Mole problem

New yard, lots of burrows, tons of moles - what is the best method of removal?

Well, moles eat grubs. You say that you don't like grubs and you don't like moles. Killing the grubs would force the moles to find a "grub friendly" area to fill their bellies. If you kill the grubs you will also kill the worms, which moles eat, too. So, killing everything is the answer if you don't want anything. I can't offer a no grub, no mole, but plenty of other stuff answer.

I had one this past fall. It started in the neighbor's yard and finally got in mine. I let it go a while...to eat some grubs. I didn't want it for next year, so i got out "old reliable".......an old time Victor mole trap....not the newer and cheaper model. One less mole now.

You may think that you have a ton of moles, but more likely one or possibly two.

LOL
I didn't know moles eat grubs. I think the moles would be better than grubs. At least the cat thinks so. Oh my, what a decision.

I know there has to be a place and a purpose for everything, but I have so many mole tunnels that my roses look really ratty. And I know it's not just the weather. I've had 2 spireas die because of these critters and the 3rd spirea is almost dead. There has to be some way to control these things. I saw something from Gardener's Supply (I think). It was some kind of stick that you put in the dirt or in their tunnels and it makes the tunnels smell like garllic. But it also says that they are so strong that you need to wear gloves to handle them. So I'm assuming that if you disturb one of the tunnels when you're pulling weeds, you'll come out smelling like you've been rolling in the stuff. I don't know. Has anybody tried these things? There's also something called Gopher Go that is supposed to make things stink and repell gophers. Seems like it would work on moles.

Mary Lee

I've never heard of any man made anything that works for 100% of moles, except someting that kills all worms and grubs in the soil. A Gopher is another critter. What do you have?

Right now I'm pretty sure we have only moles. We have had gophers in the past. DH shot the gopher. I am an organic gardener, so I will definitely not put out poison. And the moles can have their way with most of the yard, but my flower beds and vege garden are mine. I don't need something that will completely get rid of moles, just keep them under control.

If I did this right, this will be the link to those sticks I mentioned.http://www.gardeners.com/Garden-Pest-Control/default/StandardCatalog.GardenPestControl.cat

Well, it didn't work. I'll try to figure this out.

Here is a link to the earlier mole thread on this forum. Perhaps there will be something of use to you on this thread:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/647716/#new

Garden mermaid, that was a very entertaining thread. lol Didn't have time to read all of it though. It seems nothing they tried worked, but I'll give it a try anyway.

By the end of the thread the moles seemed to have been thwarted, so be sure to read all the way through when you pick yourself off the floor. Who says pest control can't be entertaining? Just call Wallace & Grommet's Anti Pesto service. :D

I did quite a bit of research on moles last summer when I discovered what I believed were mole trails all over my back yard. From what I read the only sure way of getting rid of them is to trap them -- none of the bait/poison methods are reliable. I ended up just leaving them alone....

-- Vicky

I'll leave them alone if they'll leave me alone.lol If they could just read, I'd post no trespassing signs in all my beds and they could have the grassy areas. Everything would be peachy.

Have you had a chat with them about that? Something like,"listen Moles, I'm willing to share. You can run around under the grassy areas, just not the planting beds. I would really like us to get along peacefully. Unfortunately, if you continue to destroy my flower/planting beds, I'll have no choice but to put traps out. Please don't force me to harm you." That way if they can't read, they will get the message. If nothing else, you'll know that you are doing something proactive and probably entertaining the neighbors as well.

Mermaid, you're right. I could probably sell tickets to that show! I need to polish up on my mole lingo first though. It's very rusty.lol We live on a very short street that connects 2 main roads, but we still don't get a lot of traffic. The traffic we do get goes pretty slow because they don't have time to get up any speed before they get to the next corner. The result is they have lots of time to look at the scenery, which is pretty much my yard because nobody else has done anything with their yards right there. We are on a corner lot. The mailman asked me one day if I did anything else beside work in my yard. Not that it looks all that great, but I was in the yard frequently at lunch time and that's when he delivers our mail.

Perhaps he was hoping you also worked in the kitchen and would make him some lemonade?
:D

Weeellll, DH might consider that to be a strange thing to do.lol If he had ever been in my kitchen he would know right away that I dont' spend a lot of time there. Weather and work permitting, I'd rather be diggin' in the dirt.:)

Mole repellents that work for me:

- castor plants

- put an empty bottle in the ground near the entrance to the nest - the wind will make sounds and this disturbs moles

- A sure-fire wat to get rid of moles in an area is to use a mole chaser or mole mover. This tool is in the ground and emits vibrations and sounds powered by battery or solar power. Moles will avoid the area. It has always worked for me for burrowing moles and gophers. There are several on the market. I did a search and here are some:

**PLEASE NOTE moles will avoid the area treated by the tool, but won't be killed by it. So, use it when you want to chase the moles from specific area, like your beds. Don't expect the moles to be banished everywhere.**

http://www.old-fashioned-values.com/get_item_p7901_mole-chaser.htm
http://www.old-fashioned-values.com/get_item_p7907_super-sonic-mole-chaser.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Plow-Hearth-Vibrasonic-Molechaser/dp/B0000D1AI6/sr=8-3/qid=1171905545/ref=pd_bbs_3/105-7824479-9458825?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden
http://www.amazon.com/Sonic-Mole-Gopher-Repeller-Green/dp/B0002Y261K/sr=8-4/qid=1171905545/ref=pd_bbs_4/105-7824479-9458825?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden

I look the other way and pretend that I don't have any moles.

Most everything that I have seen and heard says that traps are about the only proven way to address a mole problem. I heard a speaker at a lawn and garden show give a talk about mole control, and he went through a laundry list of control items but basically at the end summarized the trap and kill method as the most effective.

There was another mole thread on this forum, at the very end of the thread, the discussion talks about a specific trap with some success stories.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/647716/

Two of our neighbors have had gophers, now they've come into our yard. At first, I didn't know what was causing several otherwise healthy ornamental plants to stress out and die. Then we saw the mounds, etc. It wasn't a real problem until they got into the raised beds vegies. Our gophers seem to have a thing for parsley, escarole, celery and peas.Kind of like lettuce, too. So far they have left the chard, brocolli and mustard plants alone (also some strongish herbs). The squash and eggplants have been in only a little while, so I don't know yet.

The battery operated vibrator thingie doesn't work, at least not for the things they really like. I put the vibrator thing in the first bed they raided. They then went to another bed, but came back to the first to finish off the parsley. When the parsley was gone, they went back to beds # 2 and 3. In the last week, though they've gone back to the vibrator bed for the rest of the escarole.

The neighbor with the worst problem has an indoor / outdoor cat, so it seems that cats (or, at least this cat) is not a solution. However, the only yard with no gopher problems is the home with 3 Jack Russel Terriers!!!

I'm considering traps. Any feedback on what does / doesn't work?
- Cecilia, Inland Empire, southern California

There's a big long thread over on the California gardening forum about gopher control, you might want to read through it. Although many of the things that are sold say they work against moles and gophers, I think certain things tend to work better for one than the other. I personally have had no luck with the vibrating thingy for gophers, had one pop his head out of a hole one morning not 2 feet from the vibrator (and I swear he stuck his tongue out at me!) Castor oil works a little bit, but if I go even a day without hosing the garden down with it, I'll find new mounds. Traps are definitely your best bet

I planted a castor plant last year, and the area around the castor plant stayed mole free. This year I am strategically placing four or five of them.

I fought this very same problem twice over the past 16 years on our property and after trying many differing methods...I think I have a sure fire cure.
Moles follow grubs period. I know they eat earthworms and other similar critter's but grubs make up the majority of their diet. I also had a serious grubworm problem that almost ruined my entire lawn. After much searching, trial and error...I have what I believe to be the very best cure for grubworms and as a by product, the moles will leave too. I've had the opportunity to try this treatment on just over a dozen different pieces of property from tiny yards to 3 acre lots. This treatment has worked from Dallas to DesMoines and places in between. The best part about the whole thing is it's chemical free and the treatment can last forever.
Here are 2 links to the 2 products we've used:
http://www.planetnatural.com/site/milky-spore.html
http://www.planetnatural.com/site/beneficial-nematodes.html
The treatment can be done with just the Milky Spores but it takes a few months for the spores to multiply and spread. The 2nd product that uses nematodes begins to kill grubs in a day or so. I treated my entire property with the milky spores and spot treated the heavily infested areas with the nematodes. It has been roughly 7 to 8 years since I put them down in my yard and I will still find a grub every once in a great while but nothing like I did before treatment. Sometimes we'd find over a dozen grubs in just 1 shovel full of soil. Once the grubworms began to disappear, the moles did the same thing. I can't remember the last time I've seen a mole with in several acres of our property. My yard made for a great experiment since it backs up to a huge city park where moles were everywhere. Our lot sits in the middle of the block with roughly 5-7 acres of lawn in each direction. This made it possible to follow the spread of our milky spores and nematodes by following the retreating moles and their holes.
After having such incredible results at my house, I began to recommend this same treatment to friends and family in Texas and Oklahoma. The end results have all been the same. I just can't say enough re; these products. I tried every chemical known to man before this and nothing ever worked. The only thing the chemicals did was to kill off all the beneficial insects and microbes that we wanted in our gardens.
It's been many years now and I've followed up on all the different places I had treated in this manner and everything is great.
If you decide to use the nematodes, I recommend visiting the manufacturers website as they sell 2 different blends that also treat lawns for fleas and other pests. I think the products are called "Scanmask" and "Heteromask" and here is a link to the parent company: http://www.biologicco.com/products/L&G%20scanmask.htm
You'll see a list of critters each product works on and that will help you make your decision. I promise you will not regret it if you do go this route.
1 major word of caution. Last year I had the worst whitefly infestation I've ever seen in my life. I tried every treatment I could find including harsh chemicals. The chemicals almost killed off the majority of beneficial insects/spores etc. and the whiteflies still thrived. My point is, if you use harsh chemicals on area's treated with beneficial "bugs", you risk killing off all the good bugs. Luckily we had a very harsh winter for the 1st time in many years and I think that will keep the freak infestations back down to a manageable level. Knock on wood.
I'm glad I saw your post as it reminded me to order my annual "Variety Pack" of beneficial insects I buy every spring. I buy this just to help out Ma Nature and my gardens by trying to re-introduce insects I rarely see anymore due to the over use of insecticides. Plus it's fun and educational for the kids.
http://www.planetnatural.com/site/beneficial-insect-pack.html
It'sa blast to hatch praying Mantis and the like then release them into area.
I hope this info helps you, it sure helped me. If you go this route, please keep me posted.
Goodluck;)
JD

well, if you just wait until they eat all the grubs, they'll leave. Or you can kill the moles and then have to kill the overpopulation of grubs. then you spray the grubs, then the birds leave because they don't like the spray. then whatever else the birds would eat overmultiply. where does it stop?

I rarely see a grub, but I have mole tunnels everywhere. They eat lots of things in the dirt.

Len
We wondered about the birds missing the grubs for food but I don't think there is any problems at all. Since using different beneficial nematodes, spores, and other micro organisms in the form of soil conditioners, the robins seem to get by on all the extra earthworms imo. It seems like we get the same robins back in the same places year after year. They(3-4 "families" of them) still fight for the invisible "territorial" line the bisects our yard that never varies, they're nesting in the same trees and they still follow the wife and I every time we're out working the gardens. When ever we find a bug or worm, we set them on the rocks that border our gardens. The robins are lined up in position to sneak in and grab what ever we've set out for them. They follow us as we water etc. ALL THE TIME. It's quite entertaining and they seem to get more tame every season.
We don't seem to have any shortages of other insect eating birds either. The brown thrashers, Kind birds, wrens etc. still fill our gardens raking at the mulch and soil for food.
I'm not sure about the bunnies but I's sure like to find a means of thinning them out! They're so darn destructive! They come in and snip off the clematies and other plants at ground level then just leave it to die! I sure hope the coyotes, red foxes and hawks get busy on them fast!
We've been hearing a very unuasual amount of coyote cackling every night around 11pm. This is the 1st year ever they've been around in numbers this thick. I think they may have taken over the den our Red fox used to use as I haven't seen them around this year.
You'd think I live way out in the country for all this wildliufe activity but I'm not. Smack in the middle of a good sized city but we have a city park and water works lake over our back fence. All of those critters seem to carve out plenty of room thank goodness.
Well time to end another of my marathon rambling posts;)
JD

Hi. I'm new to this site,and love it. I have moles in my flower garden. I heard they don't actually eat the bulbs/roots. Is that true? My lawn service said it's a myth that they eat grub worms, but they do go after earthworms. I don't have grubs because of the lawn service, so I'm going on his advice. I'm thinking their tunnels provide air pockets to the plants roots that cause them to die. Is that logical?

I've so much invested and want to see the results of my hard work in the form of beautiful blooms...I don't want critters killing my plants. I've read your replies, and seems the most effective way is with cats (I don't own) or traps. I put out rat traps with peanut butter last year and caught one, but eeyuck and....I don't want to harm squirrels or birds. I'm like some of you, I've let them have them tunnels until now, but with all the new plants...what's a gardener to do?

Your lawn people are right, they don't eat plants, although they can do collateral damage to them as they tunnel, so from that perspective the damage is almost the same as if they were eating them on purpose. Although you don't have grubs in your lawn, unless they're treating your garden beds too you could have them there, so you might consider something like milky spore or nematodes, those will control the grubs in the garden and hopefully cause the moles to move to the neighbor's house.

Yes, your lawn service man was correct...Moles eat grubs for the most part. However, Voles will use existing mole tunnels and Voles eat bulbs. I have a problem with both of them in my yard and I'm at my wits' end.

Over the winter, a colony of Voles must have nested in the middle of my lily bed and they stuffed themselves on $200.00 worth of lilies of all types. Only one Asiatic on the edge escaped to bloom this summer....all the others just disappeared. What made this worse for me was the fact that last summer was my first season for growing lilies, and they were absolutely gorgeous. Knowing that they would get bigger and better each year thereafter, I was so looking forward to a splendid display again this year. I still find it hard to believe that not one single lily survived the Voles.

I've tried everything...chewing gum in the tunnels; noxious mixtures poured down the tunnels; mole deterrants spread on the ground, etc. Nothing has worked. I am going to give a try at using the Milky Spore Powder and the Nematodes. If anyone else out there has found anything better to try, other than mousetraps, etc. do let me know. I don't want to use traps because of neighborhood pets let loose to run.

Rose

Milky spore and nematodes will have zero impact on voles so don't waste your time if you know that's what you have. The voles are after your plants. But if you have moles then it's worth doing since it'll control the grubs that they eat. And if you have problems with Japanese beetles then it's also worth doing since it can help control them, but if you were just doing it for the voles then you're wasting your time and money. I wouldn't worry too much about the neighborhood pets and traps, if they're anything like gopher traps you put them underground in the tunnels so pets wouldn't have access to them unless they're digging in the garden. The other thing you can do which will save your plants is to plant everything in wire baskets, that's what I do here to protect my plants from the gophers.

Well...my line of thought on using the Milky Spore Powder and Nematodes was that it would eliminate the grubs that the Moles tunnel into the beds to eat. Wouldn't eliminating the Mole tunnels also eliminate or drastically cut down on the Voles using them like turnpikes to navigate my yard?

I would be interested in checking out the wire baskets you're using. I've actually been searching for something like that, and all I'm finding are plastic baskets. I doubt they'd hold up too long against sharp rodent teeth. Do you purchase the wire baskets locally or online?

Rose

I don't know, I think there are too many degrees of separation between the milky spore and the voles for that to make a significant difference, voles can dig for themselves too so while they will use mole tunnels, I don't think you'll get rid of them by getting rid of the moles (although if you've got a mole problem, the milky spore will help control them).

I get my wire baskets locally, the ones I get are specifically made for gophers and the holes in the wires may be too large to use for voles (I think voles are a bit smaller than gophers, although I could be wrong). Honestly though the baskets are kind of expensive to buy them premade, so recently I bought a big roll of gopher wire and I make my own now. I think the holes in the gopher wire are 3/4", so for voles maybe you'd want something 1/2" although I'd definitely research it a bit before you buy anything. Then you could check Home Depot and see what they have available.

Making my own baskets has been one of my thoughts, and I even went so far as to purchase a roll of narrow weave metal wire to use for lining the holes where lilies are planted. It appears Voles are about the size of mice, more or less. I've seen them darting from one hole to another in my flower beds, and they're quite small. The wire I bought, though, is rather stiff to work with; I've been holding off doing anything with it, until I see if there's anything more pliable out there that will do the trick.

I'm leaning towards letting the top of the wire cages protrude about eight or ten inches above the ground. Besides the Mole/Vole invasion, last year some of my lily stems were gnawed through near the soil line. I guess that could have been rabbits or squirrels. I know squirrels will eat bulbs, but I'm not sure about the stalks of various plants. I'm thinking if there's an extension of the wire cage well above the soil line, it will go a long way towards deterring anything wanting to gnaw the stalks of lilies.

I know the mistake I made last winter was in leaving a thick covering of fallen leaves on the perennial bed where the lilies were growing. I've always left the leaves on the beds, as they provide protection over the winter and contribute compost to the soil as they decay. But, they also provided a wonderfully warm home full of nice fat lily bulbs to the Voles who had recently taken up residence on the property. They dined very well! So, I'll be out there come Nov. regularly removing anything from the perennial beds that might offer shelter to a rodent during the lean times.

Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions.

Rose