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Author Topic: making mountains out of molehills  (Read 16820 times)

Buffy the eggs layer

  • Joined Jun 2010
making mountains out of molehills
« on: July 26, 2010, 09:37:58 pm »
Hi All,

     can anyone recomend the most effective treatment for a mole epidemic in my garden? I would prefer to deterthem with a solar powered sonic device if possible but I dont know if they are any good and suspect I may need to try more drastic measures.


Any thoughts?


knightquest

  • Joined May 2010
  • Birmingham
    • Knight Pet Supplies
Re: making mountains out of molehills
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2010, 10:44:40 pm »
Jasper Carrot had some ideas but you may be too young to remember................."there's only one way to get rid of a mole..............................blow its bloody head off!"

Sorry, not much use but the memory made me snigger.
I'm going now  :)

Ian
Ian (me), Diane (my wife) and 4 dogs. Ollie (Lab mix) , Quest (Malamute), Gazer and Boris (Leonbergers)

old ploughman

  • Joined Jun 2010
Re: making mountains out of molehills
« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2010, 12:56:53 am »
I was going to put exactly that but thought I was probably the only one who would know what I was on about !  ;D

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: making mountains out of molehills
« Reply #3 on: July 27, 2010, 01:00:40 am »
We had a huge problem with moles in our pastures for a while.  Our vet called our place The Mole Sanctuary. Because we don't use chemicals, in particular Ivermectin wormers, we have plenty of earthworms (their diet) so the moles came to us from all the barren fields around.   Eventually our local mole catcher volunteered his services and they were mostly gone. Widespread earthworks over 9 acres were caused by just a couple of dozen moles.
Every now and then we get some back and one of our terriers has found a new reason to live - catching moles !
She will sit for hours waiting beside an active hill, until the mole thinks the coast is clear, then when it pops its head up she pounces like a mini Polar Bear.  You need to use the same technique to shoot them and most people don't have the time to sit and wait that long.

If you have only a small area to defend against moles you might be ok with a sonic device - they will stay away from vibrations.  You will get rid of them more surely with traps, but probably best to get someone who knows the tricks to do it.  They can be poisoned but I would never use such toxic substances in my garden.  It's something like arsenic they use, or one of the very lethal poisons
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

humphreymctush

  • Joined Jul 2010
  • orkney
Re: making mountains out of molehills
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2010, 05:22:52 am »
I have seen people stick childrens windmills into the ground. The vibrations deter them. Here in Orkney we have no moles so I cant tell you first hand that it works.

lazybee

  • Joined Mar 2010
Re: making mountains out of molehills
« Reply #5 on: July 27, 2010, 06:40:23 am »
Without doubt, the best way to get rid of moles is with the standard mole trap. The sonic "novelty" deterrents don't work, as one of my friends found out after spending a small fortune on them. We lost one of our dogs and almost lost another due to someone in our area using mole poison. We never found out who it was. Moles in the field are easy to dig out, as they often go in a line. I have dug out lots like this, but it's harder to do it like that in the garden as the runs are more complicated and you can't tell which direction the runs are going. Mole trap every time.

LB

hexhammeasure

  • Joined Jun 2008
    • golocal food
    • Facebook
Re: making mountains out of molehills
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2010, 08:13:03 am »
the poison that used to be used was strychnine, and used properly was very effective however dead moles were a problem for any scavenger that found it... and the dead scavenger was a problem for the next .... so it was banned. Phosphate gas isn't very effective and has now been licenced so joe public can no longer get it. I prefer the barrel mole traps over the scissor traps but the scissor traps are easier to check....you can get humane traps that don't kill but then you have to decide what to do with the enemy.... no point in just letting him go
Ian

Buffy the eggs layer

  • Joined Jun 2010
Re: making mountains out of molehills
« Reply #7 on: July 27, 2010, 09:52:42 pm »
Thank you all,

    helpful and informative as ever!

        So let me get this straight...., I think what you are saying is,
dont wast your money on sonic devices - if you want a low cost vibrating device in your garden -buy a childrens windmill

if you are serious about getting rid of them - buy a trap, a terrier or hire a proffessional

if all the above fail to work - buy a jasper carrot DVD

Thanks folks,

will let you know how I get on

ciao

piggy

  • Joined Oct 2008
Re: making mountains out of molehills
« Reply #8 on: July 27, 2010, 10:12:31 pm »
We used to have a big problem with moles on our lawn,since having the geese on there no more moles. :)

old ploughman

  • Joined Jun 2010
Re: making mountains out of molehills
« Reply #9 on: July 27, 2010, 10:51:55 pm »
I am interested in Fleecewife's comments regarding the number of moles because you dont use chemicals. We reguarly use herbicides to control weeds, especially docks, in our grassland and pesticides to control pests , predominantly in newly reseeded pastures - and we have plenty of moles  >:(.

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: making mountains out of molehills
« Reply #10 on: July 27, 2010, 11:13:01 pm »
Along with all the other chemicals we don't use, we don't use Ivermectin wormers for our sheep.  Ivermectin persists in the dung and kills earthworms (and compost worms if you stack the manure) so farms where dung from animals wormed with the Ivermectins is spread on the pastures have few earthworms. Our smallholding is surrounded by larger farms where they use Ivermectin wormers.  When we had our mole plague it was strikingly obvious just by looking to see that the moles all lived in our fields and not the neighbours.  One neighbour tried to say that moles were spreading out from our place but had to admit that the traffic was in the other direction  ;D  As moles make their tunnels and patrol them in order to capture earthworms to eat, their presence on our holding but not the surrounding land demonstrates that we have plenty of earthworms (a sign of a healthy soil) whereas they don't. This is confirmed by digging.
Many years ago when we first moved here, we bought a couple of loads of muck from a neighbour's byres, to use in the vegetable graden until our stock had produced its own.  At first I didn't understand why it simply didn't rot down as it should, but was still remarkably unchanged after a couple of years.  Eventually I found out that they use Ivermectins and its effect on the resident earthworm and compost worm populations.
So it's not the pesticides and herbicides which affect the moles, but which wormer is used in the animals providing the fertility.
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

old ploughman

  • Joined Jun 2010
Re: making mountains out of molehills
« Reply #11 on: July 28, 2010, 07:06:25 am »
Thats interesting, and as we dont run any stock what you have observed could well have some basis.

regards

Greenerlife

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Leafy Surrey
Re: making mountains out of molehills
« Reply #12 on: July 28, 2010, 09:54:01 am »
Every year when the fields next door get ploughed all the moles take refuge in my garden - it is really really annoying!  I used to tolerate it, but now I use traps.  Tried the tunnel type ones which are a bit difficult to use, but by far the best ones I have found are the Talpex type traps.  Good luck!

clydesdaleclopper

  • Joined Aug 2009
  • Aberdeenshire
Re: making mountains out of molehills
« Reply #13 on: July 29, 2010, 02:49:05 pm »
We have a coouple of Egyptian Mau cats that are fantastic at catching moles - 6 in the last 2 months. I'm not sure how they manage it but they very kindly bring them in for us and leave them under OH's desk  ;D
Our holding has Anglo Nubian and British Toggenburg goats, Gotland sheep, Franconian Geese, Blue Swedish ducks, a whole load of mongrel hens and two semi-feral children.

Buffy the eggs layer

  • Joined Jun 2010
Re: making mountains out of molehills
« Reply #14 on: July 29, 2010, 08:36:49 pm »
Humn.., Mau cats eh?

                 tell me more. Would they eat my bantams and their chicks?


 

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