What plants do moles not like: safe and beautiful site protection

1. Some general information that will help in the fight against moles
2. How to deal with moles in the cellar?
3. What plants do moles not like?
4. How to prevent moles from entering your property
5. How to deal with moles on a personal plot or in a country house Repelling moles with an unpleasant odor
6. Using repellent plants
7. Use of pets
8. Fencing the site area
9. Creating background noise

The appearance of moles on the territory is always an undesirable phenomenon. The fact that moles have dug in on the site is indicated by characteristic earthen cones. Let's look at the main options for getting rid of moles using folk remedies. It should be added that such means, as a rule, do not kill the animal, but only scare it away, making its further residence on the site uncomfortable. This approach is considered the most humane.

These tireless diggers inhabit many regions of Russia, choosing to live in the best areas with loose and fertile soil. Therefore, they are often found in gardens and summer cottages or under lawns.

Some general information that will help in the fight against moles

Fighting moles can only be effective when its description, life characteristics and habits are known. The more information collected about the pest, the easier it is to fight it. Some habits of moles can actually be turned against them.

Here is a list of basic information about moles:

1. Contrary to the beliefs of many people, moles do not feed on plant roots. They also do not eat other parts of plants. The diet of moles consists of various arthropod insects, their larvae and earthworms. They can tear off the roots of plants in the process of digging their underground passages.
2. The average weight of an adult mole is from 70 to 150 grams, and the animal's body length is 17 centimeters. Such information may be useful for making traps.
3. In winter, moles do not fall into a long sleep, but continue to stay awake and move around in their passages in search of food. Moles cannot live without food for more than 15 hours. Those land owners who postpone measures to repel moles until the spring are wrong, believing that the animal is completely safe in winter.
4. The mole's feeding passages pass underground at a depth of 5-7 cm. Where the animal's trajectory passes, characteristic swellings appear on the soil.
5. Moles make sleeping, storage and other rooms at a depth of more than 50 cm. And the nests in which the female raises her offspring are located at a depth of one and a half meters. They usually place them under stumps or buildings.

Destruction of moles

The most effective option for getting rid of a mole is to destroy it. For this purpose, methods of both chemical and mechanical influence are used.

1. The most common way to get rid of moles is to use water. It is simply poured into the holes until they are full. However, this method does not always work. If pests have only recently appeared on the site, then you can fill their holes with water. But when the moles have already dug long and complex tunnels underground, then no matter how much water is poured there, the animal will find a way to run away and hide until the water is absorbed.
2. Moles can also be caught alive and then destroyed. In order to catch moles in your area, you can bury an empty saucepan or small container in the ground (where there are many mole holes and tunnels). When mammals move quickly along their passages, they will not notice the trap and will certainly fall into it. Once there, the mole will not be able to climb out into freedom.
3. They will help get rid of pests and mole traps. Traps should be installed in places where moles move quickly. In no case should you set a trap when leaving a hole, since on this part of the path the pest always behaves carefully, slows down its speed of movement and can detect danger.
4. You can also destroy pests using poisons or harmful gases, filling holes with them.

How to deal with moles in the cellar?

During their underground wanderings, moles may quite accidentally stumble upon supplies of vegetables in the cellar. As a result, potatoes and other vegetables stored in the cellar can be seriously damaged and spoiled.

The best way in this situation would be to fumigate the room with sulfur dioxide, by burning purchased “Climate” sulfur bombs or setting fire to powdered sulfur. However, this method is only possible if there are no vegetables in the cellar and when the residents of the house leave it for several days.

In connection with the above, it is better to use other gentle folk remedies against moles.

What plants do moles not like?

There are a number of different plants that give off an odor that moles don't like. Animals will not put up with such a “scent” and will certainly leave the cellar. Here is a short list of them:

Fritillaria. It is also popularly called the imperial hazel grouse. This is a very pretty, beautifully flowering bulbous plant grown in gardens as an ornamental crop. Fritillaria exudes a sharp, mole-frightening odor, which is in many ways reminiscent of the odor emanating from a fox.

The bulbs of this plant should be laid out in the cellar in sufficient quantities so that the smell is clearly felt. Moles will begin to think that a predator is nearby and will leave the dangerous place.

Castor bean fruits .
They are somewhat toxic to moles and emit an unpleasant odor. Castor beans must be specially grown in the garden, then in the fall the ripened fruits are collected, which are used for pouring into cellar stocks.

Eternal exile: blockade the moles

In addition to temporary methods of fighting moles, there are also more reliable ones, after which the animal will never be able to visit you at all. But this is not a one-day job. The main point of the fight is to place a blockade along the entire perimeter of the site, through which the mole will not penetrate. And since the animal rarely burrows more than a meter deep into the ground, it is precisely this depth that needs to be dug with a trench. It's a long time. But also effective! The finished trench is filled with slate sheets, metal mesh, stones and other hard material that the animal cannot break through. This layer should reach the very surface of the earth and be only slightly covered with soil. It is especially convenient to create such a barrier at the time of installing the fence. For example, for concrete fences the foundation is poured, although not to this depth. But you can dig even deeper and protect yourself from uninvited guests!

It should be remembered that not every mole in the garden will end in your victory. There are animals that are not afraid of either strong smells or noise. And then you will have to catch them with mole traps, and build an underground blockade for the “aliens.”

• Author: Varvaryshka
• Print

Rate this article:

1. 5
2. 4
3. 3
4. 2
5. 1

(3 votes, average: 4.7 out of 5)
Share with your friends!

How to prevent moles from entering your property

This method is also quite effective and does not require much labor and time. To do this you can do the following:

Sealing molehills . For these purposes, glass wool or liquid concrete mixed with glass fragments is usually used. These substances, as well as broken bricks, can be used to wall up mole passages leading to the cellar. Having encountered a hard obstacle on its way, the mole will begin to dig in the other direction.

Construction of concrete walls . It is advisable to make concrete walls in the cellar or lay them out of brick. This capital approach will protect vegetables in the cellar not only from moles, but also from other pests, such as mice, slugs and snails. Such expenditures of labor and money will always be justified.

Depriving the mole of its food supply . Do not forget that the mole eats various insects, worms, bugs and woodlice. If you ensure that such residents do not end up in the cellar, then the mole will have nothing to eat, and he will leave this place voluntarily.

Folk remedies

How to get rid of moles in a summer cottage using folk remedies?

Before you declare war, keep in mind: moles are much smarter and more resourceful than we give them credit for. Therefore, not all folk remedies will be 100% effective. Animals will easily bypass some traps, or simply change the direction of their moves, so it is better to use several methods at the same time - this will increase your chances of winning this battle several times.

Several effective ways to fight moles using traditional methods:

1. How to remove moles from the garden by depriving them of food. First of all, you should start by destroying the food supply of moles. The animal experiences a huge need for food; in a day the animal can eat as much food as it weighs. The mole feeds on various snails, slugs, insects and their larvae, earthworms and small invertebrates. Therefore, the timely use of insecticide preparations to destroy the food supply will force the annoying guest to leave your garden.
2. Fighting moles with rotten fish. Take fish remains or rotten fish (rotten herring is best) and place it in the animal’s burrows. Moles have an excellent sense of smell, and are unlikely to be able to tolerate such a stench. The only drawback of this method is that the “scents” can scare not only the mole, but also you.
3. How to fight moles with fragrant plants. It has been noticed that animals cannot stand the smell of some plants, for example, legumes, garlic and hemp leaves. Plant black beans and garlic in your garden, but with hemp in our country it’s a little more complicated, since its cultivation is illegal.
4. A way to get rid of moles with nasty odors. Impact the “digger’s” delicate sense of smell with the specific smells of kerosene, naphthalene, ammonia and other substances with a vile odor. Soak the rags in your chosen product and place them in the holes. True, there is no guarantee that the animal will not dig new workarounds.
5. Pets, specifically dogs, will help you get rid of moles in your dacha. Breeds such as the fox terrier and dachshund are hunters by nature; hunting an animal will bring them great pleasure, and it will also be good training before the hunt.
6. Make an insurmountable obstacle. In order to limit access to your garden by the pest mole, dig a metal mesh around the perimeter of the area to a depth of approximately 1.20 cm.
7. Fighting moles in the garden with water. Flood the animal's holes with plenty of water. The animal will leave the flooded holes and will have to dig them in another place. The disadvantage is that when the water goes away, the mole may return. The main thing in this matter is not to overdo it with water and not turn the garden into a swamp.
8. Fighting moles in the garden using loud sounds. Install in your garden a repeller made with your own hands in the form of a windmill. Stick a metal rod near the molehills to a depth of at least 30 cm, and place a tin can on it for a “rattling” effect.
9. How to remove moles from a site using infrasound. There are not only homemade devices, but also modern electronic repellers that produce infrasound, which is unpleasant for moles. A distinctive feature of infrasound from ultrasound is that the radius of its propagation in the ground is greater, and it does not negatively affect various microorganisms, destroying which can disrupt the soil structure.
10. Homemade trap. Let's look at another way to get rid of moles using a trap you made yourself. So, a trap called “Pipe Mole Trap” is a fairly effective means of controlling moles in an area that is not overly populated by pests. You can make such a trap yourself from a small piece of pipe, the diameter of which matches the hole. The sides of the pipe are covered by doors that open only in one direction. If an animal gets inside such a device, it will not get out.
11. Catch the animal on a hook. If you are an avid fisherman, then most likely the method for dealing with moles on your property using a fish hook will suit you. Imagine that you are fishing, tie a three-pointed hook to a strong, heavy stick so that the catch does not fall off. Open the molehill slightly, lower the hook there and wait, the mole must definitely come to eliminate the through hole. This is where you hook him.

How to deal with moles on a personal plot or in a country house

When owners of summer cottages or household plots discover symptoms of the presence of moles, they often use traditional methods of fighting the animal. The variety of these methods is impressive, but their effectiveness leaves much to be desired. So what methods are meant?

Repelling moles with an unpleasant odor

This is perhaps the simplest and most widely popular option for fighting moles. For these purposes, special aromatic compounds are used, the smell of which cannot be tolerated by tireless diggers. Let's consider only widely practiced methods:

1. Rotten fish heads, meat, cattle manure. You need to find the animal’s tunnel and put rotten meat or fish heads into it. You can also use cattle manure. Moles find such odors extremely unpleasant and, having discovered them, they hastily retreat.
2. Petroleum products. Petroleum products such as white spirit, diesel fuel or kerosene are impregnated with rags and placed in mole labyrinths. Moles will not like this smell and will leave.
3. Carbide. Some vegetable growers managed to drive moles away from the plot by placing pieces of carbide in the mole passages. While in the soil, the carbide is gradually saturated with moisture, releasing gas - acetylene. This smell is also unpleasant for the digger.

Using repellent plants

Some plants are natural mole repellents. To do this, it is recommended to spread the tops of black beans, marigolds or hemp around the area. It’s even better to plant special plants between the beds of cultivated plants and along the perimeter of the site that emit odors that are unpleasant for the mole.

These animals tolerate the following types of plants extremely poorly:

• fritillaria;
• sagebrush;
• marigold;
• celery;
• garlic.

Having stumbled upon similar plants in the garden, moles will leave their usual tunnels and begin digging new labyrinths.

Use of pets

It has long been noticed that if a dog or cat lives in a house and often walks around the area, the likelihood of moles living there is noticeably reduced. Cats often hunt the underground digger and, having caught it, will certainly eat it. And the loud barking of a dog does not allow the mole to hunt and sleep peacefully.

In addition, the animals do not like the smell of these pets, and they will prefer to dig their tunnels somewhere else.

Fencing the site area

The method is very labor intensive, but very effective. There are also options here:

1. A fence should be built around the perimeter of the entire site, buried in the ground. The material for the fence should be slate sheets or fine mesh. Such a fence is lowered to a depth of 70 cm, and the height above the soil can be any, at least 20 cm.
2. Digging a protective ditch. To stop the mole, you need to dig a ditch 70 cm deep and of arbitrary width. When the ditch is dug, it is filled with concrete with the addition of broken bricks, stones and rubble.

Creating background noise

Moles love to hunt and sleep in complete silence, and the presence of extraneous noise causes them anxiety. To scare off underground diggers, summer residents make simple noise devices.

Options for the simplest noise devices:

1. Plastic bottles or metal cans are slightly cut and their edges are bent. The result is something similar to blades capable of capturing the wind. These “crafts” are attached to long reinforcement rods that are buried in the ground. When there is wind, this entire structure rattles loudly, giving the mole no rest. In addition, vibration emanates from the rods, which is transmitted to the ground. Noise and vibration are too much for a quiet animal. He will certainly go to another, quieter place.
2. Hollow reed stalks are stuck into the discovered passages. The reeds will hum unpleasantly in the wind. This will drive moles out of the area.
3. A similar hum can be created by burying a glass bottle in the soil at a 45-degree angle. Gusts of wind will enter the neck, causing a terrifying roar. The moles will not be able to put up with him, and will be forced to retreat.
4. Some vegetable growers find animal holes and set off firecrackers left over from the New Year celebrations. In addition to the noise effect, which is unpleasant for the mole, the firecracker also produces smoke. He is also unpleasant to the animal.

How to get rid of moles in a summer cottage

If moles have caused you irreparable damage, if your patience has come to an end, and you are tired of scaring away animals that find various workarounds and still return, then there are more radical ways.

Pets

It is believed that moles avoid areas where dogs live. Our four-legged friends have a highly developed hunting reflex. True, there is one caveat - when hunting for a mole, a dog can cause damage to plantings on a much larger scale than the mole rat itself.

Cats that are prone to hunting also scare away and destroy moles if they are caught. But it is unlikely that pampered domestic creatures, accustomed to dry food and a soft sofa, can get rid of unpleasant pests. Therefore, only those cats that get their food on the street actually hunt for moles.

Mole poison

In any gardening store you can buy poison against rodents, which will also be effective on moles. It is enough to place a piece soaked in poison into the hole, and the death of the animal is ensured.

You can mix pesticides with boiled grains, such as wheat, and spread the poison in the holes, deepening them by 15-20 cm.

If you intend to use pesticides in the form of gas in the extermination of moles, then you need to know the following:

• POSSIBLE to use in places where shrubs and trees grow.
• CANNOT be used in places where berries and vegetables are already bearing fruit, as the fruits themselves can be poisoned.

Can moles live in the house?

In this regard, homeowners can be calm; moles are not able to leave the soil layer and will somehow adapt to living inside the house. There is no usual food for them in the house; the animals could not live there for more than 15 hours. They would simply die of hunger.

But moles can seriously damage the local area. The lawn, which at one time required a lot of effort and money from the owners, suffers greatly from the activity of moles. If enough moles breed in the local area, then the lawn will be left with a pitiful sight.

Flower beds and embankments will also be mercilessly spoiled by tireless diggers. They will no longer provide aesthetic pleasure to anyone.

The difficulty of fighting moles in the local area is that homeowners are unlikely to want to lay out foul-smelling repellents near the porch or tear up the mole passages with a shovel, risking completely ruining its appearance.

In this case, it is necessary to use destructive pesticides or use electronic repellent devices. However, detailed information about these means and methods will be in the next article.

Are there any benefits from moles?

Moles carry out their harmful activities out of good intentions.
The fact is that they feed on insects and other inhabitants of black soil, which destroy ornamental vegetation. The mission of moles is good - to eat worms, beetles, mole crickets and even mice, with which summer residents fight. But the destructiveness they do to the soil forces farmers to get rid of blind helpers. Of course, the continuous movement of moles underground contributes to its enrichment with oxygen and other gases. And fluffy black soil is the best soil for growing generous harvests. However, the destruction of these pests in a summer cottage is necessary so as not to endanger the root systems of sown crops.

Moles in the basement of the house

From the yard, moles can quite easily penetrate into the underground of a house, especially if the foundation of the house is not deep. Fighting moles underground places great responsibility on the performer. Before choosing an option to influence these animals, you need to think carefully about the consequences.

The close proximity to residential premises makes the use of chemicals unsafe for people. Moles will certainly die from poisons and begin to decompose. The unpleasant odor will seep through the thin layer of soil and floors of the house, creating discomfort for its residents.

Folk remedies in this area, as a rule, are not used for two reasons: low efficiency and the unpleasant smell of repellent herbs and substances. They usually use various traps and electronic repellers, which will be discussed in the next article.

Mechanical methods

Traps

Special traps are one of the simplest and most accessible mechanical methods of controlling moles. At the request of the site owner, you can purchase a ready-made version, or make a simple device yourself.

The mole trap in the shape of a pipe is characterized by the greatest humaneness.

The most humane feature is the pipe-shaped mole trap, which is widely used in almost all gardens, flower beds and vegetable gardens. It is a hollow structure with movable doors on each side, which operates automatically. With its help you can catch an animal without injuring it at all. This allows captured animals to be taken outside the site and released into the wild.

The principle of operation of the device is very simple: once a mole gets into the pipe, it cannot open the door from the inside.

In stores and departments dedicated to gardening, you can often find scissor traps made of reliable, durable steel. They are inserted directly into mole holes, and then covered on top with a bucket, jar or cut plastic bottle. As soon as the animal falls into such a trap, a powerful mechanism is triggered, preventing it from freeing itself.

The plunger trap is the most powerful and effective. Accessing it requires a minimum of practice and skill. It is an excellent alternative to traditional traps, as it is activated when the mole pushes the earth to restore the tunnel.

Traps

The tunnel trap is a structure based on a half-tunnel. Its working parts do not jam from pebbles, peat and other foreign objects, so such a trap can be easily hidden in the ground. It works effectively under any conditions. The capture of a pest animal is indicated by the raising of the spring above the surface of the ground.

The tunnel trap is a structure based on a semi-tunnel

A wire trap is the most affordable and simple device. It is made in the form of an elongated spring, equipped with a guard, a loop, and also a special foot for pressing down a mole caught in a trap.

Similar devices are installed in mole tunnels, which the animal uses for feeding. In this case, it is necessary that the loops of the trap are in close contact with the walls of the feed passage. The guard in this design prevents the movement of the animal. As soon as the mole pushes this part, the spring opens and with a special paw presses it against the loop itself.

Moles in a greenhouse

From the yard, moles easily penetrate into the greenhouse. They usually do not encounter any special obstacles on this path, since greenhouses are built on a shallow foundation, and sometimes they do without one at all.

Once in the greenhouse, the mole brings benefits and causes harm at the same time. The benefits are determined by the characteristics of its diet, because it eats pests of greenhouse plants and their larvae, significantly reducing their numbers.

However, while digging its labyrinths of passages, the mole will certainly damage the roots of cucumbers or tomatoes. This will certainly affect the reduction in the overall yield of vegetables, since the plants will begin to direct all their forces to healing root injuries, instead of directing them to the formation and filling of fruits.

In addition, by eating earthworms, which improve soil fertility, moles again reduce the overall level of vegetable yield in the greenhouse. And the soil dug up lengthwise and crosswise in a greenhouse is unlikely to add aesthetic appeal to it.

How to drive moles out of a greenhouse?

There are many different options and means for this. But in this article we will talk about folk remedies for fighting moles in a greenhouse.

Plants against moles

Below is a list of different plants whose smell the mole cannot stand:

• tansy;
• gooseberry;
• elder;
• bird cherry;
• narcissus;
• peas;
• garlic;
• onion.

To repel moles, just plant one of these plants along the outer perimeter of the greenhouse. It would also be a good idea to place some of them inside the greenhouse.

Other scented repellents

To dislodge a mole from a greenhouse, it is not necessary to use herbal scented products. Often, rotten fish is used for these purposes. The head of the herring, which is in a state of decomposition, is placed in the mole's passages, and then, so that the smell does not escape outside, the entrance is blocked with stones and sprinkled with soil. The mole will leave and never return to where it smells bad.

Preventive measures against moles in a greenhouse

Preventive measures to prevent underground diggers from entering the greenhouse always seem more reasonable. Agree, it is better to take a number of preventive actions in advance and be sure that moles will not spoil the plants in the greenhouse, rather than allow them to spread and then waste time and money fighting them.

The most effective method and very effective is the construction of an impassable barrier for the animal. To do this, dig a ditch 0.7 meters deep along the outer perimeter of the greenhouse and place a mesh with small cells in it. After which, the ditch should be buried again. A mole cannot overcome such a barrier.

It’s a shame when moles, while carrying out their vital actions, inadvertently tear off the roots of cucumbers, dig up beds of strawberries, or form heaps of earth on the pretty lawn that the owners were proud of.

By and large, the animal is not to blame here, since it was looking for worms and larvae in these places. We must treat nature humanely and, before applying exterminatory measures to moles, we must first try to drive them away using folk remedies.

Prevention of occurrence

After a difficult and stubborn struggle, victory was won - the moles left the site! It is important to consolidate the result, otherwise the tireless “diggers” will return again.

Recommendations from experienced owners:

• protect the garden around the perimeter: dig aluminum mesh or slate 1 meter deep. An underground “fence” will make it difficult to enter the site;
• It will be necessary to reduce the number of earthworms and various insects in the ground and on the surface. A simple measure will help - at the beginning of the season and after harvesting, water the area with a soap solution of 10% concentration.

It is quite difficult to fight moles on your site on your own, but with persistence, patience, and the use of several methods, the pests go away. Recommendations from experienced owners will help protect the garden from penetration by “diggers”. You may have to try several methods until you find an effective remedy to repel underground inhabitants.

Another effective method of controlling underground pests can be seen in the following video: