The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Pests and diseases => Topic started by: Ginandtreats on August 02, 2021, 07:03:41 pm
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We have a mole making it's way across our lawned area, can anyone suggest how we can get rid of him/her/them?
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Wait, he or she will go in time.
Meanwhile, collect the heaps - it makes lovely potting compost :)
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Having moles is a good sign that your soil is full of worms and other underground creepy crawlies, that moles like to eat. I have some that move through my veg garden and actually don't cauise any problems. We leave them in our fields too, though as ours are surrounded by arable fields that get ploughed once a year we do not have many.
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Our vets call our place 'the mole sanctuary' as all around us moles are poisoned but we let them be mostly so they congregate under our fields. Once our pastures reach a certain point of hilliness we get a friend who is a mole catcher to come and catch a few. We never use poison, they are trapped in 'instant death' traps and there are always some left behind - we are not into annihilating wildlife.
If you are desperately worried about having a billiard table lawn try those windmills, or a terrier, but the terrier will cause far more damage than the mole. Yes, their runways do eventually collapse and leave a channel under the grass, and yes their holes do occasionally cause a stumble to people and sheep, but in the main moles are harmless, just ambling around underground, bothering no-one.
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in the main moles are harmless, just ambling around underground, bothering no-one.
And they do good too, in soils which clog up. They aerate the soil with their channels, and can bring soils which have become over-compressed and lifeless back to life.
It tends not to be something that happens with peaty ground, but now I am back on southern clay, I am grateful to the moles for opening up our soils again after the wet winter, when any livestock tramping (or farm vehicles, come to that) can cause the soil to become compressed and airless. And if we don't get any uneaten hay cleared up promptly in spring, that too can choke the soil, and we are again grateful to see the moles coming in to open it up again.
We have to do a walk around the hay meadow before mowing, is all, and either remove mole hills or mark them so they don't get mown and incorporated in the hay. Not a huge problem if it's going to be hay, but if it is destined to be wrapped (or might have to be, Cornish weather being as it is), then it's crucial to not include soil in the cut.
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Our mole dug a tunnel alongside the garage. First thunderstorm and the garage flooded because all the rainwater went into the tunnel. So the mole drowned but has left us with a big problem which will need a lot of effort and time to resolve. Put snap traps into the tunnels, but make sure they are 'tuned' so they work properly. There is an earlier post that gave a link to a site that explained how to do that.