Does peppermint repel moles?


Dave Campbell

You have a beautiful luscious vegetable garden. You step outside to find a burrow running through the patch and damage to your plants. Yes, a wildlife pest sabotaged your garden. Your first reaction is I have moles in the yard.

STOP, do you have moles or a problem with voles. The mole is tricky to spot and more problematic to remove! The mole is a helpful animal as they remove insects, but the underground tunnels destroy your garden.

The signs of a tunnel indicate that you have pests invading the property. But what pest is it, and how do you get rid of moles if found in the yard?

We want to help and the first steps to determine if you do have moles in the yard.

Is it a Mole or a Vole

When you spot a tunnel system in the garden, you can have a mole or vole, causing devastation in the yard. Both rodents are small, but there is a difference between the two.

The vole has a brown color with the shape of a mouse with small ears and a short tail. You find them in the garden eating grass and roots. Their tunnels you see on the surface winding through the vegetation after the snow starts melting.

On the other hand, the mole has small eyes with concealed ears and big front feet for digging. The rodent is a predator living on grubs, arthropods, and earthworms.

Their tunnels go deep underground, you find it on the surface, and the entrance has mounds of soil excavated to the outside known as molehills.

Since the mole moves about below the ground, the only time you find them on land is when looking for a mate. For this reason, before you grab a mole repellent, determine if you do have the varmint present in the yard.

For interest sake, you get three types of moles the Eastern, Star-nosed, and American Shrew mole. All of these creatures need moist soil and active most of the day.

The only critter of the three that tends to travel in groups is the American Shrew mole similar to voles. The main mole problem is the damage caused by their burrows damaging the property.

Mole Concerns

The molehill can reach up to eight inches high, and using a mole repellent is restricted in some states. You will see them above the ground from February to March at mating time.

The most common problem with the varmint is the ticks, fleas, and transmitting of rabies. Furthermore, with the laws in some states, the best way to get rid of moles is by using a natural repellent such as peppermint oil.

So how do you check to see if you have a mole infestation? You start by gathering some tools from a pair of gloves and a pair of boots.

Walk around the lawn to locate the tunnels, and while they are solitary, all the tunnels you see could be from one mole. Check your vegetation as gophers, groundhogs, and voles create burrows close to your garden. Moles do not eat plants and most insects.

If you have no damage to the vegetation, then your critter is a mole. Once determined, it is time to take a long-term strategy to remove the mole from your property.

Getting Rid of Moles Moles

There are different things you can do to get rid of moles. You can start by creating a physical barrier as moles dig deep. However, you will need to place the blockade deep for it to work. You can put the border around the lawn or vegetation; you do not want tearing up.

Make sure to create the barrier at least 30-inches deep to six-inches wide using gravel, wire mesh, and wire cages. Furthermore, you can provide yard drainage as moles need moist soil to dig through.

Removing mulch and raking up piles of leaves and debris is another method to get rid of moles as it retains moisture. Keep bushes and trees trimmed regularly while using proper landscaping techniques to prevent a puddle buildup after rain.

By starting with these precautions, you get to get rid of moles as you are removing the moles’ food source.

DIY Treatments

Now to get rid of moles, there are different methods you can use with peppermint oil being one of them. Now, you may be wondering what smell moles hate. Further, you may wonder what will repel moles. There are different smells that the varmint does not like, and one is peppermint oil, and the other is castor oil. These smells will rid of moles in flower beds.

Time to Gather Your Supplies

Get yourself full-strength peppermint oil that is a safe, non-toxic method saving you loads of money and time. However, before buying the deterrent, check how many holes are visible and buy the oil according to what you need.

If you find closed heaps of sand in the mole holes, loosen the dirt up with a garden shovel. Now make sure to get enough cotton balls, as you will use a combination of the essential oil to place into the mole tunnel.

Get yourself some gloves and an aromatherapy mask to protect your face from the exposure of the oil. Take the oil and saturate up to three cotton balls to place in each hole.

Shove the cotton balls deep enough under the surface and do this for each tunnel opening to get rid of moles.

Other Methods

While peppermint oil is one of the smells the moles do not love, there are other affordable mole repellents you can use castor oil. The rodent stays clear of the area when smelling it, and using it in tunnel systems is sufficient.

You can use the oil in a spray bottle with water to use along the perimeter of the home or directly on the mole tunnels. You can even pour it into the ground and mix it up with the dirt at different points of the tunnel system to get rid of moles.

For the spray, you will need three parts of castor oil with one part dish soap and three parts water. Mix the ingredients well and soak the burrow exists.

The castor and peppermint oil are effective repellents to use, or you may use the following as well:

Red or Cayenne Pepper – you can sprinkle it over the tunnels, molehills, around the yard, and prevents the rodent from returning.

Tobacco Dust –another effective deterrent you can sprinkle around the flowerbeds where you find holes present.

Other fantastic ingredients to use in a similar method are coffee grounds and cat litter.

Time to Call in a Professional

Most of the time, using DIY techniques helps remove moles from the yard. However, if the problem persists, it helps to call in a professional before the moles cause severe damage that becomes costly.

If you find yourself unsure, if you have a mole problem, a pest control service can help. Furthermore, if you tried all the DIY methods and nothing works to remove the moles, get help.

Maybe you have multiple moles and the problems challenging to resolve, and they are starting to cause severe damage. By hiring a local exterminator, they can help get rid of the moles to prevent causing further damage to the lawn.

Related posts:

Does peppermint repel birds?

Can mint keep away spiders?

How to get rid of garden moles

Sources:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=203

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/28/science/uncovering-the-secrets-of-mole-motion.html

Dave Campbell

I'm Dave Campbell and the owner of deadpestz.com. You can read more about me and my background on my About Me page.

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