Moles in the Garden and Yard.

Gary350 · Tue Feb 21, 2012 6:09 pm

So far the moles have not been a problem. I think they may actually be good for the soil because they are like little under ground garden tillers. Little under ground submarines that go all over the yard and make bumps for the lawn mower to run over. They make the yard and garden very soft to walk on with all the soil being puffed up like a sponge.

Does anyone have anything good or bad to say about moles?

treehopper · Tue Feb 21, 2012 6:58 pm

It is my understanding worms are their main food source...that's bad. Most of the time I see one, it is in my trap...that's good! You're not bothered by the half bushel sized mounds they push up in your yard??

applestar · Tue Feb 21, 2012 7:55 pm

You must have a different kind than the ones I have. The little moles in my garden don't make hills -- just tunnels just below the surface. While they do eat earthworms, they also like other soft underground grubs. Many times, I've had one or two new transplants that had fallen to cutworms and invariably, a new mole tunnel smack dab under the same plant... and no additional cutworm damage in the following days.

Perhaps they also dine on moths that pupate underground like tomato hornworms and beetle grubs. I wish they were as voracious about wireworms since I still see a lot of THEM and lose potatoes and some carrots to them.

mscratch · Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:43 pm

Absolutely nothing good to say about them! I have the half bushel size mounds myself..If I kill the grubs, I kill the good stuff too so thats out as far as applying those granules etc..so its either traps or a pitch fork if I am lucky enough to catch them moving!

applestar · Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:48 pm

To kill the grubs, try milky spore strain of Bt. It's a bacteria that only infects beetle grub/larvae. Will not harm the earthworms.

Food for Thought

Some people do question the possible repercussion of unbalancing the soil microorganism density though. If interested, check out "Teaming with Microbes" discussions in the Book Club forum.

Gary350 · Mon Feb 27, 2012 2:39 pm

If you plant Caster Beans you won't have anymore moles.

I have a lot of caster beans I just can't decide if I want the moles gone.

rainbowgardener · Mon Feb 27, 2012 2:57 pm

Yes, but then you have a bunch of castor bean plants!

[img]https://www.library.illinois.edu/vex/toxic/castor/8-29-13.jpg[/img]

Gary350 · Mon Feb 27, 2012 6:55 pm

Planting caster beans in a bunch looks nice I need to try that this year. I always plant my caster beans in rows like corn. I have noticed the soil has to be very warm and full sun or the beans never sprout. I planted caster beans several times last summer none of them came up until June when we started having hotter weather. They won't sprout in a flower pot either.

My caster beans attract a lot of wasps, especially those mean red wasps that will sting you if you look at them wrong. I see a lot of those big 2 1/2" long black and yellow wasps. I don't like wasps. I planted caster beans around the patio one year there were so many wasps we could not set on the patio. I think there should be a way to use caster bean plants to attract and kill wasps.

Stella Blue · Tue Feb 28, 2012 12:30 am

An old timer here at work told me to chew up Juicy Fruit gum, then drop it in their holes. They'll eat it, and choke on it. By by mole.

PunkRotten · Tue Feb 28, 2012 7:29 am

rainbowgardener wrote:Yes, but then you have a bunch of castor bean plants!

[img]https://www.library.illinois.edu/vex/toxic/castor/8-29-13.jpg[/img]

So that's what is growing around my house. I hate these plants. It started with one plant growing behind me in someone elses back yard. Then all those spiky seeds would fall everywhere. I'd see plants popping up everywhere then I rip them out. The neighbor on the side of me grew one of them really tall like 10 foot and as soon as I saw all those spiky seeds I started dreading it. I was pulling out plants all over my garden. So I got 2 huge plants growing on 2 sides and dropping tons of seeds all the time.

The sprout really easy, they are really hardy, and they grow fast.

philjam · Mon Mar 05, 2012 3:06 pm

Stella Blue wrote:An old timer here at work told me to chew up Juicy Fruit gum, then drop it in their holes. They'll eat it, and choke on it. By by mole.

Moles are predators with sharp little teeth. Moles hunt and eat live worms and grubs. Moles do not eat chewing gum, coco puffs, cheese doodles, oreo cookies or pizza (unless the pizza has a live worm topping. )

Trapping is the only reliable, effective way to eliminate a mole. Like most predators, moles are territorial. The average yard has only one or two moles, although the tunneling may look like the work of many more.

Google "wildlife damage control mole."

rainbowgardener · Mon Mar 05, 2012 3:17 pm

Here's a fun little article on all the myths about mole control:

https://tomclothier.hort.net/page39.html

the chewing gum is definitely a myth!

applestar · Mon Mar 05, 2012 3:52 pm

Funny list!

My indoor cats are great molers when they are outside on supervised outing... to a point. They crouch and observe them endlessly and occasionally jump on them -- very funny in thicker grass/vegetation as they jump way high and come down to disappear in grass, then jump way high... and so on. The moles sometimes squeak so the cats must actually pounce on them, and sometimes the cats desperately hold down, but their curiosity overcomes them and they tilt their paw to see what they caught... Then the whole process starts all over again.

ENDLESS entertainment for the humans.

Gary350 · Mon Mar 05, 2012 3:53 pm

Years ago when I lived an another house the hard had mole tunnels everywhere. The tunnels are puffed up soil that sticks up a few inches above the rest fo the yard that makes it hard to mow the grass. I planted caster beans in several places and the moles vanished and never came back.

The garden center sells caster beans, a pack of 5 beans is $5. Prices use to be high on ebay so I started selling caster beans 100 for $9.99. Now people on ebay are selling caster beans 500 for $1.

PunkRotten · Mon Mar 05, 2012 6:13 pm

Wow I was gonna say, 5 beans for $5. I'd go out there and collect hundreds of them.

Gary350 · Tue Mar 06, 2012 1:49 pm

It is stupid to sell anything for $1 on ebay. For a low dollars sale like $1 ebay gets about 50% and so does paypal. If you use free postal boxes you still have to buy tape and burn your gasoline to take the package to the post office. You are probably paying the buyer to take it.

I sell things on ebay mostly to clean out my garage, attic, storage building, closes it is much better than a yard sale, it always sells and the buyer pays postage to get it. But I will not sell anything for less than $9.99 it is a waste of time. Small nickel and dime items I make grab boxes 50 to 100 items per box $9.99 plus $12.10 flat rate postage.

I did good for a couple of years selling caster beans. I have a 5 gallon bucket of caster beans. I don't like the RED caster plants as well as the GREEN caster plants. I think the moles are probably good for my garden but I don't like the tunnels in the yard it is hard to mow the grass.