- Moles Heading South
As far as I can remember, we’ve never before had moles in our yard here in Oysterville. Deer, yes. Crane flies, yes. Ferrell cats, possums, raccoons, yes. Even Bud’s cows. But never moles. We have seen mole hills across the street in the churchyard and, occasionally, in the yards of our neighbors but until the last two weeks, our lawn has remained pristine and pure – free of unsightly mole hills.
Since we haven’t had to contend with these critters before, I took a look online and found lots of interesting information. Like: moles are not rodents; they are insectivores related to shrews and bats. Their mounds, shaped like a volcano (yep!) can reach heights of up to two feet tall. They can dig up to 18 feet of surface tunnels per hour and they can travel through their existing tunnels at a rate of 80 feet per minute.
When I read that the shrew mole (are ours shrew moles?) only sleeps eight minutes at a time and will stay awake for a maximum of 18 minutes before falling asleep again, I was immediately reminded of Mole in Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. When the reader meets Mole, he is lollygagging on a riverbank taking a break from his spring cleaning and, as I remember the book, was never the model of industriousness.
However, our mole has been plenty industrious enough to suit us. Someone told me that they think the soil’s pH might be a factor in whether or not moles like your garden. That reminded me that because of our Head Gardener’s bad knee and resultant surgery, we have been remiss in our usual fertilizer and lime regime which involves applications of the former about Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day and Thanksgiving week, and the latter in Spring and Fall. I think we’ve skipped applications of anything for at least a year.
If lime is the answer it is an easy remedy, especially now that Nyel’s leg is back to 100%. But someone else said that lime doesn’t work. We are open to ideas, especially if they are organic in character and won’t harm our chickens. We aren’t necessarily into killing – just serious discouragement.
They can be a nuisance for sure. What you read in the article makes sense to me because we do fertilize and lime our front lawn regularly and they are not there but they are everywhere else including the side beds and walkways.
At one point this Spring we had 24 mole hills and Ilwaco has been mole central this year, much more so than any other year. On the advice of a friend we purchased battery operated mole deterients. They have them at Home Depot, but you have to remember where you put them. Dave couldn’t find them when the batteries wore out so he got solar ones and they are not as effective. The same person who told us about these devices said that he’d read that mint will send them scurring, but I didn’t see myself spending the time making tea for the moles. I’d rather make it for you!
My son Rob heard that sticks of Juicy Fruit gum stuck down into the mole holes would chase them away, so he went to work at it, hoping no one was watching him. Sure enough, the mole left that spot but popped up in another! So, he gave up and gave me the rest of the gum because Juicy Fruit is my favorite. I will tell him about the lime.