A vole is a small animal that looks like a mouse. Although the voles don’t invade the house, they tend to damage the garden.
Hence, it is essential to know about effective preventive measures to prevent vole damage.
If you suffer from vole damage, you will find some exciting facts useful for repelling voles.
Voles can damage the shrubs and small plants in your garden. Eventually, this may cause the spread of plant disease.
Therefore, it is best to immediately notice and solve such a problem.
You can save money by spending less on getting rid of voles. Yes, the coffee grounds are a simple and cost-effective way of keeping voles away from your garden.
Identifying Voles
Before stepping into the process of repelling voles, you must clearly know what voles are. Most people confuse voles and moles.
Voles are small rodents, while moles aren’t rodents. Voles don’t usually invade houses since they are herbivores, but you will find them in the garden.
These small rodents are close relatives of hamsters and lemmings with short tails and legs, blunt noses, tiny ears, and stocky bodies. Meadow mouse and field mouse are some alternative names for voles.
Why Do Voles Infest the Garden?
Here are a few reasons why voles invade your garden.
Water
During the dry season, voles seek watered yards. One of the reasons for this is that they have easy access to water.
Food
Food is another primary reason why voles start entering yards. As already mentioned, voles are herbivores, so they would start feeding on the garden plants.
Plant stems and grass blades are some of the voles’ favorite meals.
Shelter
Voles like warmth, especially during the winter. So they create tunnels and start running around them.
They dig the tunnels near the garden surface since they have easy access to food sources.
How do voles enter your house?
Although voles are famous for infesting the garden, you might have heard of occasions when voles enter the house. This happens mainly during the winter.
Due to the cold, they start digging, intending to get into a warmer place. Sometimes the burrowing process ends up in the house. Ultimately, voles start entering the house.
Even though voles cause no harm to your property, you must be aware that their feces, urine, and parasites can cause damage to people and pets.
So, even though they will not cause damage to the properties inside our house, it is better to get rid of them.
Top 5 Reasons to Avoid Voles
Below are a few reasons you must notice if voles infest your garden and take necessary action to repel them.
The Death of Plants
Voles mainly try to eat the roots of the plants, which cause plant death.
Watching plants die will give you a downhearted feeling. So, resolving the problem by repelling voles early on is preferable.
Plant Disease
Voles infesting the garden can lead to plant disease.
Diseased plant diseases might spread and infect other plants too. Hence, getting rid of the voles can protect the plants from such conditions.
They Live in Colonies
Another reason why you must repel voles is that they live in colonies.
Although they will not harm or bite you, the colonies will grow and start causing intensive damage to your yard.
Hence, to prevent an unmanageable infestation, it is better to take the necessary measures and repel them.
They Can Get into Your House
Voles will dig tunnels underground to find warm shelter. When they go deep, they can make holes and get into the house.
Also, digging a tunnel may cause damage to the plumbing system of your home.
Parasites
Voles aren’t carnivores, so they will not harm people or pets in the house.
In contrast, parasites present on them, for example, fleas, mites, and ticks, can cause harm to people and pets.
Therefore, you cannot tolerate and welcome such pests into the house or yard.
Using Coffee Grounds to Get Rid of Voles
Coffee not only helps boost your energy level, but you can also use it for different remedies. One such cost-effective treatment is using coffee grounds to repel mice.
If you are trying this natural repellent for the first time, you don’t have to worry about how to use it. Follow the instructions provided below.
Method 1
First, inspect the yard and try to find out from where the voles are entering. Then sprinkle coffee grounds over those places.
To protect your plant from vole damage, mix coffee grounds with compost and put them in the soil. Fill the vole holes with coffee grounds.
The coffee grounds will promote the growth of plants. Hence, while protecting the yard from voles, you can also enhance plant growth.
After a few weeks, repeat the same process. Suppose it rains, you must ensure to reapply after the rain.
Method 2
In a spray bottle, mix coffee grounds with water. Then spray the solution on the plants and the soil.
Ensure to cover the perimeter of the yard, especially where voles enter.
Method 3
You can fill a mesh bag with coffee grounds and hang it near the garden.
Here, you will be using a mesh bag so that the coffee smell comes out and repels voles.
When using any of the methods mentioned above, ensure that the voles get in contact with the coffee ground and sense the strong smell. The more the voles sense the scent, they will get disturbed and try to leave the place.
Note: The coffee grounds you use to repel voles must have an intense coffee smell.
Hence, using fresh and regular coffee grounds will be effective.
How do Coffee Grounds help to Repel Voles?
Now you might know that coffee grounds will act as a natural vole repellent.
If you are wondering how this happens, continue reading to figure it out.
The coffee grounds contain potassium, calcium, magnesium, and nitrogen. These chemicals produce a strong smell, which is the main reason they will keep voles away from the garden. When you sprinkle coffee grounds, the overpowering smell will repel pests.
Is it Safe to Repel Voles Using Coffee Grounds?
When using any repellents or pesticides, it is crucial to check whether they can cause any harm to the plant, pets, or people.
Coffee ground is a natural vole repellent and a good fertilizer for plants. Therefore, it is safe to use coffee grounds when getting rid of voles.
Benefits of Using Coffee Grounds as a Vole Repellent
- The main benefit is that this method will work effectively to get rid of voles. So you can prevent vole damage to your garden.
- Since it is a natural repellent and a home remedy, you don’t have to spend much. Therefore, this method is cost-effective.
- Adding coffee grounds to the soil can enhance its quality by adding nutrients.
- Coffee grounds also act as a natural fertilizer.
Alternative Vole Repellent Methods
Other than coffee grounds, there are many more methods that you can use to repel voles.
If you are looking for an alternative vole repellent, try any of the following.
Trimming the Yard
You might know that voles love to feed on long weeds and grass.
So trimming them will reduce voles entering the yard.
Physical Barriers
Voles are capable of digging fences and entering yards.
Building barriers using wire mesh or other alternative products will prevent voles from entering the garden.
Trapping
Have you ever had the experience of trapping a mouse? If yes, then you can use the same technique to catch voles.
There are different types of traps available on the market. You can use one of them to catch and kill voles.
Vole Pallets
In the hardware store, you will find vole pellets to repel voles. There are both natural and chemical pellets.
The natural pellet will include natural ingredients that voles hate.
In contrast, the chemical pellet will contain the poisonous chemical.
If you are using the chemical pellets, be cautious to keep them away from pets and children.
Chemical Pesticides
You can also use chemical pesticides to deter voles from your yard.
When using such products, check whether they harm plants, pets, and people.
Predators
Voles will not enter the yard if predators have a place to live.
Since voles will become prey for these natural predators, they will try to stay safe by keeping themselves away from such animals.
Tips for Using Coffee Ground in Gardening
Apart from vole repellent, you can also use coffee grounds for other gardening purposes.
Enhances potting soil drainage
When planting in pots, one of the crucial factors that you must consider is whether the access water can drain properly.
Hence, mixing coffee grounds into the soil can improve water drainage.
Natural Repellent
You can also use coffee grounds to repel other pests.
For example, this will be an excellent option for deterring bees, snails, ants, and beetles.
Improve Compost Quality
You can add some coffee grounds to your compost to improve its quality.
Keeping Cats Away
Sprinkled coffee grounds will work if you want to keep cats away from the garden.
Cats don’t like the strong smell of coffee, so they will not try to enter the garden.
How to Fix Vole-Damaged Lawns
It will be easy to deter voles and fix any damages if you notice an infestation at an early stage.
If you know voles are invading the garden and leaving it unnoticed, the situation might worsen, causing extensive damage.
- Initially, you must take steps to repel voles.
- Then rake the garden to remove debris and vole excrement.
- Usually, when voles enter the garden, you will notice vole holes. Ensure to fill such holes using topsoil or coffee grounds.
- If there is any infected or chewed-up grass, the best option is to remove it. Then you can add fertilizer to the soil and overseed.
- Prune any vole-gnawed plants and shrubs. Adding coffee grounds to the soil underneath these plants will enhance regrowth.
The above steps are for mild vole damage. If the damages are severe, you might have to use ornamental treatments.
Hiring a professional to fix severe damage will be a great idea.
Important: Vole-gnawed plants can get infected with plant disease and will infect other plants in your garden. Therefore, ensure to prune or remove such plants.
Conclusion
Understanding the benefits of using coffee grounds in your garden will help to keep the yard healthy and free of pests.
Using the coffee grounds to repel voles will not have a consistent result. It will differ according to the quality of the coffee ground and the aroma.
Coffee grounds are a natural vole repellent, which will also enhance soil quality. Therefore, using coffee grounds is a safe and cost-effective way of deterring voles.
Hence, before a vole or any other pest starts reproducing and infesting your garden, use coffee grounds to repel them.
The strong aroma of coffee will start fading as the days pass.
Therefore, renewing coffee grounds after a few weeks will make the method more effective. Invest on coffee grounds with a strong aroma to repel vole from your garden!
For further interesting facts on coffee ground (natural repellent) you can check our blog on Do Coffee Grounds Repel Skunks?
FAQs
Is there any other natural repellent other than coffee grounds?
Yes. Like the coffee ground, other natural repellents keep voles away from the garden due to the smell.
Smells from castor oil, garlic, onions, human hair, and the predator’s urine can repel voles.
Can voles damage the yard?
Yes. Voles can damage the yard by digging holes, gnawing plants, feeding on grass, etc.
So you must keep voles away from your yards.
Do Voles Cause Danger to People?
No. Voles are herbivores that rely on plant-based food sources.
Hence, they will not harm pets or people. Although voles will not harm humans, these pests are frustrating, so deter them using vole repellents.
When Should I Apply Coffee Grounds Again?
Voles hate the strong aroma of coffee grounds.
Since the strong smell will eventually fade, you must reapply the coffee grounds after a few weeks.
Also, after rain, you must reapply coffee grounds.
How to Get Rid of Voles Quickly?
Although coffee grounds are an excellent way to repel voles, the method is slower than vole traps.
Hence, coffee grounds will keep voles away from the garden. To get rid of them completely, you can use vole traps.
Will Coffee Grounds Affect the Soil?
No. Coffee grounds will improve soil quality and promote plant growth.
