Home and Living

Moles are little mammals that are known for their subterranean living as well as their insect eating qualities. In children’s literature as well as in movies made for young children, moles are portrayed as being blind, lovable, and quite often misunderstood because of their love for the dark. The reality, of course, is a bit different, especially for the gardener who suddenly finds evidence of mole activity in her or his garden.

Moles’ main dietary staples are earthworms and grubs, the first of which gardeners cherish for the compost they produce. Additionally, because of their constant digging, soil will be flung far and wide, quite often smothering young plants. Add to this the uprooting of recently planted flowers and vegetables, as well as the animals that use mole tunnels to traverse the underground and feed on your plants, and it is easy to understand why a sudden mole sighting may be of great concern to any gardener. While those who seek to rehabilitate the reputation of the mole quickly point out that the tunnels have an aerating effect on the soil, detractors are equally as quick to cite the danger of catching a foot in a mole hole and twisting an ankle, or simply because of the unsightly molehills that soon grace the entire garden’s landscape.

If you suddenly find your garden under attack by these little critters, what should you do? Is there a way to move out these moles for good or will you be stuck with them? Will you have to go the route of toxic substances and keep children and pets indoors until you are sure of the moles’ demise, or are there more earth friendly ways of hasting their departure? Here are some tips and tricks for removing those little pests from your yard:

• If you are out to kill the little pests, you can go ahead and flood the tunnels with water from your garden hose. You may be able to drown them that way, although there is no guarantee that you get them all.
• Similarly, you could flood the tunnels with the exhaust of your lawn mower or other gas-guzzling device, but the success level is once again not guaranteed.
• Some folks have taken to dropping poison, such as strychnine laced food and other items down the holes, but the danger of accidentally poisoning your pets or children is far greater than the perceived benefit of ridding your lawn of its uninvited inhabitants.
• Organic gardeners in particular stay away from poisons, and those folks will be happy to know that there is a substance that can be spread onto the lawn and watered in. While it will not kill the little critters, it will make the soil so unpalatable and your yard so uninhabitable, that they will soon pack up and leave. This magic substance is sold in the gardening store as “castor oil granules” and can be spread with a regular hand-spreader as you would use for garden seeds or fertilizer. Completely non-toxic to man and beast alike, the moles nonetheless detest the smell and taste of anything that these pellets touch, and upon application of this substance they can soon be seen leaving the property behind. Since they may only go as far as your neighbor’s yard, it is a good idea to periodically reapply these granules to prevent any re-infestation.
• For a more hands-on approach, there are traps available – both lethal and humane – that will allow you to either dispose your moles into the hereafter, or to relocate them to another location far away from your yard.
• To prevent moles from seeing your yard as a desirable property, it is also highly recommended to do away with the grubs that the moles so love to eat. Your local garden supply store will have several substances which will reduce and eliminate the amount of grubs in your soil, namely nematodes and milky spore bacteria.

As you can see, moles are not a scourge that will soon take over your yard and bar you from the fruits of your labor and the enjoyment of your property. Similarly, a sudden infestation does not mean that you have to resort to chemical warfare at the expense of your pet’s health, or child’s safety. So go ahead and try the organic methods first, and be amazed how quickly those moles will be leaving you alone!