Moles

Moles are usually not after your plants, but the grubs and insects that are after your plants. Unfortunately, they often undermine plant roots (which causes damage to the plant) or just make ugly molehills and tunnels.

Physical Description

Google Images

Molehills and tunnels are usually all you see of this pest, other than sunken or loose and tilted plants. To determine what underground varmints (moles, gophers, and voles) are the culprits, identification is based on the shape of the mound it makes (or doesn’t make).

  • round mound = mole
  • U-shaped mound = gopher
  • no mound, just a small hole = vole

Species & Taxonomy

  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Chordata
  • Class: Mammalia
  • Order: Soricomorpha
  • Family: Talpidae, and others
  • Genus Species: various

Lifecycle

 

Plants Affected

 

Plants Unaffected

 

Geographical Range

 

Signs & Symptoms

Whole Plant

Leaves

Flowers

  •  

Fruit

Roots/Tubers

How to Positively Identify

 

Treatment

Prevention & Control

 

Cultural Controls:

Habitat:

Temperature & Humidity:

 

Mulching & Cultivation Practices:

Natural Enemies & Biological Controls

Insects:

Animals:

Reptiles:

Barriers

Traps

Sprays & Dusts

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Sources:

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