A few weeks ago while at the pool, I made a new acquaintance who asked me about moles.
He said, “How do you get rid of moles?” I recalled some initial ideas about castor beans and a trap that works. Here are my insights as I reviewed my previous columns and current research on this topic.
My answers to this question changed over the years from a quick solution to “Why do you want to get rid of the mole?”
Moles eat grubs under your lawn. Voles eat plant roots.
Moles don’t eat plants. Moles are insectivores with voracious appetites. You should consider that moles eat an impressive 70-100% of their weight in worms, grubs, and insects daily.
During the grub season, their help may be a good thing. The problem is that moles prefer earthworms. If you have a problem seeing earthworms in your garden, you can look at the mole as a suspect in low populations of worms.
In the fall a few years ago, I noticed a problem in my yard with little ridges popping up where I would mow by my bed with sedum and a Skyrocket Juniper, which I recognized as a mole hole.
At that time, I had maybe two or three cats. Recently, my cats have made offerings of moles on our steps. I don’t notice as much of a problem as I have in the past.
I’m afraid I also have a skunk that has taken up residence in my garage this year. This skunk likes to eat grubs in our lawns, as do moles. The challenge was a significant one in that these ridges were well-tunneled.
When solving this problem in years past, I would travel in the Spring to a greenhouse and buy a castor bean, which is a tropical plant that our little mole friends do not like.
Oils inside the roots of the Castor plant are very toxic to moles and voles, which means that they, the moles and voles, will move. This solution works from personal experience.
When I consistently plant Castor Beans over, I have had a reduction in mole problems. From experience, I recall two or three free years of not planting castor beans, after five years of consistently planting the bean.
One of the issues with this solution is that the castor bean is very toxic. If small children try to consume one of these plants, it could be disastrous. You need to use caution with castor beans.
Natural dish soap poured down a burrow’s entrance is an easy way to evict a mole from your yard. The smells from the soap irritate the moles.
Applying dish soap several times a week should show immediate changes in their desire to be in your yard. Because you are using natural soap, there aren’t any toxic concerns, such as those with the castor bean or other toxic solutions.
What I like the most is that moles do not return.
Moles need their ability to sniff out the worms they seek.
Purdue did a study on changing the height of grass in the lawn and found that the sensitive noses of the mole could not sniff out the worms that they like to eat with taller grass blades. Moles leave the yard.
One effective trap I saw followed these instructions. Construct a one-way tunnel, with mounds of dirt piled on either side of the mole’s current burrow path.
Once the mounds are made, fill a plastic bucket with a few inches of water and bury it halfway in the ground at an angle toward where you want moles to exit your lawn.
Place a board over the top of the mound to block the sunlight from entering and allow the moles to travel through this section toward their new home.
Once they realize they can’t get back to their old condo, they are trapped. You need to make sure that their mounds are blocking their natural path. If not, they will go around them.
Moles hate garlic and have no fondness for onions or other alliums. You need to place whole cloves of garlic, pieces of onions, or other alliums around your garden or yard in mounds that are six inches deep.
Research reveals that moles and voles can be managed in environmentally healthy ways.
This column is the tip of the iceberg, and I shall discuss it more next week.
I hope you have a wonderful stroll through your garden this week. If you have any problems in your yard, please let me know how I can help at ericlarson546@yahoo.com.
I shall do the best I can to answer them.