Chris
The Mole Man
Irrigation and moisture control can be vital to being Mole Free in St. Louis Lawns.
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However if your yard mole infestation is more widespread, zig-zagging tunnels or mounds, this indicates that the soil's what's drawing moles in from throughout the neighborhood. When your yard is your neighborhood's mole magnet, trapping alone often just clears the way for the next moles to fill in behind the trapped moles and the infestation continues. When the soil's the issue, treating the yard can help drive moles out and keep them out long term. Then, to support your mole free effort, it's important to identify what may have drawn your moles in in the first place (often poor moisture control, pesticide use or dead tree root systems). If poor moisture control is suspected, be sure to adjust your heads (see video) for an even application throughout their zone and be sure not to over water. This can help you avoid the moisture imbalances that can often contribute to yard mole infestation so you can start playing a part in your own mole free success instead of contributing to the problem. I.E.: While we're PUSHING, Stop PULLING!
Much of the yard mole infestation throughout St. Louis can often be attributed to poor soil moisture control of your yard. Soil moisture can play a significant part in how much mole food exists in your yard. And this, often, is what's drawing moles in from throughout your st. louis neighborhood, making your yard an infested mess, while your neighbor's yard is not.
How:
- Wide spread yard mole infestation comes from moles being drawn into your yard by the organisms that overpopulate your yard.
- Overly wet soil can have too many worms, while also drowning out other organisms that can't breathe in the damp ground. This creates a biological imbalance that can lead to an over population of mole food.
- Overly dry soil also attracts yard moles when the ground is allowed to dry out long enough to kill off the natural balance of organisms that would otherwise be in the yard. Then, once the soil is finally watered and can sustain life, insects quickly repopulate the now livable yard and lay an overpopulation of larvae.
- Remember, yard moles are like Lawn Bats. They can hear the alluring parts of your yard from several lawns away. That's what the straight tunnels leading to zig-zagging tunnels are.
So what can be done to help prevent mole infestation?
- Proper Watering: Water evenly and deeply about twice a week. Irrigating much more than that often means that your heads are set to too much of a stream and are missing much of the lawn, creating brown spots in some areas and wet spots in other, leading many to over-watering in some parts of your yard. Brown spots mean dry soil, which kills off some biology that should otherwise be there, often right next to wet soil where all the water is landing, which drowns out some biology while also creating too many worms. When these areas are right next to each other, this imbalance can create an overpopulation of all forms of mole food and makes your lawn irresistible to your neighborhood's population of yard moles.
- Avoidance of Pesticides like GrubEx: Yards that act as mole magnets, where your lawn is a mess right next to neighbors' lawns where moles have very little interest, comes from a biological imbalance in the yard. Like poor moisture control (above), intentionally killing off the biology in the yard with poisons also creates imbalance which eventually leads to an over population of mole food--the mole magnet.
If I have moles, can't I just water them away?
If that were the secret to being mole free, the secret would've been out long ago. The fact is, mole infestation is like icebergs, what you see on the surface is only about 10% of what's winding underneath the yard up to 6 feet down. Once you see moles on the surface, chances are there's already a large tunnel system deep below making it difficult to simply trap them one by one or to simply water.
So, what how do I use proper moisture control to help support my mole free effort?
Since you can't just water moles away, it's best to determine if your tunnels are being drawn in, often due to poor moisture control, or are just passing through. If the tunnels are isolated, straight tunnels running up the drive, walkway or base of the house, then trap it as there's nothing indicating that the soil is drawing them in.