How to Get Rid of Moles in Your Lawn

If your once flat and beautiful lawn now has strange mounds of dirt, there’s a good chance you have moles. While identifying mole activity around your home means that you have some work ahead of you, there are ways to deal with the problem without calling in pest control. Discover how to get rid of moles in your lawn using a range of methods.

Moles spend their time underground, tunneling through soft dirt in search of their next food source. They do not often pop their head above ground, but they may take a peek now and then in the early morning or evening after a rainfall.

Contrary to belief, they are not harmful to your plants since they are carnivorous and only eat insects. However, their presence and activity in the soil give other rodents, such as voles and gophers, easy access to your plants and their roots. Therefore, homeowners consider them garden pests, and it’s important to eradicate them to keep your garden and yard healthy.

Ways to Get Rid of Moles in Your Yard and Garden

There are a variety of animals that may travel through or make a nest in your yard. Keep snakes away and eliminate moles with a few simple home remedies.

While moles are furry and mysterious creatures that pose no harm to you or your plants, getting rid of them in your yard is necessary to prevent herbivores from destroying your gardens. Fortunately, there are several solutions and home remedies to solve the problem.

Why are There Moles in Your Yard?

You discover moles burrowing through areas of your yard and want to know how to get rid of them. First, to perform mole control in lawns, it’s good to understand what they are and why they are there.

What are Moles?

Moles are odd yet strangely cute critters that dwell beneath the ground, using their front feet to dig underground tunnels while pushing the dirt up to make mole hills.

They have small, squinty eyes and ears, broad forefeet with webbed toes, and smaller back feet with slender claws.

Their diet consists of earthworms, grubs, and insects, and often a yard with a bug problem draws the attention of these furry ground dwellers.

Once they realize that your yard has a bug buffet to offer them, these insectivores make themselves at home beneath your yard.

How to Kill Moles in Lawn and Yard with Traps

If you prefer a more humane way of getting moles out of your yard or to get rid of chipmunks in your yard, try using traps as a form of control rather than a homemade mole killer for lawns. Using a trap makes it convenient for you to move them safely to another location.

Mole Traps

There are various mole traps on the market, so read the instructions for your particular type for proper directions for catching moles. First, locate the most traveled tunnels and dig around the hole to make it large enough to accommodate the trap’s size.

Insert the trap accordingly and check it frequently for activity. After the mole is trapped, remove it carefully and drive the mole, still in the trap, roughly five miles from your home before releasing it.

Of course, there are also traps that kill moles in your lawn rather than holding them until you can move them.

Homemade Mole Killer for Lawns

This homemade mole killer for lawns is a safe alternative to store-bought chemicals. Moles hate castor oil and applying it to the soil, repels them from your yard and keeps them from returning.

To make this simple homemade mole repellent, combine the tablespoon of water, castor bean oil, dish soap, and cayenne pepper in a container and mix it well. Seal it with a cover and store it until you’re ready to use it.

To get rid of moles, pour a gallon of water into a watering can and add two tablespoons of the repellent. Pour the liquid on areas of mole activity, such as mounds and raised ridges.

Add this mixture to a spray bottle and spritz the perimeter of the storage buildings on your property. It will effectively keep field mice out of sheds for a while.

Discover How to Get Rid of Moles in Your Lawn with Natural Predators

One of the easiest ways to take care of a mole problem is to let mother nature do its job. If you prefer not using sprays or traps or making a homemade solution, natural predators are a good option to kill moles in lawn and yard without much effort from you.

Even though these critters live underground, they still have a range of predators that help keep them in check, including snakes, foxes, and hawks. The easiest one to draw to your area is the owl. Killing moles by using owls is quite effective.

Owls are great predators of many rodents, including moles, and it’s easy to invite them to your property. Fill a large nesting box with straw and place it in a tree near the area of mole activity. Many predators are also useful for getting rid of grubs in lawn naturally.

Eliminating Moles in Your Lawn with Vegetative Barriers

Another way of getting rid of moles in your yard naturally is to use vegetative barriers. There is a range of mole repellent plants that moles detest, and growing them in strategic locations deters them from your garden.

Using natural mole deterrents is one of the easiest ways to keep these pests out of your garden area.

Make a natural wall of colorful flowers and foliage by planting marigolds, fritillarias, and daffodils around garden beds and grow alliums such as scallions, leeks, chives, onions, and garlic around your vegetable garden.

How to Get Rid of Moles with Bait

Another way to kill moles in lawn and yard is to use bait. The bait resembles their favorite food source, and one day after ingesting it, they die in their mole tunnels.

Mole Baiting

There are various mole baits on the market that resemble earthworms, grubs, and other food favorites of moles. The bait contains a lethal dose of an active ingredient, which kills the mole after ingesting it.

Locate active tunnels in your yard and use a stick to poke holes into the mole tunnels. Place the bait into the hole and cover it with soil. Wait about one week and check for signs of new tunnels. If there is still activity, repeat the steps once more.

How to Recognize and Prevent Yard Moles

The most crucial step in mole control is to prevent them from wanting to come into your yard in the first place. Recognizing mole activity in your yard is key to preventing an infestation of all types of destructive rodents.

The easiest way to tell you that you have a mole problem is by inspecting your yard or garden’s surface. Raised areas in the dirt that travel in paths and mounds are great indications of moles.

One of the great ways to stop moles from tunneling is to create an underground barrier by digging a two-foot trench around the area and filling it with rocks, wire, or concrete. If this is too much work, try using an ultrasonic device to emit a sonic pulse underground and drive them away.

Other useful methods are to use insecticides and beneficial nematodes to eliminate their food source. A yard without a buffet of worms, grubs, and larvae is not an ideal home for moles.

Some people swear by using mothballs to deter moles from the yard. However, they are more useful at keeping away moths. If you’re looking for something cheap and simple, try using coffee grounds or granules by scattering them over the mole holes.

While moles have a certain cute quality about them, and they aren’t out to get your plants, it’s essential to keep them out of your yard to prevent it from being taken over by plant-eating and garden-destroying rodents.

Luckily, there are easy ways to take care of the issue by using a few simple steps.

Understanding how to get rid of moles in your lawn keeps your yard looking beautiful and your plants healthy, so why not share our mole repellent methods to stop an infestation with your friends and family on Pinterest and Facebook?