Orchard groundcover management systems affect meadow vole populations and damage to apple trees

• Published in: HortScience Vol. 34; no. 2; pp. 271 - 274
• Main Authors: Merwin, I.A, Ray, J.A, Curtis, P.D
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Alexandria, VA American Society for Horticultural Science 01-04-1999
• Subjects: application rate; Biological and medical sciences; biomass; browsing damage; crop management; cutting frequency; diuron; Festuca rubra; foraging; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; glyphosate; ground cover; habitats; injuries; integrated pest management; Malus domestica; Microtus pennsylvanicus; mowing; norflurazon; paints; paraquat; pest control; Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection; population density; predation; rodenticides; seasonal variation; Securigera varia; thiram; tillage; tree guards; Vertebrates; New York; Pyridazin-3-one derivatives; Rosaceae; Malus domestica; Glyphosate; Pest; Orchard; Pest management; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Pyridazine derivatives; Ureas; Habitat; Fruit tree; Damage; Integrated pest management; Pesticides; Rodentia; Microtus pennsylvanicus; Diuron; Herbicide; Quaternary ammonium compound; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Animal plant relation; Aminoacid; Paraquat; Spermatophyta; Predator; Population density
• ISSN: 0018-5345; 2327-9834
• DOI: 10.21273/hortsci.34.2.271

Meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus Ord) populations, feeding activity and damage to young apple (Malus xdomestica Borkh.) trees were monitored for several years in a New York orchard by direct observation, trap counts, and a feeding activity index in various groundcover management systems (GMSs). Meadow vole population density differed among GMSs, with consistently higher densities and more trees damaged in crown vetch (Coronilla varia L.), hay-straw mulch, and red fescue (Festuca rubra L.) turfgrass tree-row strips. Vole densities were high in autumn and low in spring each year. Anticoagulant rodenticides and natural predation did not adequately control voles in GMSs providing favorable habitat. Groundcover biomass per m(2) was weakly correlated with vole densities in 2 of 3 years, while the percentage of soil surface covered by vegetation was not significantly correlated with vole populations. Applications of thiram fungicide in white latex paint were better than no protection, but less effective than 40-cm-high plastic-mesh guards for preventing vole damage to tree trunks. A combination of late-autumn trapping, close and consistent mowing of the orchard floor, trunk protection with mesh guards, contiguous habitat for vole predators, and herbicide applications within the tree rows provided effective control of meadow-vole damage to trees at this orchard during 3 years without applications of rodenticide baits.