How to Get Rid of Moles in Your Lawn

Few lawn problems are as frustrating as moles. One day you have a pristine lawn, the next it’s covered in volcano-like mounds of soil. Moles work fast and can turn a tidy garden into a minefield of molehills seemingly overnight. Here’s what actually works to get rid of them.

Understanding Mole Behaviour

Moles are solitary, territorial creatures that spend almost their entire lives underground. A single mole can be responsible for an impressive amount of damage because they’re constantly digging in search of food.

Their diet consists almost entirely of earthworms, along with insect larvae and other soil invertebrates. A mole eats roughly its own body weight in worms every day, which means constant tunneling to find enough food.

The molehills you see are spoil heaps from tunnel excavation. Moles dig two types of tunnel: deep permanent tunnels used repeatedly, and shallow feeding tunnels just below the surface. The raised ridges you sometimes see snaking across lawns are these shallow feeding tunnels.

Why Moles Choose Your Lawn

Moles go where the food is. A lawn with lots of earthworms and soil invertebrates is prime mole territory. Ironically, this means healthy, well-maintained lawns with good soil biology are more attractive to moles than neglected ones.

Moist soil is easier to dig and contains more worms, so moles are often more active after rain. Sandy, well-drained soils are generally less attractive than heavier, moisture-retentive soils.

Mole activity peaks in spring when they’re establishing territories and in autumn when young moles disperse to find their own ranges. You might notice increased activity during these periods even if moles have been present but quiet for months.

Trapping: The Most Effective Method

Professional mole catchers universally agree that trapping is the most reliable control method. It’s also the only method that provides certainty, as you know exactly when a mole has been caught.

Several trap types are available. Scissor traps, barrel traps, and Duffus traps are all effective when properly set. The key is correct placement in an active tunnel.

To find active tunnels, flatten a section of raised tunnel with your foot. Check after 24-48 hours. If it’s been pushed back up, the tunnel is active and worth trapping. Set traps according to manufacturer instructions, ensuring they’re properly aligned with the tunnel direction.

Trapping takes patience. You may need to move traps to different locations if you don’t catch anything within a few days. Moles are wary of disturbance and may avoid traps initially.

Professional Mole Catchers

If DIY trapping doesn’t appeal or hasn’t worked, professional mole catchers offer the most reliable solution. They have experience reading mole activity, know exactly where to place traps, and typically guarantee results.

Costs vary but expect to pay £50-150 depending on your location and the extent of the problem. Most professionals charge per mole caught or offer a fixed price to clear your garden.

Look for members of the British Mole Catchers Register or similar professional bodies. Word of mouth recommendations from neighbours who’ve used someone successfully are valuable.

Deterrents: Limited Effectiveness

Various mole deterrents are sold, but evidence for their effectiveness is mixed at best.

Ultrasonic devices claim to drive moles away with vibrations or sounds. Some gardeners report success, but controlled studies haven’t demonstrated reliable results. Moles often simply avoid the immediate area around the device while continuing to use the rest of your lawn.

Mole-repellent plants like caper spurge are traditional remedies, but there’s no scientific evidence they work. The same applies to buried bottles that whistle in the wind.

Castor oil-based repellents are popular in some countries. They make the soil unpleasant for moles and their prey. Results are inconsistent, and they need repeated application.

Smoke bombs and fumigants rarely work because mole tunnel systems are extensive with multiple exits. The mole simply moves to an untreated area of the tunnel network.

What Definitely Doesn’t Work

Some supposed remedies are completely ineffective or even counterproductive.

Flooding tunnels with water doesn’t work. Moles can swim and will simply move to higher ground in their tunnel system. You’re more likely to damage your lawn than affect the mole.

Putting unpleasant substances down tunnels, from mothballs to broken glass, is ineffective and potentially harmful to other wildlife and soil health.

Removing earthworms to starve moles out would devastate your soil health long before it affected the mole. This approach causes far more damage than the mole itself.

Vibrating windmills and children’s windmills pushed into molehills don’t reliably deter moles. They might cause temporary avoidance of that specific spot.

Living With Moles

It’s worth considering whether moles are actually a problem that needs solving. Their tunneling aerates soil and their consumption of pest larvae can benefit gardens.

For lawns where appearance is secondary to wildlife value, moles can be tolerated. Flatten molehills, scatter the soil across the lawn as free topdressing, and accept that more hills will appear.

The fine soil from molehills is actually excellent for potting mixes and seed sowing. Some gardeners collect it for this purpose rather than viewing it as waste.

Preventing Mole Problems

Complete prevention is difficult, but some measures reduce attractiveness to moles.

Reducing soil moisture through improved drainage makes your lawn less appealing. Moles prefer moist soil that’s easy to dig and full of worms.

Physical barriers can work for small areas. Burying wire mesh 60cm deep around a lawn perimeter prevents moles tunneling in, but this is only practical for small, high-value areas.

Reducing earthworm populations would theoretically make your lawn less attractive, but this damages soil health so severely it’s counterproductive. A lawn without worms has far bigger problems than the occasional molehill.

Repairing Mole Damage

Once moles are gone, repairing the damage is straightforward.

Flatten molehills by scattering the soil across the lawn with a rake or the back of a spade. This fine soil makes excellent topdressing. Don’t dig it back into the hole, as this disrupts the soil structure beneath.

For raised surface tunnels, walk along them to press them back down. Water the area well to help soil settle.

Where grass has been killed or tunnels have collapsed leaving depressions, overseed or patch with fresh turf. Our guide to fixing bare patches covers the technique.

If tunneling has made the lawn seriously uneven, you may need to level it properly with topdressing.

When Moles Return

Even after successful removal, new moles may move into the vacant territory. Moles are solitary and territorial, so removing one creates a vacancy that another may fill.

If moles return repeatedly, the underlying attractiveness of your garden is the issue. Good soil full of earthworms will always appeal to moles. Regular trapping or a relationship with a professional mole catcher may be the long-term solution for persistently attractive gardens.

Some gardeners accept an ongoing low level of mole activity as the price of healthy soil. Others prefer to trap promptly whenever new activity appears. Your approach depends on how much the damage bothers you.