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How To Rid Lawn Of Moles

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Mole Myth #: Buy A Vibrating High

Home & Lawn Pest Control : How to Get Rid of Moles in Your Lawn.

MYTH BUSTED: While these devices do sell well at the local hardware store, youre going to find that your super solar-powered noise stake will likely not deter your pesky mole friends. These devices may work for a short time, but its only a matter of time before moles will become accustomed to the noise and return.

Create An Unfriendly Environment

Moles dont like to live in disruptive areas. This is good news for you since it means getting rid of them can be as easy as creating an unpleasant environment.

To do this, purchase a sonic spike from your local home and garden store and insert it into the ground in your garden. This spike will use electronic pulses to create irritating sounds that encourage the moles to go elsewhere. Dont worry, though you wont be able to hear or feel the electronic pulses.

Pros: Easy, affordable

Cons: May not be as effective as other solutions

Next I Bet You Didnt Know That You Could Repurpose Your Dog’s Pet Waste To Fight The Battle Against Moles And Voles

Most people dont know this… But these critters are deterred by pet waste just as much as humans are, so placing your dog’s waste near the entry and exit points of the mole’s tunnels is a good way to naturally encourage these varmints to infest your neighbors yard and not yours.

Moreover, yet another natural way to fight moles is to strategically install plants throughout the yard that the moles naturally dislike.

Not only could this be an aesthetic way to win the battle but the good news these plants such as Castor bean, Crown imperial, and Narcissus are examples of mole-repelling plants. and are known for being effective for deterring moles and gophers out of your yard.

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Learning The Necessary Steps To Get Rid Of Moles

Effective mole control begins with understanding the correct steps to identify and eliminate these garden pests. It is also critical to decide whether you want to kill ground moles in the garden or scare them away.

No matter what mole removal process you want to implement, we show you how to get rid of moles causing destruction in your lawn. Additionally, we provide homeowners with ways to kill moles with mole bait.

How Do Professionals Get Rid Of Moles In Your Yard

Pin on Gardening

If DIY is not your style, you may want to call in a professional mole control team. Thanks to their professional tools and tactics, these teams are better equipped to effectively deal with severe mole infestations.

If getting rid of moles humanely is important to you, you can opt for no-kill methods that will drastically reduce your mole populations and restore your yard to its former glory.

Here are a few tactics our team here at Smiths Pest Management uses:

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Fastest Way To Get Rid Of Moles

One of the worst feelings is getting up in the morning to find that your beautifully maintained garden has been made unsightly by various tunnels and mounds made by moles. These small animals mercilessly dig up the garden making it hard for you to maintain its beauty.

Moles are notorious not just for harming your gardens, lawns, and plants but also for raising several health concerns. Moles can bite you and cause infections including rabies. This is especially possible when the bite was unprovoked. Moreover, moles can spread several parasites that can harm humans and animals. These parasites include fleas, mites, and ticks that can cause various diseases to you or your pets. Because these wild animals stay underground, it can be difficult to get rid of them. You can take help from professionals who deal with pest control to get rid of them quickly and effectively.

Some of the tips that can help you get rid of moles include:

Do Coffee Grounds Repel Moles

Coffee grounds, as we know it, arent that pleasant to sniff .

Because of the strong odor they give off, moles will avoid it because they despise the smell. You can buy a can of coffee grounds and literally just sprinkle them around the yard.

Toss them in key areas such as:

  • On soft soil
  • Directly into mole tunnels
  • Around the perimeter of your garden

Some plants may react to coffee grounds, so youll want to be careful to make sure youre not harming your plants.

Use the grounds on just a few plants first. You can use used coffee grounds from your morning brew.

Just throw them directly where you suspect ground moles to be present. They act as a natural repellent thats safe for most plants and your family.

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Can I Cut Off A Raised Mole

Skin tags may be snipped off with a scalpel or surgical scissors. Some moles can be shaved off flush with the skin. Other moles may have cells that go underneath the skin, so your doctor might make a deeper cut to remove the entire mole and prevent it from growing back. This cut may require stitches.

What Is A Home Remedy To Get Rid Of Moles In Your Yard

How to get rid of Moles and Voles in your lawn

For a homemade remedy, mix three parts castor oil and one part dish soap. Add four tablespoons of the mixture to a gallon of water. Soak the tunnels and entrances to evict the moles and soak the holes to evict gophers. Castor oil is one of the most effective home remedies to get rid of these animals.

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Aspectek Humane Tunnel Mole Trap

Aspectek Human Mole Trap is a non-lethal option to catch moles. Here we have the old catch-and-release method for folks who want to avoid the blood. Or folks who would like a new pet mole, which we do not recommend. Either way, this trap is basically a one-way-door trick piece. Moles crawl in, moles stay a while. Specifically, they stay until you let them out. Hey, we cant complain about a solution that doesnt involve a dead mole stuck on the end of some weird knives.

The moles will undoubtedly be just utterly terrified inside their temporary capsule, especially once you pick it up and haul it off to your unloading site. Consider this revenge for messing up your lawn area. Unlike the WireTek mentioned above, this trap will require you to dig into an actual mole tunnel. If you dont mind getting your hands dirty, this is a solid option.

Some users complain that their soil is too sandy for the trap to work, or that its little doors dont properly close if the trap isnt placed level. As with all traps, this is best paired with bait, and if it doesnt catch any moles the first day, relocate and try again. One last bonus, though, is that this trap runs for a significantly lower price than lethal devices.

Related Article: 9 Best Mole Traps

Mole Baits

How To Recognize And Prevent Yard Moles

The most crucial step in mole control is to prevent them from wanting to come into your yard in the first place. Recognizing mole activity in your yard is key to preventing an infestation of all types of destructive rodents.

  • Coffee grounds

The easiest way to tell you that you have a mole problem is by inspecting your yard or gardens surface. Raised areas in the dirt that travel in paths and mounds are great indications of moles.

One of the great ways to stop moles from tunneling is to create an underground barrier by digging a two-foot trench around the area and filling it with rocks, wire, or concrete. If this is too much work, try using an ultrasonic device to emit a sonic pulse underground and drive them away.

Other useful methods are to use insecticides and beneficial nematodes to eliminate their food source. A yard without a buffet of worms, grubs, and larvae is not an ideal home for moles.

Some people swear by using mothballs to deter moles from the yard. However, they are more useful at keeping away moths. If youre looking for something cheap and simple, try using coffee grounds or granules by scattering them over the mole holes.

While moles have a certain cute quality about them, and they arent out to get your plants, its essential to keep them out of your yard to prevent it from being taken over by plant-eating and garden-destroying rodents.

Luckily, there are easy ways to take care of the issue by using a few simple steps.

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Trying To Get Rid Of Moles For Good

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Since they move about underground and usually only come on land to find a mate, you may not ever see a mole itself. Their tunnels, however, are clear signs that this pest has invaded your property. Even though they can reach as deep as a foot, moles tend to kick up dirt overhead that causes large mounds running the length of the tunnels, crisscrossing throughout your yard.

Getting Rid Of Moles Using Castor Oil

How to Get Rid of Moles from Your Garden

Castor oil is another way to get rid of moles and gophers on your lawn without killing them. Creating a mixture of Castor oil and Dawn dish soap upsets a moles digestive tract, making your yard less appealing.

If you are looking to kill ground moles with Dawn soap, create a mixture with the correct measurements.

Castor Oil Ground Mole Repellent

  • ½ cup of Castor oil
  • 1 ounce of Dawn liquid dish soap
  • 5 cups of water

To use this simple castor oil mole repellent recipe, pour the ingredients into a bottle with a spray nozzle and mix gently. Next, spray the affected areas of your lawn. Ensure you spray any holes where the moles have dug in your grass and cover them up with dirt after spraying.

We recommend you repeat this routine at least once per week to kill ground moles in the garden and grass that are damaged.

Seal a chipmunk hole or mole holes after treatment to further discourage the creatures.

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Trapping Tips And Secrets

Lawn moles and voles are difficult to get rid of. Commonly, when one animal leaves or is caught, another arrives to take its place. Others are more fortunate. After catching one or two, the problem seems to go away. Complete lawn mole extermination may not be possible, especially if other people around you are also experiencing a mole problem. But, it always pays to try.

Importance of Finding the Active Tunnels

The first thing you must do is to find a primary tunnel the animals are actively using. Look for the longer, raised tunnels that may possibly be used to travel from the nest to the feeding grounds, etc. Do not worry too much about the short, windy tunnels. They are most like feeding tunnels and are not used often.

Methods of Locating the Active Tunnels

First method: Use your heel to crush a small section of raised tunnel. It shouldnt be more than a few inches wide. Mark the spot with a landscape flag or by placing a rock in the grass next to the spot you crushed. Do this on different tunnels that look promising spaced no closer than ten feet apart. Do not crush the whole tunnel or it may dig a new one. If it is an active tunnel, the area will be repaired within 12 to 48 hours.

Second method: Carefully make a small hole in the top of the raised tunnel the size of a quarter or slightly larger. Mark the area beside it with a landscape flag. Lawn moles do not like any light coming in and will seal the hole. If it is an inactive tunnel, it will be left alone.

Mole Myth #: Moles Hibernate During The Winter

MYTH BUSTED: Even though you may not see their activity above ground during the winter, during normal Midwest weather conditions, they are not hibernating. Instead, when the temperature turns cold, they dig a little deeper in the soil up to three feet deep and there they also find earthworms to eat.

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Castor Oil And Other Diy Home Remedies

Create a spray that is parts castor oil, water and liquid detergent. Heres the DIY Mole Repellent recipe from Budget101:

Ingredients

2 tablespoons liquid detergent

Combine all ingredients in a blender until you achieve the consistency of whipped cream.

To Use: Add 2 tablespoons of repellent to a regular garden watering can and then fill with warm water. Thoroughly water over areas of greatest damage.

Other DIY mole repellents include cayenne pepper . Smells that get rid of moles include castor oil, coffee grounds, and eucalyptus and mint oil . How about mothballs? Their powers of repelling moles are a myth.

How To Deter Moles

How to get rid of ground moles

Once your yard is free of moles, you can take steps to make your yard less of an attractive mole playground:

Plant these in your flower bed or around your vegetable garden to keep away these pests.

Why are marigolds and daffodils said to repel moles? Daffodil bulbs are toxic, which is why moles may avoid their roots. Marigolds may deter moles by extension as the natural pyrethrins in the plant may repel the grubs and insects that are their food source.

Mulch and compost piles: Get rid of these, if you can, as they are a magnet for moles.

Remove their food source: Milky spore and other beneficial nematodes will kill the grubs that moles eat.

Once you have said bye to moles, you want to keep them out. You dont want a mole hole leading to a mountain of a problem.

Main Image Credit: A common mole / Kenneth Catania, Vanderbilt University / CC BY-SA

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First Things First What Are Moles

Moles are small burrowing animals that many people believe are related to mice or rats. While moles and mice look somewhat similar , theyre very different creatures. While rats and mice are rodents, moles are mammals that spend most of their lives underground, digging burrows.

Heres how the National Wildlife Foundation describes them:

Their eyes are poorly developed, but what they lack in sight, they make up for in their sense of touch. All moles have very sensitive snouts and long, clawed digits that they use to dig tunnels. The 22 tentacle-like protrusions on the star-nosed moles snout are six times more sensitive to touch than a human hand.

Rather than having fur that lays flat and points toward the tail like most mammals, eastern moles have dense fur that sticks straight up. This prevents soil from becoming trapped in their coats when they back up through a tunnel. Male moles are usually bigger than females, although most species dont exceed 10 inches in length.

Moles are very efficient diggers. In fact, eastern moles can hollow out a 160-foot burrow in a single night. Contrary to popular belief, moles dont eat the roots of plants and trees, although they do tunnel around and beneath them. In reality, moles are insectivores, and they make tunnels to locate the worms and other insects that live in the soil around plants.

Rodent Bark Chewing In Winter

Voles and rabbits probably damaged the bark on this unprotected pussywillow. Use tree guards or fine hardware mesh around the trunks and stems of young trees and shrubs to deter them.

Voles and rabbits probably damaged the bark on this unprotected pussywillow. Use tree guards or fine hardware mesh around the trunks and stems of young trees and shrubs to deter them.

Protect your trees. Surround your trees with fine mesh tree guards, burying the bases in the ground. Keep the guards loose enough to let the trees grow.

Put up a physical barrier. Fence your garden with 1/4-inch mesh hardware cloth. Bury it six to 10 inches deep in the ground and let it extend at least one foot above the ground.

Try a natural remedy. Some gardeners swear by putting mothballs into vole burrows or mixing irritants like garlic and ammonia with water and spraying them in the entrances. The downside is that these wash away in the rain and have to be reapplied.

Apply predator urine. Some garden centers and nurseries sell the urine of predators like coyotes and foxes, which is said to repel voles.

Exterminate voles with mouse traps or poison baits. Do this as a last resort, and do not use poisons or any kind of traps around pets or children.

Need more help? Call a wildlife control professional to get rid of pesky moles and voles.

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How To Deal With Moles In Your Yard

We have tried every product we could find to get rid of moles in our yard and just when I think Ive solved the problem, they come back with a vengeance. What can I do? -Theresa

Just when you think youve gotten your yard to the pinnacle of neatness, here comes a pesky mole to turn your lawn into a superhighway!

Unfortunately, we gardeners are excellent mole-magnets: our tilling, mulching, and watering create a virtual paradise for these burrowing critters who love nothing more than a nice, moist, earthworm-rich hunting ground.

Mole Myth #: There Is One Mole Poison That Can Reduce Your Lawn Moles

How to get rid of Moles (With images)

TRUTH! There is one mole poison bait that will kill moles within 24 hours called Talpirid. The key to using Talpirid is to place the bait in the main tunnel. A mole will have a few main lines with many branch mole damage lines. A mole will use the main line several times a day, but may only use the branch lines once and never come back. Monitor the tunnels to find the main line and place your bait there.

This video from Kansas State University can help you understand how to track a mole tunnel. The method involves using a broomstick handle to poke holes in many tunnels. Then come back the next day to determine which tunnels have been repaired. Repeat for a couple of days to determine where the main lines are, then place your bait in those tunnels.

While some worry about the safety of children and pets when using any kind of mole poison, the Talpirid poison is only in the gummy worm which is buried below the ground, out of reach of animals and children. Still, the RYAN Pros will mark the placement of Talpirid worms and recommend that these areas not be disturbed, so ideally pets and children would be kept away from the area.

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