Have tried traps, Smoke from flares, dog droppings, ammonia in rags,
moth balls but they keep coming back. It is a lot of work to surround
my garden in buried chicken wire.

Help suggestions needed. No obvious mounds, tunnels 6-8 inches deep
in clay soil.

Thanks gardener

Years ago we lived on heavy London clay.
The moles were a pest because of the mole hills, but their tunnels did
provide a very good drainage system.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

"Fitz Grips" wrote in message
om...
Have tried traps, Smoke from flares, dog droppings, ammonia in rags,
moth balls but they keep coming back. It is a lot of work to surround
my garden in buried chicken wire.

Help suggestions needed. No obvious mounds, tunnels 6-8 inches deep
in clay soil.

Thanks gardener

Moth balls. Good. Continue with whatever poison you find laying around the
house. It's a vegetable garden. What's the diff? :-) :-)

But seriously....how about doing a lot more research before risking your
health and that of your family?

Little more information needed. Can you identify the animal making the
tunnels? I assume if they're 6-8" deep it's not woodchucks, but is it
moles, voles, or what? Are they eating roots, veggies, or plants or just
insects? In other words, why do they bother you?



Fitz Grips wrote:
Have tried traps, Smoke from flares, dog droppings, ammonia in rags,
moth balls but they keep coming back. It is a lot of work to surround
my garden in buried chicken wire.

Help suggestions needed. No obvious mounds, tunnels 6-8 inches deep
in clay soil.

Thanks gardener

Didn't you ever see the cartoons in which the animals, in the wink of an
eye, pull the entire carrot down into the ground with a WHOOSH? It's a
terrible thing.
:-)

"dps" wrote in message
...
Little more information needed. Can you identify the animal making the
tunnels? I assume if they're 6-8" deep it's not woodchucks, but is it
moles, voles, or what? Are they eating roots, veggies, or plants or just
insects? In other words, why do they bother you?



Fitz Grips wrote:
Have tried traps, Smoke from flares, dog droppings, ammonia in rags,
moth balls but they keep coming back. It is a lot of work to surround
my garden in buried chicken wire.

Help suggestions needed. No obvious mounds, tunnels 6-8 inches deep
in clay soil.

Thanks gardener

Fitz Grips wrote:
Have tried traps, Smoke from flares, dog droppings, ammonia in rags,
moth balls but they keep coming back. It is a lot of work to surround
my garden in buried chicken wire.

Help suggestions needed. No obvious mounds, tunnels 6-8 inches deep
in clay soil.

I'm thinking a cat would be in order, or possibly a type of terrier bred
for ratting.

"Chelsea Christenson" wrote in message
...
Fitz Grips wrote:
Have tried traps, Smoke from flares, dog droppings, ammonia in rags,
moth balls but they keep coming back. It is a lot of work to surround
my garden in buried chicken wire.

Help suggestions needed. No obvious mounds, tunnels 6-8 inches deep
in clay soil.

I'm thinking a cat would be in order, or possibly a type of terrier bred
for ratting.


A cat, I can see. But a dog? That's trading his problem for a curse worse
than death.

Didn't you ever see the cartoons in which the animals, in the wink of an
eye, pull the entire carrot down into the ground with a WHOOSH? It's a
terrible thing.
:-)

When I was about 5 years old and helping my grandmother in her vegetable garden
I watched an entire celery plant go slowly down into the ground as a gopher
pulled it,
not with a WHOOSH, but gone nevertheless.

When we moved back to CA after living in Ohio where we didn't have to deal with
gophers, I had forgotten about them. I was quickly reminded of them one
morning as I went out to check on the first tomato fruit that was just turning
red, when I arrived in time to see the last of the plant ( and alas, the tomato
also) disappear into the ground!

Now I do not plant a tomato, or a rose, without the protection of an
underground wire cage or "basket" which I make from welded wire with 1 inch
square openings.
A whole section of the wire can be laid flat on the ground and a raised bed
with solid sides built on top of the wire to keep gophers out.

I had so many wire baskets in the front yard flower bed, that when the water
man
came to check for pipes, his metal detector went crazy!!!

Emilie
NorCal

On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 14:32:29 -0400, Chelsea Christenson
in rec.gardens wrote:

Fitz Grips wrote:
Have tried traps, Smoke from flares, dog droppings, ammonia in rags,
moth balls but they keep coming back. It is a lot of work to surround
my garden in buried chicken wire.

Help suggestions needed. No obvious mounds, tunnels 6-8 inches deep
in clay soil.

I'm thinking a cat would be in order, or possibly a type of terrier bred
for ratting.

Excellent idea! I had so many chipmunks in the backyard that they, with
thier territorial calls which I call "johnny one-note" were really getting
irritating. A neighborhood cat found my backyard was an excellent source of
nutrients. He got larger, fatter and sleeker as my backyard quieted down.

FACE

FACE wrote in message . ..
On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 14:32:29 -0400, Chelsea Christenson


A master gardener says they are voles and I use the nasty stuff by
the paths around my garden where they come in from other community
gardens and inside my garden my foot sinks, my water path sinks into a
hole and they just push up a little inch high bump every 8-10 feet in
solid soil. I can probe and find their tunnel system and dig down
nect to the perimeter path for the flares and stuff to keep them out.
So I have a 60X60 foot garden and that is a lot of wire but guess I
gotta since no big gopher snakes in the area. Could I pay postage for
a big one? Smile

JP

On 15 Oct 2004 23:12:54 -0700, (Fitz Grips) in
rec.gardens wrote:

FACE wrote in message . ..
On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 14:32:29 -0400, Chelsea Christenson


A master gardener says they are voles and I use the nasty stuff by
the paths around my garden where they come in from other community
gardens and inside my garden my foot sinks, my water path sinks into a
hole and they just push up a little inch high bump every 8-10 feet in
solid soil. I can probe and find their tunnel system and dig down
nect to the perimeter path for the flares and stuff to keep them out.
So I have a 60X60 foot garden and that is a lot of wire but guess I
gotta since no big gopher snakes in the area. Could I pay postage for
a big one? Smile

JP

Had voles too. Never saw one but we asked the nursery what would eat the
roots off of roses (from the bottom up) and they said voles. Years ago i
used to see something advertised for voles and moles called something like
"hav-a-trap" that you put over their runs. Never used it or really saw one
but it was definitely not of the "animal-friendly" G type. Sort of a
steel cat lying in wait. Seems it was a spring loaded spike pointed
downwards that was tripped by motion underneath it. Also, I have no idea if
it would be taken into the vegetables, but since your first message i have
wondered about a little common rat poison down the holes. If it is taken up
by the plants, you can sit around the table and say "wow....look at all the
colors" as your blood thins. (Belladonna is one of the main ingredients of
common rat poison along with other nasties)


FACE

On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 11:37:08 -0400, FACE wrote
Years ago i
used to see something advertised for voles and moles called something like
"hav-a-trap" that you put over their runs. Never used it or really saw one
but it was definitely not of the "animal-friendly" G type.

I remember that my father had one of these when I was growing up. He
set it occasionally for moles. I suppose he was an optimist, as I don't
think he ever caught anything.

Ed

(Fitz Grips) wrote in message . com...
FACE wrote in message . ..
On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 14:32:29 -0400, Chelsea Christenson


A master gardener says they are voles and I use the nasty stuff by
the paths around my garden where they come in from other community
gardens and inside my garden my foot sinks, my water path sinks into a
hole and they just push up a little inch high bump every 8-10 feet in
solid soil. I can probe and find their tunnel system and dig down
nect to the perimeter path for the flares and stuff to keep them out.
So I have a 60X60 foot garden and that is a lot of wire but guess I
gotta since no big gopher snakes in the area. Could I pay postage for
a big one? Smile

JP

of course they are voles and for 18 months I had terrible problems
with them. I tried traps (would catch a few, but not enough). I poured
a box and a half of rat poison into the tunnels, and I am quite the
organic type but I was getting desperate. Exactly the same tunnels you
describe, running along the bed edges, two inches in, 3-5 inches down
(they could not get deeper because under the beds it is somewhat
boggy). The beds, underneath, were lined with chicken wire, so they
stayed above it. Finally, I dug up all beds one spring, and from that
moment on I spread large amounts of predator urine. never saw a tunnel
since, and it has been two growing seasons. You have to keep spreading
it until they are set to a different location for winter, or
continuously if you live in a milder climate.

Another thing I do religiously now is to keep the beds free of mulch
until Thanksgiving, as mulch attracts them specially in winter. I also
make a pile of leaves on the other side of the yard (next year's
mulch), which is clearly full of voles (several neighboring cats go
nowhere else when they come visit), and finally, I no longer put
unfinished compost on the beds unless it is way beyond edible.

"Edward Reid" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 11:37:08 -0400, FACE wrote
Years ago i
used to see something advertised for voles and moles called something
like
"hav-a-trap" that you put over their runs. Never used it or really saw
one
but it was definitely not of the "animal-friendly" G type.

I remember that my father had one of these when I was growing up. He
set it occasionally for moles. I suppose he was an optimist, as I don't
think he ever caught anything.

Ed



Was he a fisherman? The outlook sounds similar.