We have those little moles in our yard under ground. They are messing up our yard and what makes it worse is that our dog knows they are there and she digs holes in our yard trying to get to them. Is there anything that we can do to get rid of them. They are driving my husband crazy. If you have any suggestions please let me know. Thank you very much. Karen S.

-- Karen Saunders (KSaun54653@aol.com), December 26, 2000

Answers

try a mole trap,,, or watch very carefully and use a pitchfork

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), December 26, 2000.

The quickest solution for getting rid of moles and gophers is to get rid of their food supply. Treat the yard with pesticides to rid the grass of grubs and other insects that the critters eat.

Now you know of course that this is not an organic solution by any means. You will have to weigh the benefits for yourself versus any objections to using chemicals, as everyone should do.

-- Notforprint (Not@thekeyboard.com), December 26, 2000.

You have moles in your yard because there is a food source for them. Insect larvae are a favorite. You can eliminate the insect problem with a healthy lawn or with pesticides. Of course, the pesticides are only a temporary solution. You could change your view and look at the moles as protectors of the garden. Get a soil test and find out what the yard is missing. Add the organic nutrients that it needs and it will not harbor the insects, thus eliminating the moles. Good luck. (BTW- it is not moles who eat the roots of vegetation but voles, who travel in the mole tunnels.)

-- Terri Perry (teperry@stargate.net), December 26, 2000.

My SIL (she is in landscaping) swears this works. Get Juicy Fruit gum and roll it up into little balls and put it in the mole holes. If you can't find an opening then make one on top of a tunnel. Supposedly they can't digest it and it kills them

-- Karen (karenvf@aol.com), December 26, 2000.

An organic solution for all those who don't wanna harm the earth. 12 gauge'm! Simple, quick, sure and you don't even hafta burry'm. Matt.24:44

-- hoot (hoot@pcinetwork.com), December 26, 2000.

Does this work? I've heard tell, water your yard with soapy water by whatever means. The soap on and in the the things they consume causes critter diarrhea. They move elsewhere, it doesn't kill them and the plants like the phosphorus.

-- Jerry (neljer@txcyber.com), December 27, 2000.

There is a product called Mole-Med that you spray onto your lawn. It is really just castor oil so you could get that for a lot less money. I work at a nursery and garden center and we sell out of it. People swear it works. I also had a lot of moles this last summer but I never got around to doing anything about them. I kept thinking of all the good they were doing...eating grubs and aereating the ground. Just think of how all the water get really get down there! I WISH I could worry about moles instead of below zero weather and keeping water thawed for the animals!

-- Diane in Nebraska (soccerdude@earthlink.com), December 30, 2000.

We used to have moles, tried everything, and had finally found success with the juicy fruit method. We found it worked better when we cut the gum up into julienne style strips.

-- Earthmama (earthmama48@yahoo.com), December 30, 2000.

Anyone know if it's that the soils are too acid? We have acid soils here in the Pac NW and I have been told that applying lime to our pastures would help balance the pH. I thought moles ate worms? Our pasture is starting to look like a feed lot....the mole hills look like cow pies! This is the worst year EVER that I have seen them, so I wonder if it's b/c the soil is getting warn out. HELP!

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), December 30, 2000.

My cats keep them in check .By the way I have a couple of kittens for adoption .

-- Patty (fodfarms@slic.com), December 30, 2000.

I just talked to someone today that said since she's had Guinea Fowl, she no longer has moles. Seems the Guineas dust bathe on the dirt piles the moles dig up. They figure the moles don't like the vibrations, noise, etc.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), January 01, 2001.

Why kill the moles, they are just doing their job and ridding your yard of excess insects, they eat several pounds of larvae a day, and they pose NO problem to people. I have several moles that frquent our yard and although it is professionaly landscaped I forbid the use of pestisides as they kill not only the bugs, but also my toads, snakes and lizards. I do not have a problem giving them a little room.

-- Claudette (Clauzilla@aol.com), January 01, 2001.

Claudette, at my place, the moles pile up big masses of dirt (I'm talking about literally hundreds of them in the 5 acres of pasture out back.) What happens is that the grass doesn't grow on them and eventually weed volunteers (like Canada thistle) will show up on them, requiring a lot more vigilance. I also need all the grass I can grow with this hungry bunch of sheep I have. I don't need dirt mounds or weeds. I can drag the pasture to eradicate the hills and smooth out the dirt, but then I have to re-seed, etc., before I want to.

Guess it's time for a trip to the Extension office this week. We did have a bounty hunter-type guy who used to trap them but he moved away. I will also have to coordinate with my neighbors b/c we have adjacent pastures. Driving around our area, I see tons of mole hills these days. I wonder if natural predation (coyotes? or??) isn't happening somehow.

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), January 01, 2001.

We had a couple of moles in our yard early this year. It wasn't too bad as our yard isn't very big. What we did was put a couple of those pinwheel ornaments out. What that does is simulates a predatorial enemy by making the ground vibrate so they don't come through the ground too close to the vibration. So a couple of those pinwheels and no more moles. I have small children that play out in the yard and using harmful chemicals is not an option.

-- stewart simms (simcon@3web.net), April 01, 2001.

I put cat fur from my cat's brush in the soil around the hosta that seems to be disappearing and also put some used cat litter in the holes and it worked. I too thought that I had just moles but now find that I have voles and moles. Good luck!

-- sanle (sanle@gisco.net), May 17, 2001.

I bring the car 'round to the back yard and drive over and over and over the damn ruts and darn if this doesn't kill the little beasts. They really aren't all that bad barbeequed, try 'em, you'll like 'em.

Billy

-- Billy Buffett (lex4@mindspring.com), March 21, 2002.

Would there be anything wrong with attaching a hose to a talipipe and running some carbon monoxide into the holes? Would this pose any risk to the grass?

-- Bill Mulligan (kaiju@aol.com), March 27, 2002.