Moles

[Black Forest Dan]

Hi everyone,

I've just discovered A4A, it's excellent, so much helpful information concentrated in one friendly website and a real "English" feel, just like home, I love it!

I live with my (English) family in southern Germany at 750m altitude, where we get fairly extreme weather. Gets down to -26C in winter and up to 38C in summer. We had a successful experimental growing season last year and are stepping up a gear this year. Over the last two years we tidied up our overgrown garden, chopped down a 4m high hedge (actually 2m of bare trunks with a 2m hedge sat on top of it) and tidied up with a lorry-load of new topsoil covered with grass. We also built a raised bed for vegetables, which we're using for the first time this year, about knee-height, 15x6ft, with a wall of large granite stones around the outside from a local quarry. I want to plant herbs + nice smelly stuff in the gaps between the stones.

Our nice new lawn was invaded by moles last year, over 20 molehills, up to 2 feet across, our neighbour had even more. We've tried several measures to get them to leave. In Germany moles are a protected species and only limited options are available, all are "Umweltfreundlich" (= environment-friendly, which means often not very efficient) - lolly sticks soaked in a smelly oil to push into the ground, special pellets which are supposed to smell bad to moles... well, our moles seem to be immune to the smells. And over winter they moved into the stones around the vegetable patch.....  >:( 

My OH bought me a solar-powered mole-scarer, basically a pole which you stick into the ground with a solar charger on top, it emits a high-pitched 'beep' several times a minute. Incredibly, it seems to be working - we've not seen new molehills for a while - but I fear the little blighters are lying in wait, breeding, waiting for our veggies to get tasty enough before invading the veggie patch with a vengeance!

I guess moles don't only eat worms, they also eat vegetables, right? Or at least they make such a mess of the roots that they ruin any crop!

Does anybody out there have experience with mole attacks, do you know any foolproof solutions available in UK which really keep moles away? I'm going to be over in UK next month so could go shopping.

Thanks!

[Black Forest Dan]

[sandersj89]

Mole diet is worms, they will not eat roots or veg but their tunnelling will disturb things and do lots of damage.

Here in the UK you can both trap and poison them. Trapping is with sprung mole traps, poison can take the form of treated worms or gas pellets.

At home on the farm we use traps. These can be bought in any country store. The trick to using them is to place them in a mole run, use a bamboo cane to find the tunnels, and not to get human scent on them. The moles most acute sense is smell. When handling the trap wear gloves or smoke the trap after handling.

If you have not seen any new hills this spring you may be in luck, moles breed early spring, this is in tandem with lots of tunnelling activity and therefore lots of mole hills.

One advantage of mole hills is the great source of good top soil you can scoop up with a spade.

HTH

Jerry

[chriszog]

Had a problem in my garden with the little blighters. Tried all the normal methods to eradicate them with no success. That was until one day last March we were looking out of the window and saw a molehill moving, the mole was at work underneath. Rushed out to get a spade to dig up the mole when it popped out of the hill into the daylight. Luckily my mother in law was there at the time and she caught the mole by the tail. I shouted to keep hold of it and was going to spade it, but couldnt as it was such a luly little creature. Anyway my mother in law let it go and it disappeared into the lawn. Never to be seen again. I have had no more mole hills since this episode. So the answer must be to employ the services of a very scary mother in law.

Regards
Chris

[Obelixx]

There is a device on sale in France and Belgium which blows moles up in their tunnel.  It is extreme but effective when humane traps and other methods fail and faster and kinder than poison.   The device is shortly to be released on the UK market.  Google détaupeur and you will surely find details.  If not, go to bbc.co.uk/gardening and check down the threads in the Garden Clinic section of the message boards.  This topic has been discussed in detail this week.

[wardy]

Oh dear - blowing poor moley up.  What next  :( 

Chris   Glad to hear that your ma in law is the ultimate mole deterrent.  Perhaps you can hire her out  ;D

[Black Forest Dan]

Hi Obbelix.

thanks for the tip, with your help I found the following link: http://www.detaupeur.com/

I have some french friends who can probably buy one for me, if the mole hills come back. On the other hand my mother-in-law is coming over in May.... she could buy me one on the way  :)

Thanks all for the useful information!

[dragonfly]

We used to be bothered by moles but we don't since we have had our 6 cats.  ;D

I have watched one of mine in particular, she will sit next to any mole hill (usually in my neighbours garden, who incidentally is not a gardener and has it mostly laid to grass, horrible grass at that! :P), and wait for hours for the little..........hmmm.....darling to appear.

Only the other morning lying (dead) on the patio was one of the biggest moles we have ever seen  :o.  Which one of my cats caught it i'll never know but it must have looked a sight with this big black mole hanging out of its mouth  :D.

[return of the mac]

Dont forget us scots- it has a scottish feel too!