The Ohio State University

Home LandscapeNotes I have noticed over the last couple of weeks distinctive mole activity in a lot of places. Normally, at this time, most of the moles are tunneling along the surface, but the characteristic mounds that normally show up after the first frost are beginning to be pretty evident in lawns. These deeper mounds are the result of the moles digging deep burrows in which they will hide during times of extreme winter cold. I'm not much of a believer of animals being able to predict future weather, but this early deep burrow building is certainly interesting.

Even though the white grubs are a bit slow developing this year, they can serve as a tasty meal for moles. However, before I go down this path of information, REMEMBER that EARTHWORMS are the number one food of moles!

In over half the cases where I see severe mole activity, it's because the soil is high in organic matter and earthworm populations. When someone calls to complain about moles, I usually ask if they regularly see earthworms on their driveway or sidewalks after a rain. If the answer is "yes," then a grub treatment will likely do nothing to reduce the mole activity.

I still strongly recommend trapping as the one reliable means of eliminating moles. Two types of traps can be found on the market, a scissor-style and a harpoon-style. The scissor-style trap consists of two opposable jaws that snap shut when triggered to grasp and crush any unfortunate mole that triggers it. The harpoon style (figured) consists of several flat blades which are welded to a plate that is spring loaded to force the blades into the soil to stab any mole that triggers it. There's a new version of this type of trap on the market that seems stronger and easier to set, but I haven't tried it yet.

To effectively use either trap, you need to look around and locate straight burrows. These are often located along the edge of a yard, though they may cut directly across the yard. The straight burrows are the ones patrolled by the mole on a regular basis. Any earthworm or insect that happens to end up in the tunnel generally will travel along the tunnel rather than burrowing back into the soil. This means that the burrows are actually traps used to capture earthworms and insects!

Over the last couple of seasons, I've recommended considering the mole bait that looks like a gummy-worm (Talpirid for commercial applicators and Tomcat for homeowners). While the initial reports were favorable, with even a replicated trial from a university researcher, more recent field usage has resulted in a cooling of its use. Tom Schmidt (the Mole Man of Cincinnati) has always claimed that this bait was not useful, I'm beginning to move toward his thoughts! Tom still gets his best results from setting out several traps in the area. He can clean out several moles in a few days which stops the problem, at least for the season!

Posted by David Shetlar