I’m genuinely puzzled by the difficulty people have with this!
It’s true that old-fashioned mole traps (like the one below*) have 3 disadvantages: (1) they kill the moles rather than repel them (but none of the humane methods I have tried – including Ultrasons Solaire – work for long); (2) you have to dispose of the bodies – but like Graham’s professional I just throw them over into an adjoining thicket (the fact that professionals use conventional mole traps should give us a clue to what works best, shouldn’t it?); and (3) it’s not a permanent solution – another mole will eventually show up – but then I don’t think there are any permanent solutions!
Here’s what I do: put on gloves; reach into the mole hill and take out handfulls of dirt until you see or feel the tunnel; if it’s a run (ie. the tunnel comes into the molehill one side and goes out another) put in the trap and cover it – I use old plant pots weighted down with a stone over the drainage holes – it’s important that it’s completely covered; if it’s not a run ignore it – or rather just rake off the earth to let the grass grow again; generally the mole activity ceases so you know when the trap has gone off – dispose of dead mole; check every day or so anyway because sometimes the trap goes off but no mole – just reset it; sometimes the mole activity just ceases but the trap hasn’t gone off – just remove it and rake over. In all cases it can take a few days – but you always get rid if the mole one way or another in the end!
- just a photo from the internet – mine are similar to this but old so covered in corrosion, etc