Moles & Your Yard

In this article, we will share with you various ways to control and rid your lawn of moles. You should  know that moles are not rodents, they are insectivores.  Its diet is restricted to ground invertebrates such as grubs, millipedes, ants and the like. However, the mole's primary food source is earthworm, so trying to control white grub and lawn insects is not the ultimate protection from mole activity. Grub control is important, though, because grubs cause other types of destruction to your lawn.  

Lawn damage from mole activity and tunneling may take several forms. The surface tunneling separates the grass roots from the soil. Besides leaving a mushy or soft feeling when stepped on, the separated roots cause yellowing and dying patterns in the lawn. Exposed soil along the tunnel ridges allow blowing weed seeds to propagate. Crabgrass often grows along mole tunnels. Deep tunneling, represented by mounding and bulging of soil also will cultivate weed growth.  

Now there are many products on the market, almost an overwhelming selection.  Before you even look at the shelves, first decide what means you want to pursue in order to rid you and your lawn of moles.  You can either repel them, use a poison or trap them.  With the research we have done, trapping is the most effective.  But with any of these methods, you will need to stay diligent on your hunt – moles are persistent and the number of tunnels are not directly related to the number of moles.  Although they are primarily solitary animals, they are more active in the springtime for mating.  Also, more established runs can be used by more than one mole, kind of like a highway system.  

There are deterrents, either in liquid or granule form, that are primarily castor oil based.  These are limitedly effective, and you have to apply the product multiple times and in such as way to drive the moles away from your property.  The castor oil gets onto the mole’s fur and skin and irritates them.  But if the mole runs are deeper in the ground, this type of mole control will not work.   There are different mole baits & poisons.  Remember, moles are insectivores, so they cannot chew hard pellets very well.  Choose a bait that is soft, almost the consistency of an earthworm or grub.  Never touch the bait with your bare hands, as moles can sense human scent and may not take the bait.  You will need to insert the bait into an active mole tunnel by either slitting the tunnel with a knife, or making a small hole no larger than a broom handle.  In order to find an active mole tunnel, take the time to step on all the mounds in your lawn, noting approximately where they are.  Within a few days, the most active tunnels should reappear.  But there are two types of tunnels – surface tunnels and permanent tunnels.  The surface tunnels are more shallow tunnels and are use for exploratory and gathering purposes.  The deep permanent tunnels are often run along roots and man-made structures (foundations and fences).  And a little trivia, a mole’s surface tunnel can be dug on average of 18 feet per hour.   Trapping is the most effective means of ridding your lawn of moles.  Step down all the tunnels like I mentioned, and once you see active tunnels reappear, set a trap over each of those tunnels.  Mole traps do look very menacing, but are the most effective.  A few common trapping mistakes is that people try to trap at the end of a tunnel or a hole opening.  That wont’ work.  Try to set the trap in the middle of the run.  Also, follow the trap instructions closely, as if you set the trap to shallow in the lawn, the mole will just tunnel under the trap.  Also, if your trap goes off, don’t always expect the mole to be caught in the trap – half the time, the mole is wounded and will not be in your trap, but just a few feet away from it.  

Finally, if you see a lot of mole activity in your neighbor's yard, inevitably they will make tunnels in your yard, unless you have a fence at least 2 feet below the property line.  They don’t pay any attention to the imaginary property borders that we humans do.