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Holy Moley! Moles and Lawn Damage

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George and Becky Lohmiller
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Moles have the potential to ruin your lush green, meticulously-manicured lawn. Chances are, you don’t have anything nice to say about them, but beyond their digging, they provide some benefits. Read on to learn more.

Molehills

  • Mole damage shows up as long ridges of soil running through the lawn and as volcano-shaped mounds of earth called molehills formed as mole tunnels beneath the soil surface in search of food.
  • You may also notice soil outside tunnel entrances, pushed there, while moles construct deep permanent tunnels for nesting and overwintering.

A Mole’s Life

  • Moles are often mistaken for rodents, but they are not related to mice, rats, and other rodents. Their diet includes insect larvae, spiders, earthworms, and lawn pests such as slugs and grubs. They do not intentionally eat plant material.
  • To meet their high energy requirements, moles eat just about 24/7. They often consume the equivalent of 60–90% of their body weight in a single day and may tunnel 100 feet in the process.
  • Moles are well adapted to the darkness of subterranean living. Nearly blind, they compensate with their keen senses of smell, hearing, and touch.
  • As they dig through the earth with their large, shovel-like forepaws, their tiny eyes are protected from dirt by thin membranes. Their nostrils face to the sides of their pointed snouts to avoid being clogged, and they lack external ears.

Benefits of Moles in Your Lawn

  • A mole’s tunneling aerates and loosens the soil, which helps plant growth.
  • They eat garden pests and are themselves a food source for foxes and other predators. Moles are often blamed for eating bulbs and the fleshy roots of ornamentals, but chipmunks, mice, and voles are actually the culprits.

Moles are most active in early spring; the damage usually subsides when the soil dries out later in the season. In the meantime, if you rake out the mounds and ridges, the lawn should recover on its own, and you won’t be making a mountain out of a molehill.

See our complete guide on how to control moles in your garden!

Read Next

Garden Pests
About The Author

George and Becky Lohmiller

George and Becky Lohmiller shared their gardening knowledge and enthusiasm with Almanac readers for more than 15 years, writing Farmer’s Calendar essays and gardening articles in previous editions of The Old Farmer’s Almanac. Read More from George and Becky Lohmiller
 

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Comments

Nancy (not verified)

6 months 1 week ago

For years each spring the brown hills appeared near the tree line, but last year I tried using pinwheels stuck into the center of the hills. Pinwheels are inexpensive, around $1.00 each, and it seems the alternating vibrations offend the little critters. We had a couple early, but after pinwheeling and running over the hills with the mower to flatten them, the bare spots remain, but no new hills since the beginning of our mowing season. Bye bye moles? Hoping so.

Doug Bryce (not verified)

2 years 7 months ago

I've been using a product called "GopherOut" (gopherout.com) that causes the varmints to leave the area and lasts for 6 months or so. I use it for gophers but it claims to repel voles, moles, squirrels, etc. and is safe for pets, kiddos and adults.

Debby Mccullough (not verified)

6 years 5 months ago

How do l get rid of Voles? They have ruined my garden.

Dennis Lee Snyder (not verified)

2 months 2 weeks ago

use a grub killer in the early spring and late fall. by killing the grubs it eliminates the moles food. Voles, use mole tunnels. They can't make their own. by eliminating the food for moles, they leave your yard and go elsewhere. not long after the voles will have no tunnels to use and leave also.

Leroy (not verified)

7 years 4 months ago

moles keep plugging the trap, over and over

PirateLogic61 (not verified)

7 years 9 months ago

Great idea that I will try right away for the the short term. I want to know the best way to KILL them. In the Pacific NW, we have thousands destroying land everywhere.

Kiki (not verified)

8 years 8 months ago

My aunt had moles one entire summer in PA. She tried several things and nothing worked. Finally someone told her to plant garlic as they don't like the smell. She did one better. She got her extra large pasta pot (she had 9 kids, it was huge) and filled it with water. She got 4 (or more) entire heads of garlic and smashed the cloves, and put it on to boil. Then she went around to each mole hole with her label and poured some boiling hot water down the hole and made sure several cloves of garlic went down as well. A day later, no moles. About 2 weeks later a neighbor complained of moles in his yard. She asked if he'd checked their breath? When he said No, why? (puzzled), and she said, well if they have garlic breath, they are from my yard. She swore by this remedy. Not fun for the moles, but better than killing them.

Lorena (not verified)

6 months 1 week ago

Check their breath. How funny!