If you suddenly notice raised areas of earth in your lawn, you probably have moles. These critters burrow molehills beneath the soil in search of a food source while destroying your garden, grass, and flower beds. We show you how to kill moles in your lawn, along with alternative methods and ways to prevent a mole problem.
Homeowners agree that the last thing they want to encounter while landscaping is a family of voles, gophers, or moles. All three are known for their tunneling and burrowing habits, and a mole infestation damages lawns and makes the yard look unsightly.
Moles are small mammals with a subterranean lifestyle, and they spend their days searching for food in their underground tunnels. Unfortunately for them and you, this activity makes a mess of the yard. Luckily, there are easy ways to kill moles and get moles out of your yard without calling pest control services.
Ways to Eliminate and Prevent Yard Moles
Lawns can suffer from a variety of problems – just when you think you have the perfect yard. While the best time to spray neem oil for lawn fungus is important, taking care of moles and bugs immediately keeps the issues under control too.
While moles are cute in their own way, that doesn’t mean we want them digging up our lawn and gardens. Here are a few ways to kill moles in yard areas and get them out with gentler measures.
How to Identify a Mole Problem in Your Yard
Moles are sneaky yard pests since they spend a majority of their time underground. However, there are a few ways to tell if you have yard moles. Here are some things to look for and common mole habits and traits.
Mole Identification
Moles are solitary animals that only come to the surface when searching for a mate, so they are often tricky to detect. However, it’s possible to spot them in the early spring or after a rainfall.
They are insectivores, and their food supply consists of grubs, earthworms, and insects. They have broad front feet with webbed toes for digging and slender, narrow claws on their back feet.
Moles have long, pointed muzzles, hairless snouts, tiny eyes, and no external ears. These critters are only four to six inches in length but are hard workers when digging beneath the ground.
If you notice raised ridges and random mounds of dirt on your grass, this is a good indication you have moles. After you identify that you have a mole problem, it’s important to deter or kill moles in lawn and yard.
Homemade Mole Killer for Lawns
If you don’t have a commercial product for mole control, consider using home remedies. This homemade mole killer for lawns uses castor oil as its main ingredient, which upsets the digestive tract of moles and makes your property an unappealing place to live.
To make this castor oil based DIY mole repellent, begin by mixing three parts castor oil and one part liquid dish soap in a container. Blend the two ingredients and add four tablespoons of the solution to a gallon of water.
Pour the repellent into all the mole entrances and tunnels and let it soak in to drive the moles away from their home.
How to Kill Moles in Your Lawn with a Trap
Traps are a handy tool for mole control in lawns, and there are two types, the trap-and-release model and the kind that traps and kills them. Here is how to set up a trap in your lawn to control moles.
To use a spring-loaded mole trap as the way to get rid of a mole in your yard, flatten a spot in the tunnel that is slightly larger than the trap base. Place the mole trap over the area, set up the mole bait, and follow the manufacturer’s directions to arm the trap.
Cover it with a five-gallon bucket, and make sure to keep pets and children away until the trap catches the mole.
To use a live trap, dig a hole in an active tunnel that is big enough to fit a three or five-gallon bucket below the tunnel.
Put the bucket in place and pack dirt around the bucket edge. Cover the tunnel with a piece of plywood, wait for the mole to fall into the bucket, and then transport it to another location.
Alternative Methods to Kill Moles in Lawn and Yard
If you’d rather not kill moles in lawn and yard by using a poison such as bromethalin, and prefer a more humane way of controlling them, here are several simple ways to gently deter these pests from your yard.
Moles detest alliums, marigolds, and daffodils, so consider planting these around your yard and garden to keep the pests at bay. Not only is this plant barrier safe for pets and children, but they add beauty to your lawn.
The simplest way to alleviate a mole problem is by growing plants that repel moles and gophers in the first place. Experiment with daffodils, marigolds, garlic, and onions to keep yard pests away.
Spreading mothballs, cayenne pepper, or castor bean granules over the areas where you spot mole activity can also work for getting rid of lawn moles.
Rather than killing moles with poison, another method for repelling moles is ultrasound. There are a variety of ultrasonic pest control devices on the market. These units send low-frequency, ultrasonic waves into the ground to irritate and repel moles and other garden pests.
How to Prevent Moles in Your Lawn
Preventing moles in the first place means you don’t have to resort to using a homemade mole killer for lawns to eliminate them. Here is how to create an environment that deters moles.
The best way to prevent moles in the yard is to eliminate their food source using insecticides to kill grubs and other insects. Consider protecting your garden beds by creating a vertical barrier.
Dig a two to three-foot deep trench around the garden and fill it with wire mesh or rocks. Doing this prevents the moles from entering the space and destroying your plants.
It’s not easy to spot moles since they spend their time beneath the ground, but these destructive little animals quickly become a nuisance as they create more and more mole tunnels throughout your lawn.
Fortunately, moles are relatively easy to eliminate and control if you use the correct methods.
We hope that knowing how to kill moles in your lawn and stop infestations keeps your lawn and garden looking tidy, and we’d love it if you’d share our mole elimination and prevention guide with your social circle on Facebook and Pinterest.