Discussion
We've had a bad year with the little so'n'sos as well, so I appreciate how you feel. If you have a small area to deal with then simply using some worm-killer on the lawn has worked in the past for us.
But now the area is too large to treat (read expensive). So I tried windmills & bottles (sound deters them), regular cutting the grass (noise again), smoke pellets, dog poo, flooding with water, and finally the supposedly illegal tube from a car exhaust into the tunnels, but nothing kept them away for more than a couple of days. And just like Jasper Carrot, I did have a neighbour offer me the use of a shotgun for a few days but decided that was more likely to get rid of me than the mole. And the idea of sitting there waiting for the hills to grow didn't really appeal either.
I'd been told it was very difficult to catch them in traps but in the end I bought some from B&Q, set them up and it was game over within the week. Despite having a garden that looked like the Somme it was only one mole; they cause an enormous amount of damage, so you might find it's the same with your lawn.
points I learned with traps;
1. wear gloves as they apparently can pick up your scent. Don't know if this is true or not, but I did and also washed the traps before use.
2. use a knife to dig into the tunnel mid-point between a couple of hills, clear out a section of the run, align the trap and then cover with turf. I had no luck in simply putting the traps where the hills were (as per the instructions).
3. you need more than one trap, I bought 4. The tunnel network is likely to be much greater than you think and the little sods will move to older sections if they hit a trap and it doesn't get them.
4. I didn't bait the traps, just made sure that the trigger filled the run with no way of passing underneath and it was very finely set.
But now the area is too large to treat (read expensive). So I tried windmills & bottles (sound deters them), regular cutting the grass (noise again), smoke pellets, dog poo, flooding with water, and finally the supposedly illegal tube from a car exhaust into the tunnels, but nothing kept them away for more than a couple of days. And just like Jasper Carrot, I did have a neighbour offer me the use of a shotgun for a few days but decided that was more likely to get rid of me than the mole. And the idea of sitting there waiting for the hills to grow didn't really appeal either.
I'd been told it was very difficult to catch them in traps but in the end I bought some from B&Q, set them up and it was game over within the week. Despite having a garden that looked like the Somme it was only one mole; they cause an enormous amount of damage, so you might find it's the same with your lawn.
points I learned with traps;
1. wear gloves as they apparently can pick up your scent. Don't know if this is true or not, but I did and also washed the traps before use.
2. use a knife to dig into the tunnel mid-point between a couple of hills, clear out a section of the run, align the trap and then cover with turf. I had no luck in simply putting the traps where the hills were (as per the instructions).
3. you need more than one trap, I bought 4. The tunnel network is likely to be much greater than you think and the little sods will move to older sections if they hit a trap and it doesn't get them.
4. I didn't bait the traps, just made sure that the trigger filled the run with no way of passing underneath and it was very finely set.
I use tunnel type traps like the second picture here: http://www.moletraps.co.uk/mole_trap_supplies.html... Shop around, there are plenty of suppliers, the one shown is just an example, my traps were bought locally.
No need for bait. Just use a prod, a stick or something similar, around the molehill to locate the tunnels. Carefully lift the turf to expose a tunnel. Place your trap lengthways along the tunnel bottom and gently replace the turf. The trick is to make sure that the trap doesn't fill with earth and that no light gets in when the turf is replaced. Put a marker on top so you remember where the trap is. Check daily. If after a few days you have no luck then move the trap elsewhere. It's best to set a few. You probably have less moles than you think. My lawn looked like the Somme too but catching two moles stopped it. Once you've cleared them, they'll come back eventually but act quickly when you see the first hill and you should keep on top of them.
To clear the hills, stamp down on them and spread the soil around a bit. If you remove the hill and dump the soil elsewhere you'll end up with a big dip when the void fills in. Some uneveness is unavoidable when the tunnels collapse, forget about taking up bowls.
No need for bait. Just use a prod, a stick or something similar, around the molehill to locate the tunnels. Carefully lift the turf to expose a tunnel. Place your trap lengthways along the tunnel bottom and gently replace the turf. The trick is to make sure that the trap doesn't fill with earth and that no light gets in when the turf is replaced. Put a marker on top so you remember where the trap is. Check daily. If after a few days you have no luck then move the trap elsewhere. It's best to set a few. You probably have less moles than you think. My lawn looked like the Somme too but catching two moles stopped it. Once you've cleared them, they'll come back eventually but act quickly when you see the first hill and you should keep on top of them.
To clear the hills, stamp down on them and spread the soil around a bit. If you remove the hill and dump the soil elsewhere you'll end up with a big dip when the void fills in. Some uneveness is unavoidable when the tunnels collapse, forget about taking up bowls.
As the two previous posters have said trapping is most effective.
Agree with most of their comments except
"Washing the Traps prior to use" Smell is important and best way to deal with new traps is rummage them around in a bucket of earth, possibly leaving a couple of days if possible.
All their other points are, in my opinion, valid and possibly crutial
Tunnel Traps are my preference named as "Duffus Traps" on the above link. I've never had 2 at once (
)but as always know a man who says he has.
Good luck, and if you catch one, do hold it before putting in the wheely bin, they are amazingly soft little creatures.
Agree with most of their comments except
"Washing the Traps prior to use" Smell is important and best way to deal with new traps is rummage them around in a bucket of earth, possibly leaving a couple of days if possible.
All their other points are, in my opinion, valid and possibly crutial
Tunnel Traps are my preference named as "Duffus Traps" on the above link. I've never had 2 at once (
)but as always know a man who says he has.Good luck, and if you catch one, do hold it before putting in the wheely bin, they are amazingly soft little creatures.
If all else fails, Get a 'Molecatcher' in, We did have moles and we tried to trap/kill ourselves, but to no avail (we have a large garden and it was too difficult to track the tunnels) This guy cam in and caught a couple and the problem stopped.
Moles are very territorial, so you may only have 1 or 2 moles in your garden depending on the size.
We were mole free for a few years after that, but they seem to have returned this year
..Oh and they are damn cute looking too
http://www.britishmolecatchers.co.uk/
Moles are very territorial, so you may only have 1 or 2 moles in your garden depending on the size.
We were mole free for a few years after that, but they seem to have returned this year
..Oh and they are damn cute looking too
http://www.britishmolecatchers.co.uk/
We had a mole problem and used the bulldog clip type traps. Unfortunately one mole got his hand only in the trap and was screaming. His hand was about 5 times the size it should have been and I have never felt so guilty in my life. So the moles remained after that - we just raked the hills into the grass every day and eventually they tunnelled off somewhere else.
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff