People have been trying to keep moles out of the garden since at least the 16th century when a garden writer of that time described a "sure fire" method of control. "Place a straight sided bucket in a hole in the ground to its rim and trap a female mole and put her into the bucket. Her cries for help will attract males that will also fall into the bucket in an attempt to rescue the female" Moles are after food when they make those tunnels you see in your yard and that food is earthworms, although they will eat grubs also (or about any other insect they find). Traps may kill a mole but another will move into that vacancy as soon as possible after you have eliminated that one, so trapping will be continuous. I know people that have trapped 100 moles every year for the last 40, or so, years and still do. The mole population has not diminished one bit. Poisons may help some, but they are poisons and could be eaten by other animals and since the dose of poison is aimed at moles could cause a larger animal excruciating distress over a period of time until it too died. Most places that have tried to replicate the studies done at Michigan State University have not. What Joe Vargas turf grass students learned is that to be effective you must apply 1 pint of Castor Oil over 5,000 square feet and then water it in thoroughly. None of the commercial products I have looked at have that much Castor Oil in the mix and all have on the label that this is meant to cover 10,000 square feet and as those turf grass students found too little will not be effective, and more is simply a waste of money. Every time Castor Oil has failed to control moles it is because it has not been applied properly. An unfortunate fact for every organic gardener is that because you will build up the amount of organic matter in your soil, and earthworms love organic matter, you will have a mole, most often only one simply because of the amount of territory each mole needs to supply its needs, anbout 1/4 acre.

I had a friend who got rid of her moles/voles by pouring ammonia down their hole. Another friend, don't laugh, put sticks of Juicy Fruit Gum down mole/vole holes and this worked well. Supposedly it "gums" up their interiors and they end up being compost. At least the Juicy Fruit is not harmful to pets or children.

Here's what I know, or think I know about the moles and voles. As I understand it, grubs destroy your grass, leaving empty patches. Grubs also attract the moles who eat the grubs. Then the voles come in behind the moles and use and further expand the moles tunnels. The voles then eat your roots and bulbs. A few years and lots of tears ago I lost EVERYTHING including shrubs and roses and dozens and dozens of varieties of plants to the voles. (With the exception of daylillies, irises and peonies...they ate around these things leading me to conclude that they are distinctly non-food to voles). However, since then my vole problem has been minimal (I still have losses, but they are minimal). It may be coincidence or superstition but I think these measures have helped: - Use beneficial nematodes liberally to keep down the grub problem...this seems to help circumvent the cycle of destruction. - Liberally apply fermented salmon several times a year in a dose strong enough to be really stinky. The one year I used the salmon only once saw the voles come in and destroy everything that fall. The main purpose of the fermented salmon is that it nourishes the plants, but it also helps keep pests down, I've found. (I use Coast of Maine brand). - Plant your bulbs with moth balls. I know, I know, I know...it's awful, but for the few bulbs I plant I convince myself it's okay. All the bulbs I plant come up. - Cats help a lot. We have two good hunters. - Having neighbors that have a more hospitable home to voles also helps. Hehehe. - A sense of humor and belief in the temporariness of life helps. - ALSO, IMPORTANTLY....many things that did not come back the first year post-voles did come back later. Even if they leave a portion of the roots some of your plants will be reborn. Also, you'll likely find things coming up in strange places and the eat and poop vole cycle helps them rearrange your garden. Kind of fun to find things popping up in unexpected places. Just the other day I found three crocuses (I don't plant crocuses) had popped up in a little woodland garden I have with hosta and columbine. They are cheery and cute and a gift from the voles from some else's garden. Patty

Don't, for even one moment, fall for the song and dance about cat-lovers being animal-lovers, they are anything but that. They don't give one damn about any other animals nor even other humans. Cat-lovers are just like cats, the only thing they care about are themselves. Nobody else and nothing else matters to them. Their TNR (trap, neuter, release) programs are a dismal failure too. A smokescreen and time & money waster. Don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise. Do a search online for the truth about all TNR failures. Those cats that are released will still be decimating the native food-chain for all wildlife. And if you feed a TNR cat colony they kill even more wildlife. A well-fed cat kills more animals than a starving one. They don't stop killing other animals just because they're no longer hungry. The healthier they are the more they kill. It's what they do, it's what they are. Lousy little killing machines, nothing more. The problem is just not the loss of bird populations either. Feral cats and neighboring farmers that let theirs roam free have decimated the natural food-chain in my woods. The resident foxes, owls, and other predatory animals no longer had a food source, the feral cats destroyed all the smaller animals that all the larger ones depended on. The native species all starved to death. That's what cats do to ALL native animals. I found out that where I live it is perfectly legal to defend your own property and animals from destruction by others' animals. I lost count after dispatching the first 20 piece-of-sh!t vermin with a good .22, outfitted with a laser-sight and good zoom rifle-scope. I didn't have to waste even one bullet, making this solution highly economical as well. Just think of how many dollars and hours of your lives that you have spent trapping, transporting, calling, complaining, restoring damaged property, et.al. ... and still all the problems that these useless cat-lovers have caused remains. If your aim is good this is even a far more humane method than what animal-humane societies use. Instead of dying an agonizingly slow death by animal-shelter methods, they don't even know they've been shot. This is why it is the prefered method of disposing of feral cats in many states. It's time to give cats and cat-lovers the same consideration and respect that they have for all other humans and all other wildlife--that means NONE. Don't bother wasting your time arguing with disrespectful, inconsiderate, and ignorant cat-lovers either, as I stupidly tried to do too many times in the past. Just do what needs to be done and there'll be nothing to argue about. This year owls and foxes have returned to my woods. Through a large effort of my own, including raising and releasing native mice and voles to help repopulate the species that their piece-of-sh!t cats destroyed. Their lousy cats are finally gone. But I'll shoot again on first-sight the first chance I get (and anyone who tries to stop me from doing what needs to be done). The rewards for ridding one's land of ALL cats and restoring the native wildlife population are far too great. And if you don't live in an area where a firearm can be discharged legally, then I offer another valuable and humane method to counter the myriad problems that all disrespectful and inconsiderate cat-lovers cause for everyone and all wildlife. Anytime you see a cat off of an owner's property, use a pot-modded laser on it. Google for: pot mod laser. You get them for about 5$-$10 off of ebay from Hong Kong and China suppliers and easily increase their output to 100mw or more. I find that filing a small hole in the side of the barrel makes it easier to reach the potentiometer than disassembly and risking ruining it. If you blind a cat in one eye they'll lose their depth perception and won't be able to hunt as effectively. If you blind them in both eyes they'll stay home near their food dish. This is instant and painless. It's even far more humane than declawing. It is also anonymous. In daytime nobody will even know it happened or who did it, for those of you who don't want to deal with or confront the ignorant and inconsiderate cat-lovers. I find that the blue lasers are more powerful and effective than the green ones when pot-modded, lighting a match much more quickly. I keep one of each in my pocket for those cats that are too difficult to shoot cleanly with a .22. I don't like to see any animal suffer. If I can't get a clean shot then they get blinded. The drastic problems that cat-lovers have created for everyone and all animals now require drastic actions by all who actually care.