Moles can be a nuisance to the gardener because they dig up the soil. Here are tips for how to get rid of a mole.
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Prevent Mole Damage in Your Lawn and Garden
How to Identify Moles in Your Garden
While moles are not after your plants, they end up making underground tunnels that can ruin your garden and lawn and make easy access to your plants for other rodents.
Unlike voles, moles dig deep. Their tunnels are usually at least 10 inches underground, unless they’re scanning the surface in search of a mat.
These expert diggers create characteristic volcano-shaped hills in the lawn. The tunnels are dug at a rate of 18 feet per hour and can add 150 feet of new tunnels in the lawn each day.
Moles are usually found where soil is rich in organic matter. Their presence in unusually large numbers might be due to a high population of soil pests. It, therefore, serves as a warning that all is not well with the soil life.
How to Deter Moles
- If you have a persistent mole problem, the best solution is trapping. Frankly, this is often the only way to get rid of moles. Use a humane trap, and release the moles at least 5 miles from your home in a rural area away from someone else’s garden. See more details below.
- Placing an ultrasonic device or noisemaker, such as a spinning daisy, near the runs is often effective.
- Owning a cat that enjoys walking through your flower beds is a very effective deterrent to rodents.
- Moles are carnivores that make themselves at home in lawns rich in grubs and insects. When their food is seasoned with castor oil, they will go elsewhere for meals. (Wouldn’t you?) Mix up a spray of 3 parts castor oil to 1 part dish detergent; use 4 tablespoons of this concoction in a gallon of water and soak the tunnels and the entrances.
- Dip an ear of corn in roofing tar and place it in one of their tunnels. Moles hate the smell of tar, and you’ll block their escape.
- Some readers say it works to sprinkle dried blood, tobacco, powdered red pepper, or coffee grounds near tunnel entrances. Remember to re-apply after a rain.
- However, many folk remedies do not control moles, such as placing gum, human air, bleach, ammonia, or mothballs near the tunnels. Remember that moles will not eat peanuts or grain; they are insectivores.
- You may have luck using wind power—setting up vibrations in the ground that will bother moles and send them away. Low-tech methods include kids’ pinwheels placed here and there on the lawn or a homemade thumper: Cut fins in the sides of a bleach bottle and place it on a stick driven into the ground near a mole entrance.
- Finally, there are mole repellents as well as baits though we do not personally use. Bromethalin is sold in the form of a worm-shaped bait; place baits in an active mole run. Correct placement is critical; read and follow all directions provided with the product.
Trapping Moles
No permit is required for trapping. Place traps so that they will be triggered as moles travel in the runs.
Before placing a trap, make sure the run is active by pressing down with your foot; if the soil is pushed up the next day, the run is still active.
Straight runs, especially those near the edges of a driveway or sidewalk, are preferred. If the trap does not catch a run in two days, move the trap to a different run.
Prevent Moles in Your Yard and Garden
- Check out your soil for the presence of pests; if you have a lot of moles, you may have an oversupply of grubs and bugs. You can try getting rid of the grubs with beneficial nematodes, however, it doesn’t necessary mean the moles will go away; grubs are only part of their diet.
- If you want to protect specific plants, dig a 2- to 3-foot hole and line the sides and bottom of the hole with wire mesh. Fill the hole with soil and plant.
- Where you are determined to try bulbs, make a small “cage” of 1/2-inch mesh screen. Place several bulbs inside, root plate down, and bury the entire cage at the proper depth. Rodents won’t be able to chew through, but roots and stems can grow out. Note: moles are often blamed for the damage caused by field mice.
Learn more about moles and what they do in your yard. Do you have comments or questions about moles? Let us know below!
Catherine Boeckmann
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I just found a nest of baby moles in my yard. I’m not wanting to kill them…advice?
Hi RLambo,
In cases involving baby animals, there are many factors that could influence the best course of action. Our best advice is to contact an expert, who will be better able to judge how old the animals are and how best to help them. The following list, which is organized by state, may be a good starting place.
https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/how-find-wildlife-rehabilitator
From reading about voles and moles, I think I have a mole? Will Neiman oil work as a deterrent?
I had moles terrible. Tried everything mentioned to me plus products for sale.
They started this year and by Gid. I opened their fresh hole put fresh cat poop in both sides of his hole. It looked like an explosion. He was mad. Did it again and haven’t seen one since.
I put a Ramadan dried noodles stuffed into the hole and cover hole with the soil. The moles eats the noodles which expand in the stomach and bursts, killing the mole. Toxic free .
Don’t waste money on mole traps, bait or other methods. Find an active run and place a lit road flare in the hole and cover the hole. The smoke will travel thru the run suffocate them. Guaranteed results. Cheap and easy!
I'll try that next time I have a mole. I usually get one every spring when the juveniles go out on their own. Then I take it to the middle of the yard and bury it in one of their own tunnels and that keeps them away until the next year.
We can't trap in Washington State. Pistol grip pump is quick and painless, just rung one up today.
don't take your moles ( chipmunks raccoons etc..) to rural areas. WE DON'T WANT YOUR PROBLEMS.
Another solution to attempt is to go to Walmart/Academy Sports/Amazon online, and purchase (Red Fox Urine or Grey Wolf Urine), for approximately less than $20USD a bottle.
You take the urine bottle (Stand UP WIND!+ Wear GLOVES!), and either spray the Urine on ‘Scent Keys’ (Shaped like a “P” or a “T”) (OR) Spray the Urine on a material like a Cat Ball (cotton or fabric material that will hold the scent) (OR) Cotton Material Scraps/Rags, and
THEN take those sprayed items with the Urine Scent on them and Place one at each corner of Your Yard (at each corner of Your garden+Midway/the middle of each side of your garden - creating a box barrier), and midway/middle of each side of Your Yard - basically, You are creating an invisibility Box Scent Barrier. You can ALSO place some of the Scent Keys, Scent Balls, Scent Scraps down INSIDE the tunnel(s). The ‘smell’ of the Predator is what will drive the prey away.
The Theory behind this treatment is based on the Predator vs Prey Drive. That something bigger (Predator) that might EAT ME!, has moved into the area, so I (Smaller/Prey) should MOVE OUT! It usually works almost immediately, so it is best to apply this just before Dusk at night, so the prey naturally wakes up/becomes active and immediately looks to move out+Leave!
This works especially well, if You use the urine of an animal’s natural Predator. Moles, Voles, Field Mice, Etc are ALL PREY of Red Foxes!..Also, in the comments above, where someone states they used ‘Human Urine’, it likely had a similar effect, although not sure a Mole,Vole, Chipmunk, Mouse will recognize a Human as a natural predator+cause them to relocate.
Note: Must use when NOT raining, and reapply after rain (obviously the smell washes away)..
No Guarantee this will work for You, But, at like approx.$8usd a bottle for the Red Fox Urine it’s not much of an investment to lose if it doesn’t.
Plus, I have used this successfully to treat for house mice, (spread sprayed items under the house+sprayed each corner and midway of the house’s foundation/skirting), mice moved out in 24-48hrs. Continue to apply 1xweek, then 1x every 2wks, then 1x Mthly, unless they return, if they return, then step up treatment again to weekly.
I also had a small porch and something had crawled inside it, so just before dusk, I sprayed the heck out of that porch with the Urine. I went inside and waited to see what would happen. 10-15min (max) later, and whatever it was tore its way out from under the porch and took off & never returned..(I missed seeing it, because I got bored waiting, but I’m fairly sure it was a raccoon or a opossum).
Btw, do NOT use moth balls, read the label, they are horrid for the environment & can cause breathing issues for humans & bad for pets.
Yes!, this is No Kill, Yes, it moves the pests out of your property to the woods or someone else’s area, but that’s the nature of Humans living in Suburbia.
We are living in their environment.
Your neighbor may not garden, may not care, or may not even notice there are moles in their yard (or) the moles may move to the woods behind your houses or the open field where no one lives. You do not necessarily need to kill the Moles, Voles, Chipmunks, Mice, as they all serve their own purpose in nature, from pest control, etc..
Good Luck!!!
