Why Moles Are Detrimental to Your Garden

Gardening isn’t an easy hobby by any means. Every other day you’ll have to carry out a chore or two to make sure everything’s going well out there on the lawn. From worrying about intricate details like soil fertilization and over or under-watering to mowing the grass on a regular basis, there’s always something to keep you on your toes. Amidst all that, having a mole infiltration isn’t helpful by any means! In this article, we’ll talk about what they do to your garden, and what exactly makes them a harmful pest problem.

IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM

Unless you’re a complete beginner in the world of gardening, then spotting a mole problem brewing up is pretty straightforward. These little mammals are hard to mistake for something else. They’ve got a horrid-looking pair of paws that are disproportionately large for the rest of their bodies, and just a single glance at it will tell you that they shouldn’t be anywhere near your beloved garden! Their biggest sign of existence are those small soil volcanoes showing up.

THEY OPERATE ALONE

The longer you allow these creatures to live beneath your lawn under those soil mounds, the tougher they’ll become to get under control. But, the good news is, once you do manage to get your hands on the culprit, chances are that there are no more of them nearby since they are highly territorial, unsocial, and solitary animals. Even if you find several tunnels, it doesn’t mean that there’s an entire colony of them attacking your garden. Rather, it’s one highly active builder that’s hustling hard!

HARMFUL EFFECTS OF MOLES ON YOUR GARDEN

Aside from making your garden look messy with those hills scattered all over the place, you’ve also got lawn damage to worry about with a mole problem. Not to mention, they’re risky as well as stepping on one of those mole hills can cause you to trip and fall.

During early summer and mid-spring, that issue is at its highest stage, which means it’s the worst possible time to get your lawn infiltrated by a mole. As summer sets in, the heat dries your soil out, excavating the moles naturally.

But until then, the damage already gets done as the entire soil structure of your lawn weakens. The burrowing creates raised ridges and lines in the ground, as well as a noticeable dead grass trail all over the yard. Sometimes, they can also burrow very close to the ground, which means your grassroots get caught up as collateral damage, resulting in ugly brown patches on your grass.

They can also uproot and turf and disrupt your vegetation roots, lifting the soil and causing flourishing plant roots to dry out and die. The seedlings get killed, while the roots and bulbs get exposed to the surface.

The ridges and lines created by their burrowing also pave a natural freeway for other pests like rodents to find their way into your lawn (and even home) in a hunt for food. The tunnels can also be useful for other pests.

BOTTOM LINE

While moles have some benefits to your lawn, they also have a long list of problems that can make any gardener feel helpless. So, be sure to have effective preventive measures in place. Sometimes, it’s as simple as owning a house cat, or using a humane mole trap to get rid of these problematic creatures. Thankfully, you’ve only got to handle one and it’s over!