The Efficacy of Several Broadcast Rodenticides in the Mid-Hudson Valley, New York

As summarized by LaVoie and Tietjen (1978), many aspects of vole control using rodenticides including the costs/benefits of rodenticide use, applicator limitations in commercial orchards, and vole biology have not received proper attention. Data relating vole population levels to damage severity have not been generated and thus the exact benefits of control measures are difficult to analyze. Several aspects of vole biology have only recently been considered in rodenticide application procedures. Problems such as bait acceptance and percentage population control have created disparity in several rodenticide experiments (Richmond et al., 1978). A knowledge of vole use of vegetative cover and food habits is critical to the timing and effectiveness of population control via rodenticide. Several of these points were developed into the objectives for the projects completed in the Fall 1981 and 1982