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How to deal with Moles
Close encounters of the mole kind…
Moles are cute, velvety, blind little creatures who spend their lives almost entirely underground in a network of interconnecting tunnels. In their constant search for food they create shallow tunnels just below the surface of our lawns, in which to capture worms, insects, and other invertebrates.
By far the greatest damage from moles results from their burrowing, which creates unsightly ridges and depressions in the lawn. Mole hills – where the tunnel spoil is brought to the surface – are also unsightly and need to be cleared away as soon as possible after they appear and certainly before we mow.
There are various ways you can try and deter moles from the garden, and we would recommend giving these a go before considering a more aggressive pest control approach. We don’t recommend trying to poison or gas the moles as it can be dangerous (both for the moles AND ourselves!) and bad for the environment. In addition, gassing a mole for gate crashing your lawn does seem a bit harsh…After all, they just are doing what comes naturally do them and could be helping by eating grubs and insects that could cause further lawn damage.
- Remove or flatten molehills as they appear. This soil has been naturally aerated and tilled by the mole through its digging activities, so some gardeners will collect the disturbed soil and use for potting plants or spread it across the garden with a rake or brush
- Moles dislike noise and activity, so regularly mowing the lawn and generally making use of the lawn can help. Game of footie, anyone?
- Try planting mole-repelling plants like daffodils and marigolds
- Reduce watering (when appropriate); moles hunt for worms and insects in damp, moist soil, so their tunnels may come closer the surface
- Other home remedies involve taking advantage of the mole’s excellent sense of smell. People have reported various successes using castor oil mixtures, coffee grounds or even used cat litter poured into tunnels
- Ultrasonic sound devices only audible to moles and other pests are also on the market and could make sure there are no night-time lawn intruders, but these have varying degrees of success.
If all these attempts fail, trapping moles is also worth trying as you can get dependable, humane, and environmentally friendly traps. Mole traps can be purchased from most country stores and are easy to use, but do not be fooled into thinking it’s going to be easy. Successfully catching a mole will demand a combination of skill, judgement, guile and pure luck, because they are far more clever and cunning than you might imagine. Moles have an incredible sense of smell and are very good at detecting the presence of a trap. Whilst it may be frustrating to find the moles have found ingenious ways to thwart your best efforts to catch them, you have to hand it to them – albeit very grudgingly.