#@$%@ Moles!!!!!

[LD1]

Imadicloprid is what I use on my yard to kill the grubs. But timing to actually kill the grubs is key.

In my area, midmay to mid june is the time to apply. Too early and there wont be any residual left to kill the grubs when they hatch. Too late and you miss them.

I went from dozens and dozens of mounds on my 4 acres to just a couple in the first year.

And the grubs are bad for the lawn too as they feed on the roots of the turf and you end up with a bad looking yard.

Nice bonus is since imadicloprid is a broad pesticide, it also kills fleas, ticks, ants, etc.

Same active ingredient as is in alot of flea and tick stuff for pets.

Can be had in granular or liquid. I opt for liquid and spray along with 24d in the spring. 28oz of the liquid per acre.

 

[MossRoad]

How's your worm population?

When we first moved in here, we used to have tons of worms on the driveway and sidewalk after a good rain. I have noticed that for the past 10-15 years, there aren't hardly any worms. I'm making a correlation that we also have hardly any moles. Just in the past 2 years, I've been noticing a few worms again, and also more mole activity. I didn't use any pesticides and am trying to figure out what happened to the worm population. A healthy lawn has worms.

Never had a grub problem.

 

[LD1]

How's your worm population?

When we first moved in here, we used to have tons of worms on the driveway and sidewalk after a good rain. I have noticed that for the past 10-15 years, there aren't hardly any worms. I'm making a correlation that we also have hardly any moles. Just in the past 2 years, I've been noticing a few worms again, and also more mole activity. I didn't use any pesticides and am trying to figure out what happened to the worm population. A healthy lawn has worms.

Never had a grub problem.

I always see plenty of worms wherever I dig.

 

[cdaigle430]

yeah I have my war against moles, Chipmunks, squirrels and skunk every year. moles are the biggest damgers by far both directly and indirectly. they create tunnels damaging lawn and my mower blade. This also invites mice, chpmunks and voles that dig further in to my foundation. Voles kill my fruit trees every year despite my progress because they eat the roots. Chipmunks dig holes around my foundation and invite mice that come in and chew through the wood parts of the house. This year I dispatched 30 chipmunks, 5 moles, one skunk and yet to get a squirrel (the ones that chew off 100s of my willow tree branches each spring). For the moles I use the spike and scissor traps, for the chipmunks, mice and voles I use a combination of free range chickens, cats, baited large glue traps and have a heart traps. The skunk was also have a heart trap.

It is and will always be a never ending battle because as soon as you take one of these critters out more move in. just make it a habit and design your property to deter them as much as possible. its about all you can do.....sometimes I want to give up and lay concrete on the entire 1.5 acres I have

 

[LD1]

yeah I have my war against moles, Chipmunks, squirrels and skunk every year. moles are the biggest damgers by far both directly and indirectly. they create tunnels damaging lawn and my mower blade. This also invites mice, chpmunks and voles that dig further in to my foundation. Voles kill my fruit trees every year despite my progress because they eat the roots. Chipmunks dig holes around my foundation and invite mice that come in and chew through the wood parts of the house. This year I dispatched 30 chipmunks, 5 moles, one skunk and yet to get a squirrel (the ones that chew off 100s of my willow tree branches each spring). For the moles I use the spike and scissor traps, for the chipmunks, mice and voles I use a combination of free range chickens, cats, baited large glue traps and have a heart traps. The skunk was also have a heart trap.

It is and will always be a never ending battle because as soon as you take one of these critters out more move in. just make it a habit and design your property to deter them as much as possible. its about all you can do.....sometimes I want to give up and lay concrete on the entire 1.5 acres I have

For me the mole damage isnt the biggest problem.

The damage caused by the dogs trying to get the moles.....thats the problem:laughing:

 

[cdaigle430]

Dogs should be able to help-if they are digging I would think the mole is there at the time? I would buy a long multi prong spike and stap the area.....maybe you'll get it and maybe not, at least you'll spend quality time with the pets, aerate the lawn and get some exercise

 

[Fuddy1952]

I was watching a mile tunnel the other day and an earthworm popped up...then it disappeared like someone sucking spaghetti. Earthworms are great, I don't want to kill them.
Years ago I found a mole laying on the ground, then put it back and it disappeared like a high speed drill into the ground!
My Grandad used to say moles in a tunnel, what does the last one smell? Molasses.
I'll try different things...thanks!

 

[LD1]

Dogs should be able to help-if they are digging I would think the mole is there at the time?

Except the mole travels down the tunnel and the dogs follow, tearing up yard as they go

 

[atsah]

I was looking in my backyard one day just thinking about things, I see a hawk swoop down and grab a big mole out from it's tunnel, he probably saw the ground moving from 300ft, unreal..

 

[denchen]

Here on the other side of the pond we seem to have some of the same problems. Over the years I`ve got a few stories. I once knew a farmer who had a Jack Russel dog that would walk over his lawn and garden and stop. He would move forward a few feet and again stop. He used to rock his head backward and forward listening and move forward and stop. Eventually he would take a viscous bite into the ground or lawn and come back with a mouth full of soil/grass but always with a mole. Many a time the farmer and me watched him doing this. I`m not sure about you guys, but here we have a April Fools Day. Basically on the first of April, the idea is to make a fool out of others but in a friendly way. Anyway at the end of March, a colleague of mine decided to play a game on his neighbour who was very frond of his fine lawn. What my mate did is sneak out late at night with a flower pot full of soil, and tip it upside down on his neighbours lawn, and make it look like a mole hill. He had already built a few `mole hills` all over his own lawn. The next night out he went and built another couple of `mole hills` on his neighbours lawn. On the night of the last day of March, out he went and built loads of `mole hills` all over the lawn. On the morning of the first of April, the neighbour was banging on his door complaining that `his` moles had dug up his lawn. My mate let him brew on the matter and didn`t tell him until lunch time. Anyway getting rid of them, your methods will be as good as any, but I did once see a farmer with a real smokey old petrol (gas) engine with a pipe from the exhaust going into the mole run. There was smoke all over the place. Whether it got rid of the moles or not, I don`t know. Some people here swear by pushing a stick in the ground and putting an empty bottle over the stick. The theory being, the bottle rattling in the wind sends vibration through the ground and the moles do not like it.

 

[atsah]

My sister has two Jack Russel's, they are good at catching and digging up small rodents, she lives in Florida, the problem with them is they play tug of war with the local snakes, they did so with the wrong snake last year (Eastern Diamondback Rattler), They almost lost their lives, It took four weeks to recover with many doses of antivenom, hopefully if they ever hear a rattle again they will remember..

 

[JerryK]

I spent over 20 years down in Independence Township Michigan playing with the moles in about a 2 acre area that I mowed. My property was among many large acreage [ for that area ] folks, most that did not try to keep them down in population. I tried just about every trick/trap/poison/hunting method known to man... killed a lot of the critters and a huge number of my earth worms/grubs. Finally sold out to a developer just before the market crash. Now living far, far, far away from them.... The doctor says I might get back to normal, some day .........

 

[Fuddy1952]

Out in the country here we have everything you can imagine, even bear, mountain lion, coyote. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Just yesterday I'm getting ready to check something under a car, on asphalt when a small copperhead slithers under. I figured he went off somewhere, never saw it again.
We have some large black snakes which are great, hopefully they'll go after the moles.

 

[hawkeye08]

We also have problems here.. we got way behind on watering yard this year, was pretty dry. Not near as many ground rodents as years when we stayed up on watering and had nice green lawn all summer.. I've been going to put in a sprinkler system for 25 years, but why rush things?

 

[1965]

My cousin is an ORKIN man, he says the best way to get rid of moles and the quickest is to run exhaust fumes down the hole from my atv or lawn tractor or whatever you got. It worked great, I have no more moles.

 

[HillStreet]

Harbor Freight sells an item that's called Mole Chaser (about $10.00). It is solar powered and you stick it in the ground and every 30 seconds it makes a beep sound, and makes the mole leave the area. Have used them several years, and they seem to work for me.

I知 going to HF in the morning. I have a ton of new apple trees and they are susceptible to moles and voles.