- 9 



Rabbits 



Cottontail rabbits can be found throughout southern New England and 

 often cause serious damage to young fruit trees. Damage to young fruit 

 trees generally includes extensive bark removal and severe clipping of 

 lateral shoots. 



Habitat control is an effective rabbit population control measure. 

 Overgrown ditches, brushy fence rows or stone walls provide excellent food 

 and protection from predators for rabbits. Elimination of these areas may 

 be all that is needed for adequate rabbit control. 



Rabbit damage can be prevented by exclusion with hardware cloth (1/2 

 inch mesh) tree guards that extend 2 feet above the average snow depth. 

 Orchard perimeter fencing or 1 or 1 1/2 inch mesh wire that extends 3 feet 

 above the average snow depth is also effective. 



Taste repellents are another effective method of reducing rabbit damage 

 to orchards. Repellents containing Thiram^ applied according to label 

 directions have been effective. Other commercial products such as Hinder" 

 also provide effective control. 



Orchard Mice and Voles ^ 



Mice and voles are closely related rodents that can be distinguished 

 from each other on the basis of tail and ear size, among other minor 

 differences. In New England, mice are not a problem in orchards, but two 

 species of voles frequently cause serious orchard damage. These pests are 

 the meadow vole and the pine vole. Meadow voles range throughout New 

 England, but pine voles are known to be present only in southern New England 

 to southern Vermont, New Hampshire, and the southern tip of Maine (Kittery 

 area) . 



Meadow voles inhabit the orchard floor, developing a network of surface 

 trails through the groundcover, and they feed primarily on grasses and 

 fleshy herbs. This species usually does most of its tree damage during the 

 winter when herbage is less abundant, but damage is possible any time of the 

 year. They chew away areas of bark and cambium that can be reached from the 

 ground or from higher positions in or on snow cover. In some soils they 

 will burrow, and sometimes are responsible for trunk girdling several inches 

 below the ground surface. 



'Information presented in this section taken in part from: 



- 1985 New England Apple Spray Guide - Cooperative Extension Services of 

 New England 



- Management of Orchard Mice by Alan Eaton, Pest Management Fact Sheet #8, 

 Cooperative Extension Service, University of New Hampshire - 1985. 



