Moles or gophers in lawn - Help!?
Question:Small mounds of earth have appeared in our lawn, mostly near the edge of our driveway and landscaping. We think they are from moles or gophers.
How can we get rid of them? We have small children, so would prefer to not use poisons. Some additional info, we are located in the great plains region of the USA.
Answers:
I had this problem a few years ago. I had heard of a solution on NPR years before and it works great. If you have a cat, use the used pee litter and put it down the mole / gopher hole. The moles / gophers hate the smell of this and move on. I know it sounds gross but it works. And it won't hurt your environment or kill them.
Moles. they make mounds. Gophers dig tunnels. To get rid of moles, you have to rid your area of their food source, mostly grubs. for the short term, I'd recommend poison to kill the grubs that the moles are feeding on. Grub-ex works well.
On a more "earth-friendly" approach, you can buy nematodes (like milky spore) that attack the grubs, killing them without poison, but this takes a while to establish.
If we get moles, we trap them.
Gophers eat above ground so if you had those you would see them. Moles stayed buried, generally so do voles, which are similar. There are electronic emitters that claim to drive such things away, Google, Mole Chasers and you will find help.
Have you ever heard of voles. These are smaller rodents than moles but leave mounds of earth. You must block their entryway. I am in the midwest and have had this problem. You could also check with your local nursery, they may have another solution.
Lowes and Walmart reciently have started selling a bag of granular mole repellant for about $9. It is advertised as safe and eco friendly and is not a pesticide. Get a few bags of it and try it around the problem areas. I use it to keep moles away from my pond and at the same time not poisioning my pond.
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