Moles, a slow panic setting in

2 years ago

So, in the last few weeks I've noticed a lot of mole tunnels in my yard. It seems I'm constantly stepping on ground with that tell-tale soft, sinking feeling - kinda like my stomach when I step on them lol. I've had issues before in one corner of the yard for years, but nothing major. I don't know why the sudden explosion, but I am getting worried, especially because I worry about voles moving in.

Any ideas as to what to do? I get the same half dozen "tips" when I google - set a trap, use bait, use castor oil, remove their food source, etc.

I will say that years ago I had a small vole problem (in the above-mentioned corner of the yard) coupled with an oriental beetle issue. I decided to try milky spore, hoping it would affect the oriental beetles in the same way it did Japanese beetles, and in addition help with the mole tunnels that the voles used. It hasn't seemed to do much for the oriental beetles, but in the last ten to fifteen years my mole and vole problem has been negligible.

This spring I almost lost a rose to voles - saved it just in time. This rose was in that back corner bed so I still wasn't overly worried. But now the tunnels are further and further from this corner and I'm not sure how to deal with them.

Anyone have success in ridding yourself of them?

Dee

Featured Answer

Donna Frost

2 years ago

It was obvious we had voles. They wear a path in the grass between where they nest and where they feed. We haven't seen any evidence lately but they ate first and some second plantings of tomato plants, bean seedlings, cabbage, cauliflower and parsley seedlings. One obvious nesting spot was the old asparagus patch that was only providing a couple of meals and growing a lot of thick weeds. I had my husband brush hog the patch but the voles managed to scurry away. I've neglected the garden most of September thanks to various reasons. The usual light frost didn't hit around 9/18 so my last effort of growing beans worked ... except I noticed some of the pole beans were limp and then discovered that stems had been chewed thru. I don't know where they are nesting. Last year we had a poor potato harvest which I think was due to vole activity and found holes dug. So after finding limp beans I looked around and there were two deep holes again in approximately the same spot as last year although this year it was the summer squash patch. Pretty sure the holes were dug by a coyote. We live in a rural area with plenty of wildlife.

I spent a lot of money of vole scram, fancy traps, etc. A snap trap caught one. The chipmunks eating my cherry tomatoes were dispatched using the ramp to a pail of water. My husband also built a raised bed with hardware cloth bottom so I could plant root crops. Those have done fine although current row of carrots looks like tops have been browsed by deer. The hawks and coyotes usually hunt in the hay field. It has been a discouraging year although the potato and garlic harvests were great.

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Comments (11)

Barrheadlass
2 years ago
I am having the exact issue, virtually all over my yard, in beds, in the lawn, etc. I've never seen a mole, have seen one vole. Last week i stamped down some tunnels and saw movement in them within seconds!
kitasei2
2 years ago
I got so fed up once i stuck a hose in the hole and ran water full force for an hour - with no backup! i couldn’t believe how much water the tunnel network could take. I gave up without seeing anything run or float out. i also bought 6 special traps that caught them live. i caught half a dozen voles the first day but none theresfter. i can’t believe they learned…
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rwiegand
2 years ago
Our yard is filled with moles, voles, chipmunks, groudhogs etc, and as a result also hawks, foxes, and a host of other creatures. I'd suggest living with an appreciating nature as a much less strssful approach. It's really quite wonderful to watch.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
2 years ago
i caught half a dozen voles the first day but none thereafter. i can’t believe they learned…

===>>

lol.. they didnt learn anything ... there just werent as many as you thought....

when i had a chipmunk problem .. they were chewing my drip irrigation tape in a drought year ... i went after them like smokey after the bandit ... and this was on about 3 acres ... i also trapped about 6.. and that was that ... the problem was basically solved ..

and that was because the little ADHD hyperactive vermin ... boy am i having trouble not cussing.. lol ... it wasnt that there was a roaming horde of them.. it was that those 6 or so.. were just everywhere ...

in other words ... dont presume there are a lot of them ...

maybe after more coffee i can turn this into english that can be understood.. lol ... i hope you get the gist ...

ken

ps: and nothing seemed more like burying money in the ground.. than putting those bait worms in the ground.. and wondering if anything part of the expense was ever utilized.. there i go again.. dude,. plain english??? .. i may as well have just strewn silver dollars around the yard.. and hoped for the best ... ill believe it when i see it ...
gawdinfever Z6
2 years ago
I had never seen a vole until last year. Last year there were holes EVERYWHERE by fall. And I had lost several of my favorite plants. I read up on them and started WAR! First we made some traps. Mouse traps under a tunnel of sorts. Instead of purchasing the somewhat expensive traps online, I came up with the idea to order those thin black pocket folders offline. I think they cost like ten cents a piece! I punched holes in the long sides and used cut wire hangers to anchor them in ground over the traps. Caught like 14 in the first week!

Then we found two wrens in the traps. Pulled the traps. We love birds. Then my daughter had to move and gave me her two cats. One injured and stays in and never goes out. (Useless lol)

The other is a hunting machine and voles are her favorite. Rabbits are 2nd favorite. She gets at least one vole a day. Last week she had two days that she brought us three. Breeding again, I suppose, but holes are less.

I believe part of the problem was me. Between last year and this year, I had the bright idea to leave mounds of leaves on the back fence to help keep weeds from coming over from neighbors yard. Helped with weeds, but created a safe haven for the voles! I also ordered pine mulch and put too much on my beds. Again---created a haven for the voles! (Oiyyy)

This year I raked leaves away and put in the compost where they belong. Raked out excess mulch and spread around on new beds. Knock on wood, have only lost one plant. Kitty gets extra love and treats. Thankfully, no dead birds found (or even traces of such). She keeps plenty busy on the ground. I've always been a 'dog person'. I'm partial to both now.
diggerdee zone 6 CT
Original Author
2 years ago
Thanks for the comments.

My cat is an indoor cat, but my neighbors have too many (outdoor) cats - not spayed or neutered, always having litters, always see signs outside - "free kittens" - etc,. so I am surprised at the mole explosion. We have many (admittedly adorable calico) cats running around our yard.

"...Our yard is filled with moles, voles, chipmunks, groundhogs etc, and as a result also hawks, foxes, and a host of other creatures. I'd suggest living with an appreciating nature..."

Same here, and I do! In addition to the cats, we have a ton of hawks in the area. I live in a rural suburb, so I am very used to co-existing with nature, and actually love the elements of it that help me out lol. I've had everything from turkeys to bobcats, foxes to coyotes, the usual assortment of deer, skunks, racoons, etc., even a mountain lion sighting in the area. Also, my same neighbors have chickens, so I have almost a personal hawk patrol flying over my yard. Perhaps they are too interested in watching the chickens (and perhaps cats, lol??) to go after the moles and voles this year. So again, some puzzlement and consternation.

I've done the water down the hole thing too, usually as an impulse when I'm watering as opposed to any planned attack, and I give up on that quickly. The water never seems to back fill, and I'm on a well, so yeah, I get over my momentary determination to drown the critters pretty quickly haha.

Gawdinfever you may have hit the nail on the head. For the past 25 years, I have been extremely careful with the leaf mulch I use every year (50ish oaks on an acre property, who wouldn't use free leaf mulch??) I am usually out there in December after the ground has frozen, long after my neighbors have finished their yardwork for the season, spreading leaf mulch with my frozen hands. Sometimes even on top of a light snow! Actually, thanks to climate change, there have been years where I haven't spread mulch till January. I don't want to give these guys any reason to snuggle down for the winter! HOWEVER.... last year my husband got a lawn tractor, and instead of me shredding leaves with my shredder one little barrel at a time, he helped me immensely and I had more mulch than I could use. I saved it over winter, and while the pile has drastically diminished after spreading more in spring, there is still a somewhat large pile of shredded leaves sitting over on that side of the yard. I guess I didn't think about the fact that the critters like them in other seasons of the year too. Duh. It's one giant mole-tel lol!! I will have to definitely get rid of that pile pronto. I may just have to chuck it into the woods - way too early to spread in the beds. Ugh, it will kill me to waste that!

Interesting, Ken (and somewhat worrying that I know exactly what you were saying lol). Perhaps my problem isn't as big as I thought - or maybe I'm grasping on to that idea to save my sanity lol. I had thought traps were useless and/or too expensive on a larger property, but maybe I'll try a few and see. Guess it can't hurt.

Thanks everyone. Please keep the ideas coming if there are more!

:)

Dee
prairiemoon2 z6b MA
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
We are guilty of having too much leaf mulch and bark mulch that is a haven for them. It is said that you should wait for the ground to freeze before you put a thick layer of mulch down. I always forget that. We can collect leaves in buckets, or yard waste bags and wait for frozen ground, if I'd just remember to do that.

Actually, I add a good layer of chopped leaves and grass clippings to the raised vegetable beds and twice we've had rabbits digging a nest in the beds.

I keep seeing a chimpmunk here or there, and a mole? the gray long body wtih the blind eyes? That's it thankfully. This year come to think of it, we were seeing chipmunks consistently in spring and early summer, but I haven't seen one in awhile. Stills seeing rabbits though.

We have a new dog in the family who we dog sit for and when she is here, it's comical. I open the back door and tell her, go get the rabbit and she knows I'm trying to tell her something but, she is going one way and the rabbit is going the other. lol So no help there.

I know someone who had so many chipmunks they trapped and they had about a 60 chipmunks the first day. So, they can really multiply.
mazerolm_3a
2 years ago
@dee: I’m very sorry you’re having this issue, but I had a good laugh at your “mole-tel”!! :)

Hope it’s better next year!
Marie Tulin
2 years ago
Re Mulch: how much bark mulch is too much? I had someone help me spread it last week and it is 4 inches deep in some places. I thought "too deep" for no particular reason.

Do I have a reason now?

thanks

Marie
prairiemoon2 z6b MA
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
To me, it depends. Of course, 4 inches of mulch in the right place seems great to me. Of course not all the way up to the trunks of shrubs and trees, which I know you know Marie. I think the question is not how deep the mulch is, but when it is put down. I'm not actually sure if the depth of mulch has any consequence with moles/voles, regardless of when it is applied. Normally, I would put it down at my convenience, but if I was having a problem with moles/voles, I would probably time laying down the mulch for after the ground was frozen.

If you already have your mulch down, Marie, I would not try to fix that this year, but notice in the spring if you have more mole/vole activity where the mulch was put down heavy before the ground was frozen and I guess then the next time you might just time it different.

That's just my off the cuff response, I don't have much experience with a lot of moles/voles and I haven't at this point, applied mulch after the ground was frozen. I am taking this thread as a reminder for me. I still have 4 bags of mulch left and I'm going to wait for frozen ground to put it down. That's not much of an effort though with four bags of mulch. But next year! lol I'm going to make a concerted effort to buy my mulch late and put it down after frozen ground even if I don't have a lot of moles/voles, just as a preventative. Since I can't go all season with no mulch, I'll probably buy mulch early and late.

Moles, a slow panic setting in

Donna Frost

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