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Sandy Feather: Traps, pets are best bets for getting rid of moles
Saturday, March 17, 2001
Q. I have a yard problem I hope you can help me solve. For the past three years now, I have had little moles, or shrews. They are tiny like a mouse with a snout, closed eyes and little teeth. I have talked to three landscapers who said there wasn't much I can do. They are eating all of my bulbs, plus making these little tunnels everywhere. I have tried Juicy Fruit gum in the tunnels and moth balls and electronic devices to drive them away to no avail. I have also tried various kinds of mole poisons without success. By the looks of the tunnels, my yard must be the mole condo of the world. I also used different kinds of grub killer because someone said the grubs caused the moles to take up residence.
A. It sounds as though you may have moles andvoles, mice or chipmunks. Moles commonly tunnel through lawns and landscape beds. However, it is unlikely that they are eating your spring-flowering bulbs. Moles are insectivores, eating everything from earthworms and grubs to adult beetles and flies. They do not eat plant material at all, although their tunneling may damage plant roots and result in the death of affected plants. If your bulbs are being eaten, it is probably a mouse or chipmunk.
Send questions to Sandy Feather by e-mail at slf9@psu.edu s or by regular mail c/o Penn State Cooperative Extension, 400 N. Lexington St., Pittsburgh 15208. Due to volume of mail, personal replies cannot be provided.
It is often said that mole activity in turfgrass indicates a problem with white grubs, but that is not necessarily true. They favor white grubs when they can find them, but earthworms make up roughly 75 percent of a mole's diet. Of course, earthworm activity aerifies soil, bringing nutrients up to plants' roots where they can easily be absorbed. They are good indicators of soil health. You do not want to get rid of your earthworms, despite the fact that moles are attracted to them.
If grubs were present, you would have noticed patches of lawn dying late last summer. The affected areas of turf can be lifted easily and rolled back like a piece of carpet. Once the turf is lifted, you can plainly see the C-shaped white grubs just under the turf. You will not see them right now, though, because the grubs migrate deep into the soil for the winter. They will come back up to the surface in the spring as soil temperatures get warmer. If you do not have grubs in your lawn, insecticide applications to control them are a waste of time and money and needlessly place pesticides into the environment without stopping the mole damage.
Moles prefer moist, friable soil with a large population of insects. Mulched landscape beds create the perfect habitat for mole activity, and snow cover makes them even more ideal. Moles are solitary creatures, and it is not unusual for one mole to damage several lawns in its search for food. Moles expend a lot of energy digging and must eat 70 percent to 100 percent of their body weight daily to survive.
Stopping mole damage is easier said than done. Poison baits are not effective against moles because they are usually made with grain. Moles are insectivores and are not attracted to grain.
If you attempt to use these baits, be sure to place them down in mole tunnels. Baits are toxic to children and pets and should never be placed where they can get to them. Specially made traps, designed to be installed in the deep tunnels of a mole's run, are the most effective means of control. They are available at garden centers or agricultural suppliers. To use the traps properly, you must determine which runways are being actively used. Tamp down the runways and see which one(s) the mole reopens. That is where you set your traps.
The second best way to keep moles from damaging your lawn and landscape is a cat or dog that has full range of your yard. Cats often do a better job because they will sit and wait patiently for their prey, while a dog will dig up half of your yard to kill one mole! You might also try flooding their runs with a hose in early morning to drive them to the surface, where your cat or dog can easily get to them.
There are a host of home remedies alleged to control moles. They are supposedly repelled by the mole plant (Euphorbia latharis) or the castor bean plant (Ricinus communis), but neither has proven effective in laboratory tests. The same goes for electromagnetic or sound-wave devices. Razor blades, ground glass and toxic household substances poured down a mole run are more likely to injure a child or a pet than the offending mole. And chewing gum placed in their runs does absolutely nothing because they are not attracted to it -- unless you can find a pack of bug-flavored gum!
There is a repellent called Mole-Med that has shown to be somewhat effective in tests at Michigan State University. The product is sprayed directly on those areas where you want to reduce mole activity. Water the area thoroughly, apply Mole-Med, then thoroughly water again to take the product deeper into the soil where the moles are active. It is made from castor bean extract and must be reapplied after heavy rain.
Where chipmunks, mice and other rodents are a problem with spring-flowering bulbs, gardeners often dig planting holes and line them with a couple inches of pea gravel. The rodents do not like to dig through the sharp stones. Daffodils are poisonous, and rodents (including deer) usually leave them alone.
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