Moles sometimes cause serious problems for homeowners due to the damage their tunneling inflicts on your lawn and flower beds. In this article, you’ll learn how to kill moles and make your property unappealing for them in the future.
Raised ridges from mole tunnels and molehills are unsightly. The creature’s burrowing habits also severely damage plant roots, causing your lawn or flower beds to struggle and sometimes even die.
Their holes are also difficult to see in your lawn and can result in a sprained ankle if you unknowingly step in one.
Moles are insectivores, meaning that their primary food supply consists of earthworms, insects, larvae, and grubs – not plants. However, smaller rodents that eat plants, like gophers and voles, frequently use moles’ underground tunnels for easy entry into your garden.
Although you might need to resort to killing a persistent mole around your property that’s causing chronic damage to your lawn and landscape, it’s also important to take long-term preventative measures for repelling moles in the future.
Take a few straightforward steps to make your property less attractive for moles, and you won’t have to repeat your struggle against the invading critters.
Natural Ways to Kill Moles
Even though moles are a frustrating nuisance, they’re still an essential part of the natural environment. Their tunneling provides natural soil aeration and mixes topsoil with deeper and more nutrient-rich soil below the surface.
However, mole activity causes problems for homeowners when they move in beneath your lawn or garden. Once moles take up residence on your property, it’s sometimes difficult to convince them to leave.
If it becomes necessary to kill moles and get rid of a mole infestation in house and yard, use extreme caution when applying toxic chemical poisons around your home, particularly if you have pets or children.
Try combining these natural ways to kill moles and repel them so that it’s not an ongoing problem.
The best way to kill moles depends on your specific situation. But don’t worry, there are plenty of pest control options available, and you’re sure to find a mole control solution that suits your needs.
How to Kill Moles with Poison Bait
Since moles are insectivores, it’s critical to choose a form of bait that attracts them. Rodent baits are typically plant-based, and ineffective against moles.
If you try the poison bait method of eliminating a mole infestation, make sure to purchase a product specifically designed for moles. Bromethalin is a prevalent active ingredient in many mole poison products, often in worm-like bait pellets.
Always follow the instructions on the safety label and take all of the necessary safety precautions when handling poisons. Use protective equipment like gloves and a respirator mask, and ensure that the poison bait is out of the reach of children and pets.
For a more natural solution, try making homemade mole poison and repellent to eradicate your mole problem. When it comes to what kills moles, try this home remedy for killing moles using castor oil pellets baited with earthworms.
Break the castor oil pellets into small pieces and mix them with the soil. Add the earthworms and place the mixture in an active mole tunnel. The moles ingest the castor oil pellets while feeding on the earthworms.
Best Way to Kill Moles with a DIY Trap
There are numerous options for mole traps. Spring-loaded or choker-loop mole traps are available at pest control stores. These are some of the best home remedies to get rid of moles in your yard.
It’s also possible to humanely live-trap the moles and relocate them away from your property. Try making your own DIY mole trap following these simple steps.
Find the area with the most mole activity. In the middle of an active mole tunnel, dig a hole slightly wider and deeper than the bucket. Drill four small holes into the bottom of the bucket.
Fill the bucket with three to four inches of soil. Place it in the hole and backfill around the sides with loose soil. Slope the sides of the tunnel floor toward the top of the bucket to cover the rim.
In your small plastic container, drop eight to ten earthworms in the bottom along with enough soil for the worms to live but not filled to the point that they can escape.
Place the container with the worms into the soil at the bottom of the 3-gallon bucket as bait for the moles. Make sure the rim of the container is level with the soil in the bucket.
While you’re installing the DIY trap, stand on boards placed on either side of the mole tunnel to avoid compressing the surrounding soil with your footprints.
Once you set the mole trap, cover the top of the tunnel with mulch or turf so that sunlight doesn’t penetrate. Check your trap every three or four days.
Don’t check it too often to avoid giving frequent signs of human presence. Wear gloves while you’re constructing, setting, and checking your mole trap to mask any human scent.
Attract Predators that Prey on Moles
One of the most natural ways to kill moles is to let Mother Nature do all the work for you. Owls are one of moles’ primary predators in most environments.
Try installing an owl nesting box near your garden in the early spring when birds of prey like owls begin to look for nesting sites. This way, the owls naturally control the mole and rodent population in the area.
Prevent Moles from Returning with Fencing
Mole tunnels are usually close to the soil surface level. They use their large front feet and claws for tunneling through the ground while propelling themselves forward with their smaller back feet.
If you have a persistent problem with moles on your property, consider installing a solid barrier around your lawn, flower beds, and vegetable garden to prevent moles from tunneling inside.
Bury a length of aluminum sheathing, hardware cloth, or quarter-inch stainless steel wire mesh at least two feet deep and set up a fence that’s at least two feet high.
How to Get Rid of Moles with Companion Planting
The concept of companion planting uses plants’ natural properties to support the garden’s health and minimize dependence on insecticides and pesticides.
One of the main functions of companion plants is to act as a natural repellent for pests, whether they’re insects or animals. Numerous plants effectively repel moles and other pests.
Employ your flower bed as your first line of defense against problematic critters. Here are a few mole plants that repel the animals and many other pests effectively.
The best solution for your mole problem is to keep them away for good by creating an environment they don’t like.
Planting these mole repellent flowers throughout your garden, especially around the borders, will drive moles away naturally without using harmful chemicals.
Safe Homemade Mole Repellent
Moles are almost completely blind, so they depend on their strong sense of smell. Substances with strong odors like castor oil and peppermint effectively deter them.
These are the main active ingredients in many commercial rodent repellents, widely available in the granular form at garden centers and pest control stores.
Follow the recommendations listed on the product’s label and spread the granules anywhere you notice mole activity. Alternatively, you can make your own homemade mole repellent. This repellent works against gophers and voles, as well.
To make this simple DIY mole repellent, combine all of the ingredients in your clean bottle or jar, firmly close the lid, and shake it vigorously to blend. Soak several cotton balls in the solution for at least 15 minutes. Place the saturated cotton balls into the entrance holes of the mole tunnels.
Ineffective Home Remedies for Killing Moles
One of the most commonplace home remedies for killing moles is mothballs. However, they’re not very effective, and the chemicals in mothballs are highly toxic to humans, pets, and the environment.
Another common misconception is that eliminating the moles’ food supply makes them leave the area.
However, since moles’ principal food source is earthworms, and most lawns and gardens have a wide variety of insect life, it’s nearly impossible to eradicate them all.
Also, the intense use of insecticides is very harmful to the environment. Keep up healthy lawn care practices and use insecticides to combat harmful pests like aphids and mites. Still, numerous insects are highly beneficial to the garden.
Mole damage is sometimes a serious problem for homeowners. Mole tunnels result in unsightly molehills and raised ridges across your lawn and flower beds, damage your landscape plants and sometimes result in other pest infestations.
In some cases, repellents aren’t enough to deter stubborn moles who’ve decided to take up residence on your property, and it’s necessary to find natural ways to kill moles.
The best way to kill moles in the yard is by using natural castor oil pellets or making a DIY mole trap.
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