We see you, sitting out on your front lawn holding that sturdy mallet.
But no matter how fun it is playing a rousing few rounds of whack-a-mole, that’s a long shot to eliminate your mole problem.
Maybe it isn’t even mole lawn damage wrecking your precious lawn. It might be a vole, a different furry menace.
What’s the difference between a mole and a vole? A mole is a carnivore that mostly munches buglike grubs and worms. A vole is an herbivore that eats plants like grass roots.
Let’s learn more about moles and voles in your yard, including:
- How Do I Know if I Have a Mole or a Vole in My Yard?
- What Causes Moles to Suddenly Appear in Your Yard?
- What Are the Signs of Vole Lawn Damage?
- How Do I Get Rid of Moles in My Yard?
- Vole Control: Will Anything Keep Voles Away?
- How to Repair Mole and Vole Damage in Your Lawn
- How a Comprehensive Lawn Care Program Can Help Deter Moles and Voles in Your Yard
Mole vs vole? Moles have larger front paddle-like paws good for digging, a pointed snout, and almost invisible eyes and ears. Voles have small ears and eyes, as you can see. They’re smaller than moles and more mouselike.
They tunnel through your lawn differently, too. Moles create raised tunnels with obvious mounds of dirt — the main sign of mole lawn damage — while voles tend to create shallow tunnels near the ground's surface.
While moles are shy loners who stay hidden, you might see active voles scurrying around.
Mole vs vole? They’re both bad news for your lawn, whether they’re digging for grubs or devouring your lawn’s tender roots.
Moles are about seven inches long and weigh just 3 ounces or so. Their tiny eyes can barely see. They don’t seem that dangerous. What’s to worry about, right?
But check out their big paddle-shaped feet, equipped with big, sharp claws. These guys were born to tunnel for bugs, tearing up your yard as they forage for food.
At first, you might not even realize they’re there — until they leave their tell-tale molehills scattered throughout your backyard.
How Do I Know If I Have a Mole in My Yard?
As they dig and tunnel through your Boise or Idaho Falls yard, moles create raised tunnels of dirt that crisscross your lawn. You’ll see volcano-shaped mounds, too. Those cone-shaped molehills are the dirt they excavate as they dig deeper tunnels around their dens.
This mole lawn damage is the number one way to tell if you have a mole problem.
You might also be strolling across your lawn and suddenly step into a soft spot they’ve created and sink into the ground.
Moles are good at this lawn-destroying stuff. They can dig 18 feet of tunnel in an hour. That means they can easily add 150 feet of unsightly raised tunnel to your yard in one day.
They’re not just creating those ugly tunnels and hills as they tunnel. They’re also destroying grass and plant roots. Mole lawn damage can include underground irrigation lines and utility cables too.
What Causes Moles to Suddenly Appear in Your Yard?
Did moles hear about your famous crab puffs? Did they show up to get a look at your shiny new riding mower?
Nope. They’re hungry. And your lawn is a bug buffet.
And moles don't nibble a grub or two, sigh, say, “Whoa, I’m stuffed,” and move on. They devour up to 90 percent of their 7-lb weight in bugs daily. Think about that for a minute. Bugs don’t weigh very much. That’s a lot of bugs.
Voles are smaller than moles and look like field mice with their little ears. If you’re lucky enough to see one smile at you, you’ll see they have orange teeth — the better for gnawing plant roots and stems.
What are the signs of vole lawn damage?
Voles create shallow, grassless paths about 2 inches wide that crisscross your yard.
You’ll also notice holes about the size of golf balls in your lawn. Voles use these holes to enter and exit their burrows beneath your lawn.
Signs of vole damage include dead plants and grass. When the pesky critters eat a plant’s roots, the plant collapses and dies.
You might also see gnawed bark on trees near the bottom where the voles can reach.
How Do I Get Rid of Moles and Voles in My Yard?
Moles love grubs. Don’t provide a free feast. Get rid of those grubs.
The slimy beetle babies are bad for your lawn, anyway. They feed on grass roots and organic matter in the soil, causing whole sections of grass to turn brown, dry, and wilted. Then moles move in to munch on the tasty bugs, and suddenly, you’ve got double trouble.
The trick is to kill grubs before they hatch and start to chow down, so opt for professional preventive lawn grub control in the spring to nip them in the bud.
Removing the food source will help chase voles elsewhere.
It seems like everybody has an opinion about how to get rid of moles and voles in your yard.
Use dish soap! Spray the tunnels with castor oil! Dump coffee grounds! Scatter poison gummies! Chop off their heads! Trap them!
The most humane way to get rid of moles and voles in your Boise or Idaho Falls yard is to live trap them and then relocate them.
Traps are also available to kill these lawn-damaging rodents.
Snap traps that kill voles can be baited with apples or peanut butter and oatmeal.
Set the traps along the vole tunnels or near their exit holes. Voles eat under cover, not out in the open, so cover the bait with a box or bucket. This also prevents pets or other animals from encountering the trap.
You can also partner with a pest control service specializing in mole and vole control in Boise and Idaho Falls. Some mole control companies use organic granular pellets that are safe for kids and pets to be around but repel moles.
The pellets, once wet, create a barrier that moles don’t like. So, they stay away.
Vole Control: Will Anything Keep Voles Away?
If you live in a rural area, you’ll likely have more trouble with vole damage than if you live in a city neighborhood with tightly packed houses.
But there are a few things you can do to make your yard less appealing to lawn-damaging critters:
- Remember, voles don’t like to eat out in the open, so you can discourage their munching by clearing brush, heavy mulch and tall weeds from your yard. Don’t give them any easy places to hide and dine.
- Keep your lawn mowed and tidy to help discourage voles, but that’s not guaranteed vole damage prevention. We’ve seen voles in Boise and Idaho Falls show up in the most pristine, manicured lawns.
- Keep thatch from building up with regular aeration. Voles love thatch — that layer of organic material that builds up between the soil and your grass blades. It's a cozy vole bed and breakfast.
- Aeration helps get rid of thatch by loosening the soil and improving air and water circulation, which helps the natural breakdown of thatch.
An aerator pulls out small plugs of soil, creating holes that allow air, water, and nutrients to reach the grass roots more easily. Not only does this process break down thatch, but it helps prevent it from forming in the first place.
Vole prevention aside, aeration is a great practice for healthy lawns, helping them thrive.
How to Repair Mole and Vole Damage in Your Lawn
Lawn damage from burrowing moles and voles will usually repair itself if you have good, healthy lawn habits like proper mowing, watering and fertilizing. But if you want to speed up the process, follow these tips:
- Grab a shovel and clear the excess soil from the mole mounds, distributing it evenly across your lawn.
- Flatten the mole tunnels by walking on them or use a lawn roller to compact the soil and level the ground.
- Fill in any sunken areas with topsoil.
- Lightly rake the affected area to smooth out the surface.
- Plant grass seed, making sure you get good seed-to-soil contact.
Pro tip: the best grass seed for Idaho is a mix of 80 percent Kentucky Bluegrass and 20 percent Perennial Ryegrass. Unlike a single-variety grass seed, blends give you the benefits of more than one variety or species. Blends are also more likely to withstand diseases than single-species lawns because of their genetic diversity.
New grass is hungry. Apply 16-16-16 fertilizer (sometimes called 'starter' fertilizer) to your newly seeded lawn to promote new top growth and a healthy root system.
If the mole or vole damage is considerable, it might be time for professional aeration and overseeding.
How a Comprehensive Lawn Care Program Can Help Deter Moles and Voles in Your Yard
A healthy, well-maintained lawn with fewer grubs and bugs is less appealing to moles and voles.
A balanced lawn fertilization program can help maintain a healthy lawn and make it less appealing to these lawn destroyers.
Partner with expert lawn care and landscaping services in Boise and Idaho Falls, and rest easy.
First, sign up for our 6-step complete lawn care program. You’ll be glad you did.
Choose an Idaho Falls or Boise professional lawn care service that makes it easy, bundling your yard’s most-needed treatments into one convenient, no-fuss plan.
Got a few minutes? That’s all you need to get started. You can simply fill out the form on this page, call us at (208) 656-9131 or read more about our services. Then, you can kick back and relax in your thriving, and hopefully rodent-free yard.
Image Sources | Mole, Vole, Mole Damage, Vole Damage
