Mole deterrents come in various forms, including ultrasonic, chemical, and natural. These repellents emit irritating vibrations, odors, and sounds and can even affect the taste of the moles’ food to repel them.
Moles can be challenging to remove once they set base in your garden or yard. Mole activity can wreak havoc in your carefully manicured lawn or yard.
Their mounds and tunnels are usually occupied by other burrowing pests such as voles. Moles usually feed on grubs and worms and are pretty harmless to your vegetables and plants.
Their unsightly tunnels are why most homeowners look for the optimum ways to get rid of moles. This guide will look into the best mole repellents for your house and yard. Let’s dive in!
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Most effective mole repellents
Before investing in any mole repellents, a crucial factor is determining whether you in fact have a mole infestation. Voles and gophers are usually confused with moles.
While some remedies might work for all pests, it is not the case for all mole repellents. Let’s spot the difference between the three:
Gophers
Gophers are the size of ground squirrels and forage on roots and bulbs.
These pests can also pull whole plants underground to consume them. Their mounds are fan-shaped and flatter on the top compared to mole hills with a hole off to one side.
Voles
Voles are similar to mice and feed on stems and shrubs close to their holes. They rarely spend time above ground and use numerous small, mouse-size holes that enter their narrow interconnected tunnels.
Moles
Moles hardly come above ground and prefer feeding on grubs and bugs in their tunnels. However, despite not being herbivores, their crisscrossing tunnels usually damage plants and cause problems when mowing your lawn.
To identify them quickly, their mounds are rounded and volcanic-shaped. We’ll look at the different mole repellents to identify the most effective ones.
Types of mole repellents
There are various types of mole repellents that you can use to solve your mole problem with the best method for your yard:
Natural repellents
Natural mole repellents can also be spray, liquid, and granulated types. The significant difference is that this method only uses natural products such as citronella oil, garlic, and castor oil in their production.
These natural repellents emit and spread powerful smells that moles hate into the mole tunnels. These smells can even give a disgusting flavor to the worms and grubs in the soil, forcing the moles to look for food elsewhere.
Granulated
Granulated repellents can incorporate both chemical-based and natural products, increasing their effectiveness. These solutions are in granules form and can be sprinkled from the bag or by hand.
Alternatively, they can simply be dispensed into a granule spreader for a more uniform distribution. These typically last longer than spray or liquid repellents.
Ultrasonic
Moles have sensitive or delicate sensory organs, and ultrasonic mole repellents send low-frequency ultrasonic waves into the ground. This irritates, distracts, and repels these pests, and they’re the most commonly used repellents as they’re easy to use and require little attention and reapplication.
Most ultrasonic mole repellents are solar-powered and will only require to be placed in the right location and left to do their job. You can purchase these products, and other solutions like mole netting, at your local store or on online.
Spray
Spray repellents include chemical-based, and natural products and are reapplied with a higher rate than granules and liquid mole repellents.
This is the second easiest solution to mole infestation as it is a pre-mixed version of the liquid one. You’ll only spray the product on your yard following the manufacturer’s instructions and reapply as needed.
Liquid
Liquid mole repellent is the most sophisticated method because it must be diluted with water or mixed with dish soap before use. Besides, if you get the ratio wrong, the solution might end up inefficient or too toxic, damaging your lawn.
Liquid mole repellent can be chemical-based or natural and come in massive, concentrated quantities, ensuring you have enough to deter these pests.
Other Common DIY alternatives
Coffee grounds
Coffee grounds emit a strong odor that immediately deters garden moles. You can sprinkle fresh coffee grounds throughout your garden or lawn.
Alternatively, you can toss already used coffee grounds into your yard or garden. You can do so daily after making your morning or evening brew.
Vinegar
Vinegar is another repellent that emits a pungent smell that deters moles from your yard and garden. You can use apple cider vinegar or white vinegar using a sprayer and spray it throughout your yard, lawn, and garden.
What smells keep moles away?
If there’s a scent that voles, armadillos, groundhogs, and moles hate—it’s castor oil. For this reason, you’ll find it the main active ingredient in most repellents.
Other smells that moles hate that are non-toxic are:
- Mothballs
- Daffodils
- Marigolds
- Alliums
- Mole plant
- Castor beans
- Fritillarias
- Tobacco
- Dried herbs
- Freshly chopped garlic
- Pepper
- Mole-repellent smoke
Why do I suddenly have moles in my yard?
The main reason moles suddenly appear in your yard is to search for food. Their primary food sources include grubs, earthworms, mole, ants, lawn insects, and crickets.
If unsure how to get rid of moles from your yard, you can consult a pest control expert to do the job.