Re: *%&$#@ Moles!

On Mon 21 Dec, Sue Callaghan wrote:
> Hi all,
> We have a problem with moles in our garden. Until recently they kept
> their attention focussed on my bulbs and other parts of the flower
> garden which annoyed me but now the little &%$#'s have moved into the
> veggie patch and I really want to get rid of them. I don't want to use
> poisons on them (especially near food that I eat myself) but we have run
> out of ideas. We have tried various non-poison methods to no avail -
> mothballs get tossed back out of the holes as soon I turn my back; they
> seemed to LIKE the noise produced by the pieces of irrigation pipe we
> stuck into the heaps, strong smelling herbs/weeds are treated the same
> way as the moth balls and the dogs do more damage trying to dig them up
> than the moles did in the first place! Does anyone out there have a
> method of forcing them to move on that actually works?
> Cheers Sue in Sunny SA
> 
> 
I have heard the experts debating this, and the consensus of opinion is
that the only ways to rid yourself of them are trapping, or poisoning
(by experts, not a DIY job, strychnine is involved). Other than
that,they say you will have to put up with them. However it is worth
scattering the molehills before they consolidate and form hard lumps.
They do give an indication that there is a good earthworm population, so
that's not bad news. Don't go rushing out buying those sonic deterrents,
I did and the only result I got was that the moles seemed determined to
burrow round them even more than anywhere else.
We have had a  measure of success in places where we interrupted their
runs by burying a vertical barrier straight across the principal runs,
this can be small wire mesh, sheet iron or paving slabs and mostly the
moles do not tunnel very deep so you can divert them.. I do notice that
they have rather a liking for the grass areas rather than open soil. We
also always get tunnelling under anything we leave on the ground, not
sure if it is voles or moles.

Also see http://www.ianr.unl.edu/pubs/wildlife/81288.htm

-- 

Allan Day  Hereford HR2 7AU allan@crwys.demon.co.uk
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