Moles are busy!

[moremilkmama]

We have a mole who has been quite busy this week in our yard the last 3 days. I'm looking for a way to persuade him to find another place for his tunnels without harming him. Any advice? Thanks.

[Chanley]

I have heard castor bean seeds will drive them away. Apparently they cant stand the smell of them.

I have never had to use them for this but I sent some seeds to another mamma here once for this problem. Cant remember who but they may be able to vouch for the effectiveness of this remedy.

[moremilkmama]

Thanks for the advice. I've never of Castor Bean seeds before but will attempt to see if I can find any around here and hope they work. Thank you!

[leafylady]

I used castor bean plants and seeds, although I'm not the one that you sent them to. The moles stayed away from the plants and didn't hang out near the holes where I threw in the castor bean seeds. However, they did return later to very nearby locations.

I've had better luck by planting aromatic herbs near the places where I don't want the moles burrowing- things like onions or chives work great and do not invade your entire flower/vegetable beds. For example, you could surround your spring bulbs with some kind of ornamental allium bulbs, usually low height and nice early bloomers.

The moles also stay away from nepeta varietes and other mints, but those are much more invasive. Oregano works well and is only mildly invasive in my climate, zone 4. It doesn't really invade but the clump keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Certain varieties of thyme make nice groundcovers and would probably deter the moles. I don't think the roots go as deep as the other herbs and the scent is not quite as potent.

Castor Bean is actually very aromatic, although in a more noxious way. Maybe that's why the moles avoid it.

If you live in a warm dry climate, I'd bet that rosemary would work well.

[moremilkmama]

Leaflady,

Thank you so much for all of your suggestions!
I'm quite impressed by how knowledgeable you are about all of the different plants. Did you learn through experience? Reading books? You must have a beautiful garden. We live in a very, wet, humid climate. Looking forward to the Spring to plant some anti-Mole plants!

[leafylady]

I don't have a beautiful garden yet. I think Chanley is the one who probably has the beautiful garden.

I know about the aromatic plants and moles just by experience. The moles don't go near patches of those plants in my yard.

I hope to have a beautiful garden, sometime after we have a new septic drainfield installed in our yard in the spring. I'm thinking of planting some type of allium or spreading mint, to have a fragrant grouncover and to keep the moles from ruining the expensive new drainfield.

[leafylady]

In my new Gardeners Supply catalog they have 3 natural approaches to ridding ones yard of moles.
One is a diluted solution of castor oil sprayed all over the yard to repel the moles. It looks like Chanley was right about the castor beans!!

The other two solutions are some type of beneficial nematodes that feed on the grubs that the moles like to eat. The concept is- get rid of the moles' food source- the moles go next door, or elsewhere.

They all sounded pretty good to me. I'm going to try milky spore because it sounds like a much longer term remedy. Their website is www.gardeners.com
They have a lot of other natural pest control products too.