Getting rid of Moles

[Steens]

Does anyone know of an effective way to get rid of moles or voles (I have both), in your yard and garden. I prefer not to use any poisons, etc. since they are in my veg. garden and I have pets in my yard. I live in the Southern part of the US. They seem to have been especially bad this year (at times, ruining plants by uprooting them). Thanks in advance.

[opabinia51]

I personally don't know of any non invasive ways of deturring moles or voles in particular. But, for mammals in general black pepper seems to work

The little mounds that are created by moles are air holes created by them to ventilate their extensive tunnel systems uner your soil.

These are actually really good for the health of your soil and it ventilates the soil, adding oxygen deep into the depths where oxygen generally does not reach.

Anyway, you could try sprinkling some black, ground pepper aroun the holes and this might detur the moles from tunneling under your garden.

However, it is actually quite beneficial to have moles in your soil.

Does anybody else know of anyway of deturring moles/voles?

[peachguy]

Well its not really deturing rather getting rid of them, you could try flooding their tunnels by puting a garden hose in it. But I would only do that if they are really bad and there is tons of them, if you only have a few id leave be and try what Opa. said.

[opabinia51]

Ha ha! I used to do that when I was a wee young lad.

Nice to see you around peachguy. How's the garden going?

[peachguy]

Gardens going good the only thing I really didn't get a good crop of was my watermelon, the tomatos took over and the watermelon got to shady, the peach tree has gone dormant, I have mulched up a lot of maple leaves and spread them over almost every garden. Boy I am excited for spring! even though it is a log way off

[opabinia51]

I'm in the process of finishing off my sheet mulch:

Layer or Maple Leaves (unmulched), layer of coffee grounds, layer of Linden Tree Leaves (Tilia americanus), layer of composted horse manure, layer of apple leaves and left over pumpkins from Halloween.

Atop this will go Chicken manure in the non corn areas of next year and Horse Manure in the areas where corn will be planted next year.

Those Maple leaves that you planted are going to be nice and crumbly by the spring, that'll be really nice. They'll also keep the soil warmer over the winter. You may wish to add a green of some sort over top to make the soil that they turn into that much more nutrient rich, and the green will speed the decomposition process.

Cheers and look forward to reading your posts!

[GreenBayMike]

I saw on "Gardening By the Yard", Paul used "Granulated Soy", which he said the moles/gophers HATE the smell of.

What you do is spread it on the back 1/3 of your lawn, and give them an "escape route". Next day or so, put it on the next 1/3 of your yard, and so on until the last 1/3 pushes them the direction you want them to leave. In this way, you kind of 'direct them' out of your yard (into the neighbor's yard/ditch/road). Don't direct them toward water, because they wont go far then.

If you just spread it over 100% of your lawn, they will just stay where they are. He said the Soy will eventually be washed away by rain and need to be replaced periodicaly, and won't hurt anything in your lawn. I have not tried this myself (I have a few moles but they don't do much to my plants), its just what I saw on his show. Not sure where you get Granulated Soy, but I think he said that landscapers have it...

[GreenBayMike]

Sorry, it was Granulated Castor Oil ---- [url=https://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_diseases_pests_animals/article/0,1785,HGTV_3578_3910358,00.html]Check out this link for details[/url].

[opabinia51]

Thanks GreenBay!

[Spiderbite]

I've tried alot. Finally I got desparate. I took a match light bbq briquet, a round shovel, opened a fresh hole dropped it in and covered it back up.

I have not seen any new signs for about 3 weeks now. I assume the smell permeates throughout the tunnels and runs him/her off.

So far, I'm impressed.

[tomf]

I like your idea Spiderbite I will give it a try. Every where I would chase the moles would still be my land as it is a long ways to any where but I would like it better if I could control where the are at. The Castor oil thing may work, I will have to see if I can get 50lb bags at my farm supply store.

[Bear in the garden]

I found a easy way to get rid of moles, you need a female dog, I would pick up her poop and put in the mole hole and then she would pee there every time I took her out, I haven't had a mole problem after that, I have small brown patch now but that I can live with. it won't hurt the garden and its safe to use

Bear

[8greenfingers]

Getting ride of moles in the garden ,
I have tried putting neat Jey's Fluid down there hole and in there runs this has a immediate effect but soon wears off , I have puchased a solar mole deterant which you pushed into the ground a give off a vibrating sound every 20 seconds,it should work for a 50 yrd radious the cost was£16 I found this did not work in dry weather and I still have a mole in the veg garden where the thing is , it might be that the loose soil does not send the vibrations through the soil. the best way is to put a trap in there main run , before you set the trap, cover it in the soil to take any smell off it as they have a very sensitive smell , another trick is to get your hands dirty before setting the trap , enshure that your hands DO NOT SMELL OF SOAP OR ANYTHING THAT GIVES OFF ANY SMELL
as for trying to drownd them with a hose down there hole NO CHANCE they can swim like fish , how do they survive if the ground is waterloged .
Traps are the best way to catch them , but can be difficult to get the hang of useing . hope this helps 8 greenfingers

[tomf]

Ever thing I have heard is to use traps and to know where to put them 8greenfingers. I have made smokers to chase them out and once put an explosive in one of the holes under a walk way; it cracked the walk way up but the moles just kept on digging.