From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Key West, FL

Whats the best way to keep them out of my patch?
Ben

5/21/2003 9:07:09 PM

Tipp City, Ohio

They are after the Grubs and such for meals. Use Grubex or something simular to get rid of the grubs and the moles should leave as well.

5/21/2003 9:12:32 PM

[email protected]

Moles also eat Earthworms & good patches have plenty of these. And we don't want to kill them (though Sevin does).

We sell a new mole killing gel in a syringe type tube called Kaput. It contains Warfarin. Early reports are that it is working very well. I've observed only 2 treatments so far & both were effective. About $10 or $12 a tube I think so it's not outrageous. One tube is labeled to treat about 3500 sq ft I believe.

It shouldn't be any less effective in a Pumpkin patch than it's been on a lawn or athletic field.

Steve

5/21/2003 9:20:24 PM

Key West, FL

How do you apply that Steve? I have seen some type of mole repellants, do these work? What about mole chasers, I've heard they don't work. Just trying to get some opinions on all that works and doesnt.
Thanks
Ben

5/21/2003 9:59:31 PM

New Brunswick

What about an ultrasonic pest control mechanism? Do these things work? We are down to one barn cat and I wondered about one of these contraptions. Home Hdwre and Cdn. tire sell them. They run on battery or electricity...cost $19.99 Cdn. and up.

5/21/2003 10:20:30 PM

If you like the satisfaction of seeing the dead mole and manually getting rid of it, buy some traps with claws that pinch the mole. They work well. Other people swear by the traps that have spikes that shoot into the ground. Usually even though there's mole runs all over your patch, it's only a few moles doing the damage.

5/21/2003 11:09:44 PM

[email protected]

The gel is injected directly into the tunnel. A hole is made with a clean non-human scented object. A fallen tree branch would be good if no Dogs or people have yet touched it. Handle only one end so there is no scent transfert to the business end. The mole eats the gel & eventually dies if dehydration.

Shards of broken/hammered glass can be dropped into similar holes. Moles/Voles/Shrews blood lack coagulating properties. So all cuts are fatal. Gruesome & potentially dangerous for folks like me who garden with hands more than shovels & rakes.

Juicy Fruit gum is supposed to clog the digestive system. I know folks who are credible who claim this works. Though this has not been my personal experience.

Castor Oil is supposed to wet the fur of the mole causing cold like ailments of which the mole expires. I've heard of too many failures to recommend but others disagree.

Smoke & Gas bombs only work well in heavy soils with very well structured tunnels. These should only be used by trained professionals. Sandy soils disipate the gas via permiability to some extent.

Harpoon & Choker traps work great. I used Harpoons from Victor for years commercially. But it takes practice to get good consistant results. You must learn to "read" the moles tunnel network & how to properly set the traps. I liked this approach because it is always easier to get paid when you wave the evidence in the clients face.

Those battery operated gadgets seem to work well for less than 30% of the folks I know who have tried them. I've never seen one work. I toured 2 properties where the user claimed success & both were littered with both inactive & active tunnels. Chasing a mole to a new location some several yards away is not my idea of acceptable control. But I suppose this depends on your own personal feelings about killing the varmints.

Likewise the pin wheel theory. Utter waste of time.

Steve

5/22/2003 7:37:38 AM

Norwich, Norfolk, UK.

My deepest sympathy for your mole problem. I have moles also, but my main problem is the rabbits, I had last years plant "tunnelled" by a bunny. A hole which appeared overnight and ran from one side of the plant, straight under the stump and back up on the other. I was not happy! good luck in the war! - Cheers, Harry

5/22/2003 7:43:00 AM

Lake Elmo, Minnesota

Be careful with Warfarin, same as Coumadin which is a blood thinner and main ingredient in rat poison. Any animal, including dogs, cats, etc....who eats enough of it will bleed to death internally. I won't chance it with neighbors animals and little kids.

5/22/2003 4:53:21 PM

Montoursville, PA

It is not cheap but my choice is to go for the grubs that the moles are going in there for! Milky Spore Disease is a fifteen twenty year treatment. There are other similar choices like Grub X.

I messed with a lot of other choices to find none that worked. Break the food chain and the buggers go elsewhere or starve to death.

5/22/2003 5:30:27 PM

[email protected]

I hate to sound like a broken record but I'll try again. Moles & Grubs are a little bit of a wives tail. Controlling Grubs back in the days of Chlordane darn sure got rid of Moles. And that was because the Chlordane killed every bloody Earthworm for the next 5-10 years. So starving moles moved on.
Now don't get me wrong. Moles DO eat Grubs. But Grubs are only available for consumption for about 6 weeks in the spring & another 10-12 weeks in the fall. So when Grubs aren't hunkered down below the frost line or flying around as adult Beetles, Moles can & do eat them. But there are at about 20 weeks every year when Moles aren't hibernating that they still need to eat. And they eat earthworms. Honest. I do this stuff for a living & have been for over 25 years.
So to get the best results with insecticides, you'd have to target Earthworms too. And we don't want to do that.

Warfarin certainly is aka Coumadin. My uncle takes it to prevent blood clots around his artificial heart valve. And you could kill yourself or a pet with it. If you try pretty hard that is.

Kaput contains .025% Warfarin & a syringe weighs 3 oz. So 1 syringe contains 2.25 mg of Warfarin in total.

According to Dr. John C. Stein Jr. MD the Asst. Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of California, San Fransisco, & I quote his own publication directly from his own text:

"Generally, a single ingestion of warfarin (10-20 mg) does not cause serious intoxication."
____end quote______________

That's equal to about 4-8 full tubes of Kaput.
This is based on a human being adult of average weight. I suppose less would have the same effect on a smaller or lighter mammal.
But it would be pretty hard to recover all 3 oz of Kaput when it's properly place in a subteranian tunnel network that spans 3500 sq ft.

Common grub controlling insecticides would be similarly toxic to mammals & just as hard to ingest. But they WON'T work as well. So why

5/22/2003 9:04:47 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

How would you go about eating that Steve? On toast maybe like jelly. I think we have to worry more about the antifreeze in our cars.

5/22/2003 11:24:17 PM

Key West, FL

Grrrrr. yesterday i just had a mole track going through my patch, tonight when i went down there, I find one going pretty darn near under the 1230 and 951!!!! ahhh. I dug up some of the holes with my hands to maybe scare them away for tonight, tomorrow, warfare begins! I looked around were I work today, we have some smoke bombs, I might try those. I might also put some glass shards in, I think if I put just a little bit in, I'll take the risk with my hands, we do have traps but we have never had that much sucess with them in the past. I hope I don't have to do this all summer!! I couldnt find any of the Kaput stuff at my store. We do have some mole REPELANT, does this work? It says it is good for 4 to 6 months! That would be nice.
Ben

5/22/2003 11:49:20 PM

White Plains, NY

Moles and Voles, I have both and prefer neither. I've tried all kinds of removal systems and means and the one I've found most effective are traps and peanut butter. As they are nocturnal I do the following. At an exit hole and/or the tunnel area which might also include a mouse, rat, chipmunk, etc. I place a mouse trap and a rat trap at the hole or make a hole into the tunnel(leave open) and cover with a box so as not to allow in light. I use the two sizes of traps because the varmits are of different sizes. A key feature here is how to bait the traps. Chunchy peanut butter should be used. Push the peanut pieces under the bait catch or holder. These varmits have the ability to lick off regular peanut butter and not set off the trap. When they try for the wedged peanut piece you've got them. I've caught up to three in one day in one trap.
Everytime I'm doing my traps for varmits I'm reminded of Caddy Shack, I love that movie. Happy hunting
Capt

5/24/2003 10:11:54 AM

Montoursville, PA

Sorry but I 'aint no 'ole wife.
OK....maybe I should have said break the most needed food supply in the early spring and late fall. I do not know why the moles are not attracted to my property while all three of my neighbors have some. My property is the only one treated with Milky Spore. I have had no moles for forty years here while they are nearby. Insight as a matter of fact. My night crawlers are at a very high count everywhere but where my use of manufactured chemicals have chased them out of the garden. They are sanely rebuilding most of this property.

I have two varieties of frogs here. Neither can tolerate much if any manufactured chemical spray. It is like day and night here and visable to anyone who cares to look under the fruit trees and a comparrison by seeing a garden where limited chemicals were used right beside one that has never had the benefits of anything but organic principles.

One can not grow certain plants without choosing the insecticides and fungi treetments when growing just one small area within larger areas that have problems. That of course is my opinion that would be challenged by a purist.

Increasing acres yearly are being produced totally organically. Many have made that choice. Many reps in the field earn right healthy incomes advising their followers and selling the products that support the growing movement.

I never thought I would live to see the day a pumpkin grower would do what is being done in organic patch development. Unlike many on either side of this consideration I can accept limited or controlled use of some chemicals while leaning heavily into organic principles.

The continued use of Nematodes may bring the cost down to reasonable as sales increase. They may be an even better solution to natural pest control. SVB can be treeted in the vine without using digging and cutting methods if one cares to investigate use of a hypo needle for treetment.

5/24/2003 12:40:32 PM

Key West, FL

Gassed em', now they are dead, found one today after I tilled.

5/24/2003 9:53:44 PM