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Hi there, went outside today and i've got holes everywhere! I knew I had moles because I could see the raised tunnels, but this year the holes seem significantly greater.
What do you all use to control and eliminate these?
They seem to be most active in the early morning. I tramp down the mounds after I'm done "hunting" so that the next time I go out I can see only fresh mounds.
A dog with a strong prey drives helps. I've also noted that a heavy concentration of owls will wipe out a mole infestation from a yard in about a week.
Most Farm & Home shops will carry a spring activated mole trap. If you have kids or dogs you'll want to cover it with a bucket so they do not get harmed by accidentally activating it! These traps work by impailing the mole while it tunnels.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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We have that problem here and the State has banned traps. I have found two methods that work.
1. Mint Tea recipe - take a lot of mint leaves and stems, cut up, and boil for 1/2 hour in a large pot of water. Add 1 quart of this "tea" to a gallon jug, fill the rest of the way with water. Pour about 1/2 the gallon into each of their holes.
2. When you find a fresh hole, that evening, step on it to push it in. The best time is just before dark. The stand or sit within a few feet, very still, with a sharp shovel in hand. Within 30-45 minutes, with luck, you will see the dirt moving as he tries to open it jack up. Quickly jab the shovel into the ground repeatedly and hopefully chop him in half. Requires patience but is very satisfying.
You probably are dealing with voles and moles. Voles make many small holes, moles make the tunnels that stick up. Voles follow moles' holes.
Moles also follow grubs and dig the big tunnels you see. One option for you is start with grub killer this spring and follow it up with a second spread at the beginning of summer. You can also seed your lawn with milky spore disease (from the local store) to permanently kill off Japanese beetles and thus, grubs. No grubs, no moles, and no voles. Viola, no holes.
As for voles, you need something else - they eat plants and are generally more destructive. Try a castor oil spread to run them off.
My cat pretty much spends most of her time in the summer killing these little buggers and anything else that looks like it could be fun and is smaller than her. The only rodent problem we have is to remember to look down before walking out on the front step. She likes to bring us her trophies.
A nice organic way to get rid of the grubs is by using milky spore. Since its a spore it will spread through the yard over time. This will help in the long term with the mole population. Good luck
Last year I lost absolutely nothing to moles, mice, squirrels, rabbits et al. I did have three feral cats take up residence at the top of the yard (north of the house) The dogs take care of larger critters, deer and raccoons, opossums et al. I've been feeding the feral cats over the winter, the same dry cat food my two house cats eat, augmenting their diets. These cats are welcome to live at the edge of my woods for as long as they wish. They also kept the birds away from my fig tree. Wonderful invention them cats!
I had a mole problem about 5 years ago. Nothing I did would get rid of them. I hired a professional to place traps because I couldn't stand the thought of doing it myself. They worked like a charm. He used 7 of them and my front yard looked like it was covered in 18" oil wells. As I said, the traps worked and I thought the guy would come back to remove them. He never did. I still have the traps in the garage. I simply could not bring myself to pull them out of the ground for a couple of months. I'm sure the neighbors were really pleased to see a yard near them that looked like a scene from "Dallas" in miniature. When I finally got up the nerve to pull up the traps there was nothing on the spikes. I had waited long enough for decomp.
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They made short work of the moles, and now they making a big dent on the chipmonks
