Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Mole or vole?
Moles or voles, neither is great in the landscape. Voles are common in yards. They eat grasses and roots and leave trails. We usually see their small surface tunnels winding through lawns right after snow melt. Voles love munching on small trees and shrubs, they can be a problem with newly planted plants that don’t have protection in winter.
Large vole populations can most effectively be reduced using toxic baits. There are some available for home use but please use cautiously. You don’t want kids or pets to get into that stuff. Voles like to munch on the crowns of your lawn, so don’t mow less than 2 inches. In fact, it’s better to keep it closer to three if you can. I know that drives some folks nuts!
How to manage vole damage [Univ. of MN Ext]
Moles are the real diggers! They are not vegetarians. They’ll reuse tunnels so stomp down an entrance you see and if the mound is raised within 24 hours, the tunnel is active. Set a trap there.
You can also FLUSH them out with an organic product called Mole Max. You’ll need to start flushing them first from nearest your home and then continue outward a couple more times.
How to trap moles [Univ. of MN Ext]
Controlling nuisance moles [Univ. of Missouri Ext]
