| Rodents like Moles and Gophers can destroy a beutiful lawn, this page gives
information on controlling them. |
| Moles |
| Moles - live underground they move around by burrowing holes in the soil which look like volcano
shaped mounds.
There favorite food is grubs and earth worms and insects such as beetles, they don't eat plant roots. Moles
do not hibernate they
simply burrow deeper during the cold months so they can cause
damage to your lawn year round since they need to eat. Moles build vast under ground tunnels
in search of worms, insects and nesting/living space. They produce two types of tunnels, sub-surface and deep
tunnels or runways.
|
| Identity in yards - Moles create low snaking ridges pushed up in the turf as they move, they leave
no trace of there entrance or exit like gophers. |
| Gophers |
| Gophers - Pocket gophers dig tunnels in the ground noticeable by the dirt mounds they leave as they dig.
They are herbivores and feed on a variety of vegetation mainly roots. |
| Identity in yards - Gophers make large fan shaped surface mounds in turf grass. |
| How to get rid of them |
|
| Natural methods -
|
- Chewing gum - this method only works if they eat it, they cant digest the gum.
- Noise - this is the humane method, but may take several to cover even a small area
- Castor oil granules - this is the organic method
|
| Man made methods - |
- poison pellets -
- poison gas - have to be careful with this method you don't want to breath it.
- poison worm - this method is for moles only works pretty well as long as your get
the worms in active tunnels where they can find them.
- Traps - This is the permanent method, you can trap and release or use spike traps to
kill them. (need to be monitored)
|
Here are the methods we use at KENMAR YARD SERVICE
For moles we use Talprid mole worms, these resemble
the food that the moles eat. More info on this product can be found here www.talpirid.com/ .
For gophers we use noise sticks and back it up whith
caster oil granules on the lawn, these products are available at local hardware stores, this
is the most humane methods it simply irritates them and causes them to leave the area, for
more perment methods you have to use traps. |