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Post by mangetout on Jun 17, 2023 16:50:09 GMT 1
Like many here, I am plaqued by moles. My soil is very sandy and full of stones. God knows what they find to eat. This morning I spent hours clearing the molehills and setting traps. But this afternoon I saw a positive to it all. My front hedge is full of Wagtails and they were having a wonderful time having dust baths in the mounds. Good for removing mites I believe. So there we go. All is not lost.
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Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
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Post by Aardvark on Jun 17, 2023 18:36:21 GMT 1
I wish you the very best of luck. I have spent hundreds over the years on all types of remedies but none were much good. I have decided to kick over the hills and live with a lawn that looks like a battleground.
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Post by mangetout on Jun 17, 2023 18:48:42 GMT 1
I am normally, but sadly, very successful with traps. I suppose I've just lost heart since my man died. Death is so very sad, no matter who or what,
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Post by Polarengineer on Jun 18, 2023 5:35:20 GMT 1
I do the same as Aardvark and kick over the spoil. At the moment I have a bigger problem with wild boar. They get in somewhere in spite of me rebuilding two walls which were low and showed tracks.
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Post by cernunnos on Jun 18, 2023 6:45:20 GMT 1
I'm not allowed to comment on moles .
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Post by houpla on Jun 18, 2023 7:23:27 GMT 1
I do the same as Aardvark and kick over the spoil. At the moment I have a bigger problem with wild boar. They get in somewhere in spite of me rebuilding two walls which were low and showed tracks. If you know what's attracting them, PE, e.g. muck heap, piles of grass cuttings, broad bean or lerusalem artichokes, etc. sprinkle a mix of black pepper and chilli powder where they're rootling. They won't come back!
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Post by houpla on Jun 18, 2023 7:24:53 GMT 1
I'm not allowed to comment on moles . Why not? Everyone's entitled to their point of view, or should be!
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Post by norfolk on Jun 18, 2023 8:04:19 GMT 1
I had about 20 years on a golf course where sadly both moles and wild boar were a daily problem. The property was spread over 112 hectares with about forty hectares requiring daily maintenance. Remember this was a public business with a lot of visual impact. Moles In the early days strychnine was still available so the standard method was to place poisoned worms in the mole runs. This was an effective way of controlling the pesky little blighters. Strychnine was banned in the mid 90s which greatly reduced options. I tried thorny branches and twigs in the runs which did work but haphazard. Explosive devices became an expensive option and not very efficient plus, a collègue on another course lost a couple of fingers when one of the devices exploded in his hand ! Traps proved the best option. I or a collègue used to do a daily tour of the course armed with traps. Wild boar A real pain and a nightmare because much of the course was surrounded with woodland. We were unable to set an electric fence over all the perimeter because of public footpaths etc though the parts protected with the fences proved quite effective. I did find a foolproof way after a painstaking experiment. I was told by a greenkeeper on a Swiss course that human hair acts as a barrier to which boar will not cross. I asked every coiffeur in the area to save the old hair. About six months later I collected the hair and sprinkled a perimeter around a few greens until the hair ran out. The experiment worked well for a few days with no damage to those greens but the boar soon returned as the hair was dispersed due to the weather and the grass cutting. The most effective boar control was to invite the local Chasse to visit the course for a couple of hours every now and then.
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Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
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Post by Aardvark on Jun 18, 2023 8:43:47 GMT 1
I do the same as Aardvark and kick over the spoil. At the moment I have a bigger problem with wild boar. They get in somewhere in spite of me rebuilding two walls which were low and showed tracks. Yeah. Me too. Not only moles here but it took me a while to figure out we have boar as well. We spent a fair bit of cash over the years trying to improve the habitat. Planted dozens of trees. Less than half survive today. Badly distorted by having the lover branches nibbled or broken off. We had planned a mixed orchard but that became a road to nowhere. Remember all the fuss about Cypress Leylandii? Supposedly grow a metre a year but starting with 3 one metre high saplings they killed off two of them and the third is barely head height five years later. I gave up wasting money buying trees or plants of any sort for the garden, just a few annuals in wall hung containers up out of reach from boars and neighbours cats.
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Post by mangetout on Jun 18, 2023 8:56:54 GMT 1
Why would cats be interested in annual plants?
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Post by cernunnos on Jun 18, 2023 9:01:22 GMT 1
I'm not allowed to comment on moles . Why not? Everyone's entitled to their point of view, or should be! I agree with that, but not everyone thinks like you ( and I ) .
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Post by norfolk on Jun 18, 2023 9:05:50 GMT 1
I do the same as Aardvark and kick over the spoil. At the moment I have a bigger problem with wild boar. They get in somewhere in spite of me rebuilding two walls which were low and showed tracks. Yeah. Me too. Not only moles here but it took me a while to figure out we have boar as well. We spent a fair bit of cash over the years trying to improve the habitat. Planted dozens of trees. Less than half survive today. Badly distorted by having the lover branches nibbled or broken off. We had planned a mixed orchard but that became a road to nowhere. Remember all the fuss about Cypress Leylandii? Supposedly grow a metre a year but starting with 3 one metre high saplings they killed off two of them and the third is barely head height five years later. I gave up wasting money buying trees or plants of any sort for the garden, just a few annuals in wall hung containers up out of reach from boars and neighbours cats. Perversely, planting more trees will attract more wild boar.
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Nifty
Member
Posts: 5,040
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Post by Nifty on Jun 18, 2023 9:07:44 GMT 1
‘ Human hair’
Sounds like an Alistair Crowley remedy.
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Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
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Post by Aardvark on Jun 18, 2023 9:21:01 GMT 1
Why would cats be interested in annual plants? I don't think they are interested, they just like to pee on them or defecate and then make a half-hearted effort to cover it which rips out the plants. There is a part of the garden that we call P*** Corner because the stench of cat pee is so intense. Don't bother suggesting remedies. We've tried them all.
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Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
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Post by Aardvark on Jun 18, 2023 9:23:05 GMT 1
Yeah. Me too. Not only moles here but it took me a while to figure out we have boar as well. We spent a fair bit of cash over the years trying to improve the habitat. Planted dozens of trees. Less than half survive today. Badly distorted by having the lover branches nibbled or broken off. We had planned a mixed orchard but that became a road to nowhere. Remember all the fuss about Cypress Leylandii? Supposedly grow a metre a year but starting with 3 one metre high saplings they killed off two of them and the third is barely head height five years later. I gave up wasting money buying trees or plants of any sort for the garden, just a few annuals in wall hung containers up out of reach from boars and neighbours cats. Perversely, planting more trees will attract more wild boar. If I was rich I would just concrete the whole thing, dealing with moles, cats, and boar in one fell swoop, but I do like the idea of creating a habitat for the birds and pollinating insects.
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