Moles

[Lori]

John can have all he wants from our patch.

Same here. The damage these creatures inflict on a garden can be horrible. You should see ours. And nothing will get rid of them. They always come back.

[RobertArthur]

Never a dull moment. For only a few seconds I thought: I could set the bamboo free to make the terrain less attractive for these tunnel diggers. The cure would be worse than the disease I'm afraid.

[Lori]

Never a dull moment. For only a few seconds I thought: I could set the bamboo free to make the terrain less attractive for these tunnel diggers. The cure would be worse than the disease I'm afraid.

Oh never plant Bamboo ! You'll never get rid of it and it will take over everywhere. And something tells me, it will not rid you of the mole population. I'm convinced nothing will.

[niemeyjt]

I'll even loan him a wheelbarrow.

You mean you'll loam him a wheelbarrow?

[Biloute]

Like many others, I've tried traps, firecrackers, poisons, etc., without any apparent success. In desperation, I've just indulged in some ecological warfare experiments, and their apparent success, for now, is worth sharing...
- The moles had dug under my new lawn, and I had a fresh pile of earth every morning: GRRR!!!
- So I cleared the tunnel entrances with a "cat's tongue" trowel, pushed in brambles (the big ones with enormous thorns but without the leaves) and covered them with earth.
- No new moles since!
I know that moles are hemophiliacs, so either they became suspicious and emigrated, or they died of hemorrhages... Furthermore, I know that they immediately make inspection rounds when the tunnel ventilation is disrupted, which I did by covering them with slightly compacted earth. I know, it's cruel, but it's MY garden, and there are woods all around where their architectural projects wouldn't bother anyone...
Well, it's still a little early to draw any conclusions with any certainty, but it's encouraging. Also, I suggest you do the same if you have the same problems and tell us here if it worked. Plus, it costs nothing compared to everything else.

[Lori]

We have 5000 m2 of terrain. They make their tunnels over virtually ALL of that 5000 m2. I would be digging, placing the device/brambles and burying them in hundreds of mole tunnels. Then, my immediate neighbors don't do the same, so the moles never go away.

I appreciate that it appears to have worked for you Biloute and I hope the success continues, but we have tried so many things and none of it ever works in the long term, so we have given up. It is a regional problem here. Pretty much everyone has the problem. We see it everywhere. If you like to have a tailored, neat and tidy lawn, you'd have to live elsewhere.

[Spectrum]

Sorry moles are not hemophiliacs their blood can clot just the same as ours. But they are a bloody nuisance.

[MAD87]

I used the bramble trick successfully in the garden of my first 2 houses. Tedious, but very effective. The buggers never reappeared. A remedy suggested by a French neighbour. Touch wood, I've never had them in my current garden.
Btw, they're not haemophiliac, they just don't like shouldering their way through thorns. (post crossed with Spectrum's)

[Loup-garou]

Don't you all think you might be making "a mountain" out of this?

[rabbit]

I had tried everything and recently invested in petards. So far they have worked 2 out of 2