Moles
- To:
- Subject: [sibrob] Moles
- From: T* B*
- Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2001 22:06:56 -0500
Jack Bilson Jr. -- Rosy Hem Garden
Salisbury, North Carolina -- zone 7
The question of Moles came up on another Robin. Below is my response.
Original Message
From: "tedd long" <
On the Garden Alive site I found something called Mole Med. You mix it
with water and spray on the lawn. It does not kill the moles. It is
supposed to repel moles by it odor and humans are unaffected. Does
anyone know if this product really works?
Tedd,
The active ingredient in Mole Med is Castor Oil. Below is a short article I
wrote in '98.
What's the Dirt On Moles & Voles
Do not follow the recipe of my rose growing friend for eliminating these
critters that burrow beneath you lawn and gardens. He said that these
rodents were "bleeders"; said he read it someplace that if they scratched
themselves they would bleed to death. Well, he proceeded to cut up very
thorn rose canes and hammer them thought the ground into their tunnels. He
had a silly looking property and the moles had lots of built-in back
scratchers.
What has worked for us is mixing a quarter cup of castor oil per gallon of
warm water and adding 4 drops of liquid dishwashing soap into a one gallon
sprayer. Spray on an area approximating 50 square feet around the entrance
of the mole's entrance hole. Moles dislike castor oil (who doesn't?) and
usually vacate the premises. Remember, moles eat insects so they come up
out of their tunnels and can be spotted by dogs (terriers are great),
cats and the laser dot scope on my air rifle. Note, the active ingredient
in many "mole products" is castor oil. Being the lazy and frugal gardener
that I am, generic castor oil from the
discount pharmacy suits my purpose.
If you decide to use the poison pellets that are sold for mole elimination,
ensure that the steel rod or long screwdriver pokes the hole into the
critters tunnel; too often we just end up putting pellets in the ground and
not in the tunnels where these moles can find them.
Voles: Well, these critters feast on your plants roots as well as make the
unsightly tunnels. Again, terriers and cats seem to keep them someplace
else. They also scurry away somewhat faster than moles and consequently are
harder to line up the air rifle's sights on. Voles are typically trapped
with mouse traps baited with peanut butter. Put a piece of cardboard over
the vole hole with a few pebbles on it to keep it from blowing away. The
paper covering will infuriate the vole and cause him / her to push it out of
the way and spot the peanut butter. Again, the laser dot scope comes in
handy.
Happy hunting!
Jack
post script: a customer at my nursery told me
that if the above did not work he was going to hook up a hose from his
truck's exhaust to the entrance to the tunnel.
It worked
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