Author Topic: moles  (Read 4220 times)

ACE

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 7,424
moles
« on: July 10, 2015, 11:23:27 »
I tried my luck with a solar generated mole scarer, only a fiver. He has gone, but I did notice the Little Gentleman in Black Velvet has popped up again on a couple of plots down.

Deb P

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,721
  • Still digging it....
Re: moles
« Reply #1 on: July 10, 2015, 13:34:02 »
Iv'e not long purchased an ebook "Outwitting Squirrels: And Other Garden Pests and Nuisances" by Anne Wareham. In it she goes through most pests and potential methods of attack. For moles, she concluded employing a professional mole catcher was the only effective answer! Good book overall btw.
If it's not pouring with rain, I'm either in the garden or at the lottie! Probably still there in the rain as well TBH....🥴

http://www.littleoverlaneallotments.org.uk

Jayb

  • Global Moderator
  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 7,616
Re: moles
« Reply #2 on: July 11, 2015, 08:32:10 »
I'd go along with Deb P, we have tried quite a few different methods over the years to move moles away, including a solar one, sonic noise, windmill, pongy things - nothing really works. They may move over a little for a bit but they come back soon enough. We did get a mole catcher once, the moles were tunneling very close to the surface on the lawn and mum had had a nasty fall when she tripped in one. The garden was mole free for several years.
Seed Circle site http://seedsaverscircle.org/
My Blog, Mostly Tomato Mania http://mostlytomatomania.blogspot.co.uk/

ACE

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 7,424
Re: moles
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2015, 15:24:59 »
Well goodbye Mr. Nice Guy. I tried the sonic beeper, they had a party around it using the beat to dance to by the look of it. Euphorbia they used for making their homebrew. So now it is the trap. Da, Da, Daaa.

With the amount of molehills there must be loads of them, with a bit of luck I'll have enough for a waistcoat by the weekend.

Obelixx

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,936
  • Vendée, France
Re: moles
« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2015, 17:20:49 »
Good luck Ace.

One mole can make a dozen mole hills or more in one night.   They are at their worst in late winter/early spring when they set off looking for a mate and then again when the young leave the nest and head off to make their own territory.

In my veg patch, they've tunneled along the line of roofing boards I used to make my raised beds and also in and out under the compost heaps.  The grass (lawn) looks like a mole scale version of the Belgian trenches.  It's been dry here for weeks apart form one or two serious downpours and this has collapsed their tunnels.  OH has now filled these with compost from the heaps plus the occasional hole where the terrier has tried to dig one out when she hears them moving - or the assorted rodents that move around in old tunnels.

I have been using my mole blaster to get the perishers but that doesn't undo the damage to grass and crops and ornamentals.
Obxx - Vendée France

Digeroo

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 9,578
  • Cotswolds - Gravel - Alkaline
Re: moles
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2015, 19:06:15 »
I am having a problem with them too.  The electric thing seems to have worked a little but they have moved a few yards, but do not seem to be using the same area as the bleeper. But they have popped up in my other plot so I need two.

As a bit plus it does seem to have got rid of the voles.  Not the bleeper but the moles. 

I have a compost bin of manure and the mole has made a hill right up into the centre of it, I thought to start with it was ants but no ants in sight.

ancellsfarmer

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,335
  • Plot is London clay, rich in Mesozoic fossils
Re: moles
« Reply #6 on: August 12, 2015, 20:29:25 »
Try an empty plastic bottle on a bamboo cane plunged into the molehill. This has caused "my" mole to work in the plot 3 down. Even with a light breeze, the bottle rocks and "clonks" on the cane.Cheap 'n easy.
Freelance cultivator qualified within the University of Life.

Idris

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: moles
« Reply #7 on: November 21, 2015, 17:01:38 »
Hi Guys,

I was a professional molecatcher for a number of years. The only way to get rid is to trap. I used Duffus (tunnel) traps and the secret is location and setting. Find the runs away from the molehills, along fence lines is a good place to start, or near bushes, trees or hedges. Dig a square tidy hole the exact length of the trap, place it in the hole so it's a snug fit along the run line and pack soil in hard rolls along the top edge s of the traps, so it doesn't move when the mole hits the trigger. Come back in 24 hours ans i'd expect 1 trap in 3 to be sprung. Moles are normally solitary, one can make a huge mess but when you catch one it's next door neighbour will quickly find a vacant property and move in so it seems that you have an infestation.

Don't live trap, they get stressed very easily and need to constantly eat. If you release into a different territory, it will enter a run and fight with the occupier. They are hemophilliacs and any injury will cause death by bleeding.

Hope it helps

 

SimplePortal 2.3.5 © 2008-2012, SimplePortal