Moles.

What is the best way to remove moles besides using traps?

We have a bunch of 'em in our yard and some of my lawn customers are trying to get rid of them, but they don't like dealing with traps and dead animals.

Learn to live with them if you can't use traps.

Idiot folks like your dealing with are why I no longer do moles.

There is no other way to control and eradicate that problem. Lots of so called fixes on the market but none in my experience and knowledge there of will give any positive results.

You need to educate your customers as they must have their heads in the sand as there isnt another option. They will have to deal with the proven control method or live with their problem.

Thankfully I'm not being hired to get rid of them, I don't think I'd go for a job like that. They just asked me if I knew of a way to get rid of them. I recently heard of this stuff you spread through your yard and it kills the grubs, and because that's what moles eat when the grubs are gone the moles go too. Has anyone tried this?

Yes. I put GrubEx® down and had no effect. May have killed some grubs but moles prefer earthworms anyway, everybody got those.

Did a job last year for skunk and raccoon digging up a yard grubbing. Owner says "I'll just put down GrubEx® and kill the grubs." He tried it. No luck. Caught more coon a month later. That was after we had good rains to soak the grub control in.

That's a good job to do, mole trapping! Need some good traps and knowledge. No ladders, drills, lifts, bulky cages....

Killing grubs only is like taking the fries out of a combo meal. You still got the burger and the coke.....

Good discussion!
I feel GrubEx, Talpirid and other chemical solutions are very effective at their intended purpose: making money for their manufacturers.
When I see peer-reviewed, truly scientific proof that chemical fixes work on moles, then I'll consider their use.
It ain't rocket science, but mole trapping - as most of us know - is very labor-intensive.

Dave and others; Here's a chance to set me straight. We have no moles as you well know, but some years the grubbing skunks, raccoons, and opossums are ripping lawns to pieces.

I was under the impression that if the customer had used a product like Grub-X, he wouldn't have the grubbing problem. Am I mis-informed and if so, is there some other way to keep the grubs out of your lawn?

I know how they can get rid of the moles and they won't have to set a trap nor handle a dead mole. All they have to do is hire someone else that knows what they're doing to trap the moles. Trapping is the only effective way to eradicate moles. If you do it,,,, double triple the price after they have car exausted, water flooded, glass sprinkled, fish hook laced, razor blade lined, grub sprayed, human hair spread, windmill guarded, beeper planted, mole repellent plants planted, and lastly juicy fruit baited ,,,, the tunnels.

Rickey

Thanks Rickey, now can anyone answer my question?

The grubs are best controlled when they are small and actively feeding near the soil surface, usually late July to mid-August. However, with the development of new grub control chemistry (e.g., imidacloprid [Merit] and halofenozide [MACH2]), applications in June and July have sufficient residual activity to kill the new grub populations as they come to the soil surface in late July through August. Control of grubs in late-fall or early-spring is difficult, at best, because the grubs are large and may not be feeding. Only trichlorfon (Dylox) and carbaryl (Sevin) formulations are available for such rescue treatments. The key to good control is to make an even application and water thoroughly.
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Diazinon was the best to use for this, however it was phased out! Best foolproof way to rid grubs is hand digging! Let the skunks do it, they aerate the yard and get rid of the grubs!

Okay, the skunks are amazing. They cannot only smell, but actually hear, each individual grub. The only problem is, if you have ten thousand grubs, you have ten thousand holes in your lawn.

Now raccoons are something else all together! The first grub job I ever did, I thought the customer had a front-end loader come in to move his earth to perhaps make way for another building. ( I am not making this up )

On the contrary, what I saw was a group of raccoons working together to shake all the grubs out of the customer's top soil. I set seven cages and caught six raccoons the first night. ( All adults ) The problem went away, almost immediately.

Imidacloprid has been implicated in Colony Collapse Disorder affecting honeybees.
Sevin is also very rough on bees especially in the dust formulation.

Has anyone tried or had success with those plastic poison worms?

The fact remains that with the many so called mole remedies none have a significant impact on moles in my experience as stated previously.I have used the worms and tested the leading product Talprid worms with little success.

A friend used the Victor brand worms as well however they didnt resolve the mole problem. I went in and trapped them out in a week. Enuf said on that topic.

Bell Labs, who make Talpirid, has had very good success: they've sold a gazillion buck worth of that junk to lazy PCO's, etc., who think they've found an easy way to control moles. Whatever their true kill rate is (...and they've refused to give me the numbers), it ain't good enough fer me.

Does anyone know of a way to live trap a mole?

Paging Mr. Jameson.

I am here off and on as time permits.

as a side note that we all know, but yet the customers and manufactures (well they know just bad business to address) do not is that worms are I believe 80% of the diet for the mole. I think that is the % I was told, Although I have not asked the Mole if this is true. The poor grub is blamed for everything just like the red headed step child. I also want to note that most of my so called skunk and coon Grubbing in my areas is in fact skunks and coon going after Night crawlers, not Grubs. Bob Noonan and My self just had a conversation on this very subject with skunks, and he mentioned a study done in England where the red fox was also eating the night crawlers heavily.

Yep!

Could you explain?

The dvd, Mole Elimination System, shows one way of doing it. Bob Jameson has a pic of his trap in the archives I believe.

maybe LATrapper can direct us to that.

This is found in the ADC Archives, tutorial (with pictures)- Mole- Live catch mole trap revealed.
http://www.trapperman.com/forum/ubbthrea..._rev#Post202120