Moles - organic control method req'd

[T-lady]

Help!

I've got at least 1 mole (and possibly 100's of the blighters!) and I need rid. I'm organic so I can't use the poisoned worm trick but Jayes-Fluid soaked cotton wool balls aren't shifting it, it's laughing at the Sonic Mole Thumper, and I'm at my wits end.

Help, help, help! (please)

T-lady

[scarey55]

Hi T-Lady,
We have a humungus problem with moles too. There is another thread I don't want to kill them..... by Roitelet which has some very good advice.
How long have you had the sonic thumper things? We have has some (well 7 to be exact) and we thought the same as you but.... after about 8 weeks, they seem to be having an effect. I also put moth balls down the holes and they may have helped. Sorry not to have a complete answer but we are still trying and will keep you posted.

[T-lady]

Hi scarey55
We've had the darned things on and off since we bought the house (about 3 years ago). They are always in the same places - across my veg beds and at the top of the paddock - so I suspect that there are some pre-made runs that they keep using.

Even when I have caught one with the horrid claw mole killer (sorry, didn't want to do it but was really losing my rag over it and gave it a try - felt awful about it though so I'd rather not continue) another one has moved straight back in.

I've had the sonic thing for about two months now. Do you think I should get more than one - have you got them surrounding an area and have managed to clear it? I don;t mind them at the top of the paddock but why do they HAVE to run straight down a row of seeds I've just sown?

T-lady

[scarey55]

Hi scarey55
I've had the sonic thing for about two months now. Do you think I should get more than one - have you got them surrounding an area and have managed to clear it? I don;t mind them at the top of the paddock but why do they HAVE to run straight down a row of seeds I've just sown?
T-lady

I know, bummer isn't it?
I would say try a few more of the thumper things. The people we got ours from said to use them like sheepdogs and try to "herd" them to a more suitable place - in your case paddock. I can't promise they will work but anything is worth a try. I'm with you on not wanting to kill them but they are a bl*!dy nuisance.
Good luck

[T-lady]

Thanks scarey55

I'll give it a go. They're expensive but at least I'm not murdering things ... although ...!!!

[scared55]

T-lady. We found after placing three of the things in a line that the molehills eventually retreated by a few metres. I now have two lines, one each side of my first beds, and expect, after a few weeks, to start moving them outwards to shepherd the mole(s) to where I want them (next door). It is supposed to be possible to clear an area that way, although there may be an ongoing need for a perimeter fence of the things, to stop newcomers arriving. Sadly, in our case, that will mean about 35-40 of them. Apart from the cost, the noise would probably drive me mad.

We have two reasons for trying to lose the moles, one is to keep the veggie plots clear, the other is to save my ride-on mower - the combination of hills and dips due to gallery collapse in what is more a meadow than a lawn povides an interesting challenge!

[T-lady]

Thanks for this scared55.

I'm with you on the saving of the ride-on mower. My dear friend Monty-tractor (he's my wonderful Westfield mower) struggles manfully through mole hills but it trashes the blades long term. Which mower have you got and how big a plot? How do you go on when the grass is damp. Monty does struggle but I think all mowers may in his league.


By the way - stupid question but I am new to this forum stuff - are you and scarey55 related. Seems too much a coincidence to me ...

T-lady

[scared55]

Scarey55 is my lovely wife. I had to think up a name and somehow scared55 seemd appropriate ...

We have a McCulloch (Electrolux) 92" cut 12.5HP jobbie with rear collector which has to cut about half an acre of undulating meadow. Each week or so, before cutting, we walk around and flatten up to 300 molehills. I usually run it without the rear collector on, and reckon, on almost dry grass, to stop and clean the blades and housing about a dozen times. When the grass is wet, it grows.

I had trouble early on, when it just gave up, but I now have a thing that allows me to lift the front and get underneath to scrape it out quite quickly. I do this as soon as cuttings stop being ejected from the chute. If I don't, the engine starts to struggle, and I don't like that.

[T-lady]

Serious mole problems - suddenly I don't feel like my ones are quite so bad. I get about a dozen hills in the veggie area and don't worry too much about the ones round the apple trees.

I do a little better with Monty-tractor though. He doesn't need any cleaning on dryish grass although I also run him without the collector box. The mulching deck is really efficient and, as we're on about an acre, we can't cope with so many clippings anyway.

I must work out some way of jacking him up though. I've just had him in for a service as the mulching deck wasn't being too good and, according to the menders, it was because of all of the gunk that had collected on it (not cleaned since December, that's probably why)


Cheers

T-lady

[scared55]

See this link for the kind of thing I use. The one I have was a bit cheaper (79 €) but looks about the same.
I also have a 1 tonne block and tackle in the barn so I can sling it and lift the whole thing, but the jack lives in the woodshed where I can get at it easily from the field.

[Alice]

It might not be a preferred option for all you mole sufferers but I found good hunting cats very effective at getting rid of moles.

[scared55]

We have European Wild Cats (Felis silvestris) in the area as well as the farm cats next door - don't seem to help. I still get up to 50 new molehills every night on ¾ acre of grassland.

[T-lady]

I've got two fabulous hunting cats. At best they have sometimes managed to catch baby moles (bliss!) but, although they'll tackle rats, grouse, voles, mice, any kind of bird, rabbits and my leg!, they seem to leave the moles alone. They do love shoving their legs down the mole runs though and flinging themselves around. They just never seem to catch them.

Thanks for the link to the hoist scared55. I've got a birthday coming up so I might just see how Bean (my 'better' half) feels about a little pressie ...

[scared55]

Good luck - I'd be lost without mine now

[Polly Fouracre]

Isn't there a plant that repels moles,Caper Spurge ,or something?

"Oh,but I never bring to mind,
Those pleasant names of places,
But I leave a sigh behind,
While I see the little moldiwarp
Hang sweeing to the wind
On the only ancient willow
That in all the field remains.
And nature hides her face
While they're sweeing in their chains-----
And in a silent murmering,complains." (John Clare 1793-1864)