[AlaninCarlisle]

We seem inundated with them for some reason. I've even got one in the polytunnel. Not in the beds, no that would be too easy for them. No, this one keeps popping up between the beds leaving great mounds of freshly dug earth on the gravel paths.

Anyone any advice? Poison or traps?

[arugula]

You won't be able to use poison unless you are a farmer or professional pest controller, as members of the public are not allowed to buy it, but you could get someone in. There are scissor and tunnel traps available, but you should make sure you know how to set them correctly before use. We use a combination of a solar-powered sonic repellant and scissor traps to catch the persistent ones. Works well for us.

[AlaninCarlisle]

I'll try trapping at first. I'm in no hurry to call in the local mole-catcher. Last year I gave him £20 and he caught just the one. As I believe the poison the local farmers use emits HCN when it gets moist, it's probably unsafe in a polytunnel. I was just hoping that there was a poison less lethal that we hobbyist growers could use

[Aunt Sally]

I use 2 mole scarers on my plots - seems to work well.

http://search.diy.com/diy/Sonic%20Mole%20Repellent

Others I know say the bulbs work well too.

http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/HarrodSite/pages/product/product.asp?prod=GPC-239&cookie%5Ftest=1

There are granules as well.

http://www.ernest-charles.com/shop/info_MOLE_RG.html

Have a google around for your nearest suppliers.

[crh75]

argyllie (or anybody else for that matter) - Do the solar powered repellants work in your opinion?

[arugula]

As I believe the poison the local farmers use emits HCN when it gets moist, it's probably unsafe in a polytunnel.

That's right Alan, its nasty stuff which is why it isn't available to the public.

argyllie (or anybody else for that matter) - Do the solar powered repellants work in your opinion?

Yes. OH has identified where the tunnels and runs are and has the sonic repellant placed strategically. We used to be plagued by them, but now its only the occasional one which bothers us, at which point the traps come into play. We don't like killing them, but they make a mess of your crops and that's our food!

Set properly, a trap will despatch quickly and humanely.

[crh75]

I have them very very occasionally,  less than half a dozen mole hills a year and have never killed more than the odd plant or uncovered the odd potato.  So not enough to bother with a trap.  But I will consider a few repellents dotted around the plot.

[Aunt Sally]

They are often very difficult to trap in cultivated land. 

In grassland the soil is hard and the mole geos through the trap.  In cultivated land the soil is looser and the mole often dings around the side of the trap instead of going through it.

[arugula]

But I will consider a few repellents dotted around the plot.

Good idea. Maybe one sonic and some of the bulbs....

[Salmo]

This is advertised at the bottom. I wonder how it would be in your polytunnel.

http://www.rodenator.eu/html/order.html?gclid=CLu0z_Ky0qwCFQENtAod6nEPGQ

Open the website and play the demo video at the top of the screen.

Bye bye moles. Bye bye polytunnel.   

[shokkyy]

I have a lot of moles coming into my garden from the surrounding fields. Over the last 2 or 3 years I've been using the sonic scarers, and have found they work very well. You have to make sure you put them in the right place, so you're herding the moles in the direction you want to move them to. And with the solar powered ones you need to make sure you keep them charged too, I have had problems with that in a shady spot. I kept having to disconnect them and leave them in a sunny spot to fully charge before reconnecting and using them. I think you can get battery powered versions, so I might have to get one of those for my shady spot.

[AlaninCarlisle]

Open the website and play the demo video at the top of the screen.

Bye bye moles. Bye bye polytunnel.   

Cheap at half the price and good fun too.

[Salmo]

If you also click on Natural England and DEFRA on the same site you will find that Rodentators are illigal in UK. So why is it advertised on this nice green thinking site. Money?

[bazh]

Alan the only way you'll fully get rid of the vermin is proper traps (that kill them!)

The solar powered scarers are a gimic, theres no proof moles are scared off by them.

[Yorkie]

Salmo, I'm not sure I understand your comment.  Do you mean that an advert for the item you mention is appearing in the automated Google ads at the bottom of the page?

If so, we have no control over the ads.  They are automated.