Mowing Moles and Mower Debris

[MossRoad]

All of the home remedies, gum in the tunnel, smoke bombs, garden hose, just don't work. The only effective way is to trap them as soon as you see activity and keep trapping them to keep them in check. The mole's primary food is earthworms. They don't eat grain or flower bulbs. Many times a mouse like creature called a VOLE will take to using mole tunnels and they cause alot of damage to plants. Moles rarely come out of their tunnels. They plug all holes that allow in light. If you see a mole tunnel with a hole about the size of a nickel-quarter coming out of it, you probably have voles in the mole tunnels. They can be controlled with poison baits. Back to moles; Check out www.themoleman.com. This guy is great. I followed his advice and started killing moles within days. Other experts claim that 1 acre of land will support 1-2 moles. BOLOGNA!! This guy gives you the facts. He is a must read for those with mole problems. Another good link is http://www.molepro.com/product_comparison.html#1. This shows lots of traps in comparison. I have the most success with the Victor Out Of Sight model. Be careful with this thing. It will take your fingers off!!! The safety mechanism isn't all that great. The thing I like about this trap is that it kills the mole very fast. The choker traps do just that, choke. Many times I've come home from work and found the trap up out of the ground with the mole dragging it around. I wonder how long the poor thing has been suffering. I whack it in the head with a shovel to put it out of its misery. After a few instances of that, I stopped using the choker traps as much and use the Out Of Sight trap almost exclusively. The main thing that I've found is don't trap the hills, trap the tunnels. Take your heel and sink it into a tunnel about every ten feet. Check it several times a day to see if it gets popped back up. If it gets popped up within a few days, place a trap in that tunnel.

 

[nazud]

Thanks for the info and links MossRoad /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. The links are of valuable knowledge . Its back to killin them lawnwreckers!

 

[MossRoad]

Weather got cooler, wetter and the worms came up again. Moles followed. Saw a new mound. Found the tunnel. Two hours later, another dead mole. Two days later, another one. That makes 31 this year. Got to keep on them. How's the battle on your lawn?

<font color=green> MossRoad </font color=green>

 

[nazud]

We just got 3 inches of rain yesterday, I need to go run the traps and see what I get . Seems like their activity has slowed down due to the colder temps . I also think they are a little deeper in the ground too.

 

[Egon]

Mole removal:
any of you fellas tried a vacum truck to suck them out. Works great on ground squirrels.
Egon

 

[fmorgan]

Along the same line as gotrocks's suggestion but maybe a little safer, the big hardware stores sell "gopher gassers" which are sulfur bombs. cut a hole in the run, put fire in the hole and they do a fairly decent job. Also you can make little windmills which vibrate and, apparently, work in a small radius. There are a couple of topical applications which apparently leach into the ground and taste bad to the moles. But I have a friend who trapped 78/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif moles in about four months this year using the traps which look like two small croquet hoops, which the Depot sells.

 

[MossRoad]

Got another one Friday. Had about 3" rain over the last week. 7th wetest October on record. Rain stopped, 24hrs later, moles.

<font color=green> MossRoad </font color=green>

 

[wdn]

Cats make pretty good mole-hunters. My cat has been dropping them on the doorstep at the rate of about 1 mole per week.


Bill

 

[Joyce]

GET A CAT. LET THE CAT EAT THE MOLES.
GET A GIANT. GIANT STEPS ON MESSY LAWN MOUNDS. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

It's what we do, (the cat part, not the giant part) but it sounds like your problem is more serious.
Regarding the build up under your mower. I don't have the mole problem (good kitty kitty /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif), and I have the build up. Just another opportunity to spend more time with our coveted tractors...maintenance /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif.

 

[Joyce]

MossRoad,
Well...thanks for helping to solve Maine's mystery about where all our rain fall has gone./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif This summer has been one of the driest on record, which is since they have been keeping records. I thought I heard a news blurb the other day that this goes back 107 years. So, do us all a favor, and send some this way??