Moles - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

jrpaul · 02-22-2009, 10:07 PM

I live in Central Texas and I am having a problem with moles. They are messing up my lawn. I am use to doing landscape lighting but when it comes to this I have no idea what to do. Are there any ideas.

ChainsawCharlie · 02-22-2009, 10:22 PM

http://www.pestcontrol-products.com/mole_control.htm

http://www.pestproducts.com/talpirid.htm

neolitic · 02-22-2009, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrpaul

I live in Central Texas and I am having a problem with moles. They are messing up my lawn. I am use to doing landscape lighting but when it comes to this I have no idea what to do. Are there any ideas.

Just try to negotiate honorable
terms for your surrender.

mrmike · 02-23-2009, 07:57 AM

I have had this problem in my yard for years and have tried everything-moletraps-those beeping spikes, grub control & nothing works. They have laughed at me and dug around those Spikes & traps. I've also put all those poisons in their holes & didn't see any difference. Last year I tried the old remedy of Castor oil & this seems to control them more than anything I've tried-but still did'nt completely get rid of them. This year I will spray more-I bought the sprayer & castor oil together on line-can't remember the company,but I will try to find it and let you know...........Good luck !

jrpaul · 02-25-2009, 11:57 PM

Thank you all I will look into the suggestions before I give in.

thom · 02-26-2009, 12:43 PM

I fought them for several years. It seems what worked was a multi-year fight against grubs. If you kill of their food supply, they might leave.

irockwithdirt · 03-01-2009, 01:04 PM

IF U can dig up one of their tunnels, light a road flare and stick it in the tunnel. The sulphur smell will fill their tunnels and the surrounding soil. Will dive them NUTS and they'll get as far away from it as they can. Prolly to your neighbors yard, but oh well LOL

**ChrWright** · 03-01-2009, 01:10 PM

We remodeled a bath years ago out in the country next door to an old farm.

We came outside one afternoon to the sound of shotgun blasts--to find the old boy riding around his lot on a tractor plugging away at the sod with his 12 guage.

Don't know if he hit anything, but I'm sure it felt good.

JPF · 03-01-2009, 04:44 PM

First you need the hat.......then i think it's a bg fire hose, and some C-4

Southern Build · 03-01-2009, 09:47 PM

A good dog will work wonders. The yard will get dug up some in the pursuit though. But they can get the mole(s).

thesamba · 03-06-2009, 01:09 AM

Believe it or not, you can control moles with Juicy Fruit Gum. Chew a half stick for about 10-20 seconds. Placed the chewed gum at the ends of teh "tunnel(s)." Moles will eat the gum due to the taste, but cannot digest it, and die.

If you do a Google search you will see that I"m not crazy!

mrmike · 03-06-2009, 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesamba

Believe it or not, you can control moles with Juicy Fruit Gum. Chew a half stick for about 10-20 seconds. Placed the chewed gum at the ends of teh "tunnel(s)." Moles will eat the gum due to the taste, but cannot digest it, and die.

If you do a Google search you will see that I"m not crazy!

Thank you very much for this info-I am definatly going to try it. I read the whole article "Moles Be Gone" & will go by his method. I have googled Mole control before & never heard about this one using the juicy fruit gum. I guess that is the only flavor to use. THe article said to put the gum in a container with some worms for a while for extra scent. Sounds good & I will start this spring before the "babies" come.......... Thanks again

thesamba · 03-06-2009, 09:17 AM

mrmike-

Let me know how it works... I heard about the method a long time ago, I had a customer with BAD mole problems, I told her to give it a try, and she said it worked great. I'm sure there are better methods, but for the cost of the gum, it seems to be worth a shot.

wizendwizard · 03-06-2009, 09:24 AM

2 boxes of moth balls spread over the lawn!

When it rains the moth balls will dissolve and seep into the ground.

Moles operate by using smell.

Permiate your yard with moth balls and they will retreat into your neighbors yard.

This also works for snakes!

CoxContracting · 03-26-2009, 01:33 PM

Like thom posted, if you get rid of the grubs then the moles will leave. I have owned a landscape Nursery for 14 yrs now. we have to deal with moles and voles. first you have to make sure it is a mole you have, because if it is a vole then they do not eat grubs in the first place. the best thing to get rid of a vole is a cat. Now back to moles, put a lot of grub killer down, we use twice what it calls for on a yard. it has always worked for us. One way to see if it is a vole instead of a mole look and see if it is digging near the roots of plants. Voles will dig in a yard and in the flower bed next to shrubs. Hope this helps a bit.

Tinstaafl · 03-26-2009, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoxContracting

the best thing to get rid of a vole is a cat.

Are you sure about that? I honestly don't know, but what I do know is that over the years we've always had 3-4 cats, who go in and out as they please.

I could probably count on my fingers the number of living mice I've seen in that time, but I've seen those cats just sit and watch voles without so much as twitching a tail. Maybe we just raise gourmet cats?

mrmike · 03-26-2009, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoxContracting

Like thom posted, if you get rid of the grubs then the moles will leave. I have owned a landscape Nursery for 14 yrs now. we have to deal with moles and voles. first you have to make sure it is a mole you have, because if it is a vole then they do not eat grubs in the first place. the best thing to get rid of a vole is a cat. Now back to moles, put a lot of grub killer down, we use twice what it calls for on a yard. it has always worked for us. One way to see if it is a vole instead of a mole look and see if it is digging near the roots of plants. Voles will dig in a yard and in the flower bed next to shrubs. Hope this helps a bit.

Here is some shots of Mole hills that were created under the winters snow up here in the North. One is at one end of my property near my cabin & the other is at the other end where I planted some apple trees.. This isnt counting what might me under the snow thats yet to melt. I treated these areas heavy with grub killer twice a yr for the last couple of years & it is really expensive (over $20 a bag) and a bag doesn;t go very far. Then I get this back anyway- so no point in buying That rip-off. I'm gonna try the juicy fruit gum & moth balls for sure..................

boman47k · 03-26-2009, 04:39 PM

Which, if either, is it that digs shallow tunnels that can be seen above ground as soft ridges? My bil's had a bad problem at his old house he moved from. I do no recall seeing any of the hills. Moles? Voles? Gopher Rats? A lot of the dirt in his crawl space was like it had been sifted and was loose.

CoxContracting · 03-27-2009, 07:22 AM

well grub killer works for us and I guess thats all I can say. as for the cat, yes I am sure about that. just do not feed it ever day and it will catch whatever it can. Hope the gum works for you, I know that they are a pain in the @ss. My grandfather use to sit outside and watch them, one day he got out his shotgun and went to town on them. an old lady next door called the Police. it was funny as crap, but he got rid of his moles.......

macatawacab · 03-27-2009, 07:55 AM

I can personally attest to Juicy Fruit as mentioned before. I just put the gum (unchewed) at the opening and the mole disappeared.