[amberleaf]

On the allotment today. One of our senior members asked me to look at his new plants. Little things about 6" tall which looked like tiny palm trees.

He had been having a problem with a mole working it's way along his seed bed.

He had been given some seeds to grow plants he referred to as 'MOLE PLANTS'  and, every time he spotted a mole-run, he had planted one of these 'MOLE PLANTS'.

He explained that the roots of the plant give off an odour the moles dislike. If you put in one of these plants along the mole run, they go elsewhere, eventually, by keeping the planting where ever you get a mole run, the moles will leave your area and go elsewhere.

It is  not an overnight cure, you do have to keep watching daily for activity and select exactly where you plant. BUT he had been doing it over a week or so and because we have had no rain. The humps from the mole runs certainly supported his claim that by planting in the area the mole has decided to go, it is possible to direct the mole towards fallow land.

I demanded some seeds at once (He laughed, he had used all he had been given) I am offered some but sadly, it seems, the plant is biannual and it wont flower until next year.

This was the first I had ever heard about this. Does any one else know about these plants?

[Bombers]

No. but I have another suggestion.....

http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?t=17995&highlight=molemill

[amberleaf]

I always wanted an example of the extreme:-

From the sublime to the ridiculous.

Thank you for supplying it Srebmob.

[iwantanallotment]

Funny you should bring this up amberleaf, I was talking with a very old man the other day who pointed out his 'mole plant'. It caught my eye because it was attractive and had unusual buds on it.
He said the flowers are yellow, but 'nothing spectacular'.
I forget what he said it was called, something 'burr' or 'bur', though.... :?:

[peapod]

No. but I have another suggestion.....

http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?t=17995&highlight=molemill

Good one sr, I have no moleys but I want to see if that works!

Paula

[vegmandan]

Find it's mole hill excavate the soil carefully and shove your hosepipe down the hole and flush him out with 100% organic mains water. :shock:

[amberleaf]

It is a credit to our education system that the literacy rate is as high as it is.

[gobs]

I always wanted an example of the extreme:-

From the sublime to the ridiculous.

Thank you for supplying it Srebmob.

 :shock:  :shock:  :shock:

Please someone tell me, that growing a palm like plant to deter moles is not ridiculous. Besides, makes for more useless lawn then mole hills.

[siztenboots]

1ljrGT-weS4

Jasper Carrot , " theres only one way to get rid of a mole ..."

[Bombers]

I always wanted an example of the extreme:-

From the sublime to the ridiculous.

Thank you for supplying it Srebmob.

Reminds me of an old adage ' Don't knock it till you've tried it!'  



I think I will go away quietly now, and sit on my plot admiring next doors lovely neat molehills/

[amberleaf]

I haven't got a mole problem on my lawn. I have got a mole problem on my allotment where I grow food. They burrow under the crops and dislodge the plant's roots causing the plant to die off.

This forum is about growing your own food not a bowling green.

[iwantanallotment]

I think it's Caper Spurge - http://www.biomatnet.org/secure/Crops/S598.htm

(the old man hadn't got his teeth in when he told me, hence 'burr'  :oops:  )

[amberleaf]

I think it's Caper Spurge - http://www.biomatnet.org/secure/Crops/S598.htm

(the old man hadn't got his teeth in when he told me, hence 'burr'  :oops:  )

Thanks it does seem right, I found another site:-
http://www.biomatnet.org/secure/Crops/S598.htm

It looks like what I saw too.

It does not seem to be marketed though, probably because it is a poison, but then so too are a lot of plants in a normal garden.

[iwantanallotment]

I found some for sale here amblerleaf http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/seeds/pages/wild-c.htm and also Chiltern Seeds sell it.
But yes, it does sound like a plant to treat with respect!

[siztenboots]

I haven't got a mole problem on my lawn. I have got a mole problem on my allotment where I grow food. They burrow under the crops and dislodge the plant's roots causing the plant to die off.

This forum is about growing your own food not a bowling green.

I guess not everyone appreciates Jasper's style of humour