is half the size of a mouse. If the fur could be removed, they could be processed like sardines.............. gently roasted........maybe on pizza? Of course you would have to get over the crunch.

SwampDonkey · « **Reply #32 on:** April 29, 2008, 05:55:31 am »

I saw on an episode of Globe Trekkers they served fruit bats whole in some island of Micronesia. My memory fails me which, and there are too many islands there to count or even remember in my head.

Dodgy Loner · « **Reply #33 on:** April 29, 2008, 08:15:29 am »

Apparently voles are a pretty big issue down here, too. I got three calls about them in three days last week. They aren't nearly as bad as what Phorester describes, though.

Tom · « **Reply #34 on:** April 29, 2008, 08:34:09 am »

As long as they haven't started chasing the constituants yet, y'all can learn to handle them, I'm sure. I've been googling vole attack and carniverous Vole, but haven't had any luck yet. Looks like, to me, if you could stiffen that tail, you could dip them in some kind of batter, deep fry them and make some kind of carnival treat, like a corn dog.

Dodgy Loner · « **Reply #35 on:** April 30, 2008, 10:41:07 am »

Probably less bones in them than the corn dogs you get at the county fair, too

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Author Topic: Wildlife damage: What killed this oak tree? (Read 2918 times)