How to remove garden moles

Moles are not this cute when they are ruining your lawn.

The mole (Talpa europaea) is a tiny little mammal that causes large headaches for gardeners. By tunnelling into gardens and pushing up the excess earth onto pristine lawns, the mole is probably the least popular British wild animal. Luckily for the Irish, the mole never made it across the sea and Ireland is mole free. There are dozens of different methods for dealing with moles, ranging from the simple to the bizarre, but only a couple of them actually work.

Things You'll Need

• Mole
• Mole trap
• knitting needle or fine garden cane
• Sonic mole repeller

Instructions

1. Buy a mole trap in a gardening centre or online. The scissor variety is the most effective but will kill the mole. There are also live traps on the market, but they are not as reliable and you are left with the problem of how to dispose of a live mole.

2. Locate a mole burrow or run by inserting a knitting needle or fine garden cane into the soil between two molehills. When the soils gives way, you have found the run. Remove a sod of turf about 6 inches across with a sharp knife or trowel, trying not to get soil into the run. Wear an old pair of gloves to keep your scent out of the burrow. Set the trap in the run as per the instructions and then cover up the hole to prevent any light from getting into the run. Mark the spot so that you do not lose the trap.

3. Check the trap every 48 hours to see if it has been triggered or has caught the mole. Check live traps every 24 hours.

4. Buy a good quality sonic mole repeller if you do not want to kill or trap your mole. Place it in a mole run about 12 inches from a molehill. Modern sonic repellers are quite successful at driving moles out of a small garden but will not work in large fields as the mole will simply move away from the noise.

Tips & Warnings

• Bury new traps in the garden for a week before using them to get rid of their smell.

• Do not discard the trap once you have caught your mole as old runs are often recolonised by new moles.

• If you trap a live mole, take it to a vet to have it euthanized humanely or release it in a field where there are molehills.

• Children's windmills look very pretty stuck in a lawn but will not scare a mole away.

• Do not put mothballs or diesel into mole runs as the mole will simply tunnel around them.

• The 1986 Control of Pesticides Regulations forbid the use of many chemicals, including diesel, for pest control in gardens. Noxious chemicals damage the soil and will probably do your lawn or garden more harm than good.

References

• Garden Action: Mole Control
• The Cottage Smallholder: How to Remove Moles From Your Garden