moles Help

[tedln]

Never having had moles in my garden, I was wondering what damage they do. If they eat insects, I have an abundance of beetle grubs in the soil for them. If they only make tunnels in my soil and don't eat the roots, I may appreciate the aeration they create. I suppose while they are tunneling around eating the grubs which will eat my plant roots, they are probably depositing some mole poop so thanks for the fertilizer. Are they harmful in a garden?

Ted

[The Helpful Gardener]

They can undermine roots and dry them; there are downsides...

But they do aerate and bring up subsoil minerals...

The worst thing they do is provide housing and tunnels for voles...

HG

[applestar]

You know, that's the funny thing. I mentioned in another thread that my Hot Pepper Bed peppers were explored by the moles a few days after I planted. Practically every plant had a mole hole next to it. The plants were your basic transplant size so they weren't tiny but they weren't very big either. I just added more potting soil mix over the holes and watered in. Now I do this when I notice them, but there have been occasions when I might not have noticed. They explore some of my containers too.
Maybe they particularly like this potting soil.

I'm getting used to seeing mole holes next to my plants. But usually, the plants don't seem to suffer. Since these moles don't leave a "hill" on the surface, maybe the tunnels aren't leaving gaping airspaces as one might think. And I am really beginning to think they don't dig/rip through the roots willy-nilly but part the roots like curtains as they go.

Knock on wood, I don't have voles. Do the moles defend their tunnels/territory as long as they live in them? Do the voles move into empty burrows?

[shadowsmom]

Moles are insectivores, not herbivores so if you are associating a lot of plant damage with moles it is not likely... voles sometimes hijack mole tunnels for feeding (not great diggers themselves) and that's possible (we like the Fruity Bubblicious for them; gums 'em up real good... ).

HG

Do you just shove unwrapped pieces down some holes/tunnels? I like this idea.

[garden5]

One thing I've noticed about the noise-producing repellents (the so-called silent ones) is that they tend to annoy dogs. A neighbor had one in his yard and his neighbor's dog was constantly staring over at it . It must be that the dogs can hear the high-pitched frequency that we can't.

[The Helpful Gardener]

AS, yes they do...

SM, yep, that's about it...

G5, indoubtedly...

HG

[garden5]

With the gum, does it kill the moles or just give them an unpleasant experience that makes them not want to come back to that area again?

[The Helpful Gardener]

Mortality, G5. They cannot digest it...

HG