Moles

[size=large]I never hear anybody complaining about moles in the garden, which are quite popular in Italy. Have I missed all the posts or there are only a few moles in UK?[/size]

 

There are plenty of moles in the UK. I guess people don't complain about them for one of two main reasons. Either they aren't in a particular lawn, or they are but they don't really create any bother. The mole hills are easily cleaned up.

There are electronic devices available that are supposed to scare them off, but unless you're trying to keep your lawn like a bowling green, I don't see what problem they cause.

 

I don't mind them in the grass, but it's when they get in the onion bed that I'll have a go at them.

 

<--- Thinks of Jasper Carrot's mole sketch.."Only one way to kill a Mole...thats blow his B----y head off"

One of our cats caught one year before last and brought it home, I managed to rescue and then relocate it. Last year we had a Mole in the garden that had got here from the Church yard next door. This year we have one on our allotment plot.

Steve...

 

My Dad used to work at the local cemetary as a groundsman. There were many moles there, as cemetary backed onto the farmers fields. I'm afraid to say he used a little more brutal method than those listed above, involving a contraption that resembled a large double pair of pliers... guess you could call it a 'mole grip' :WINK1:

Yes... my childhood memories, aaahhhhhh

 

I have a problem with moles, well I think it's moles as I don't ever see any mole hills. My neighbour who has been gardening here all his life says it's moles though.

Last year while I was watering my tomoatoes one evening in the greenhouse I noticed the soil suddening disappear between two of my plants and the water run away down a tunnel which was running directly under my tomoato plants. They eventually stopped growing after only two trusses and slowly withered away (The previous year I had no problem) I planted some more on the other side of the green house and all was well until the same thing happened to them. The tunnels are approx 1.5 inches wide, is this moles?!?!

When I turned my compost bin recently I found two tunnels in there and signs something had been living in there! Moles again or something else?

My cats do catch mice and voles, but no moles as yet.

I am digging out my greenhouse this year and lining it with mesh so it will hopefully cure that problem, but I have just noticed a tunnel at the edge of one of my veg plots now!

I will try some of the tips above and hope it cures the problem, I can't kill them and wouldn't want to anyway.

All advice appreciated

 

It could be a vole , I get them in my borders



Spruce

 

After reading some other stuff I think you might be right, "Another indication of voles is exit holes with an opening of about 1.5 inches in diameter. Voles are destructive because they kill plants, shrubs and young trees and eat roots"

Now I wish it was moles they are less destructive! But on the up side my two kittens are nearly a year old and very active in the garden along with the older two I have instant vole deterrents :WINK1:

 

Look just beyond the wire fence in the background.

When I worked on the estate, a mole catcher would come round every few months. An old boy who had lost most of his fingers due to the poisons he'd been using to kill them all his life. He really hated them.

A new run appeared one day & rather than leave the poor little thing for the mole catcher I got a big tin & a pair of gloves, crept up to the run & sat silently for a few mins. I then removed a plug of soil from above the run. Moles detect differences in air pressure & in no time at all he came to see what had happened.

I grabbed him & put him in the tin ( keep fingers away from the business end) & released him on a safe site. They dig themselves in in a second.

 

Awww! I actually like moles, well I like most living things, except spiders (sorry to any spider lovers!) which can be a problem when gardening and I can't actually go into my shed further than the door without help lol