I recently received an interesting email from a garden tip reader that I thought would make an excellent garden tip. Pests in the garden are a common problem and we have tried every avenue to control them. Here’s an example:
Q: I was wondering if you can answer a difficult question?? A few months back, I replaced my mulched landscaping with black lava rock. Since then, my whole landscape is being dug up in the rock beds. And I mean all over the place. Are these moles and why all of a sudden is my landscape being destroyed? This never happened when I had mulch down. What can I do to get rid of this problem. Help before it’s too late!
-Renee
A: I sincerely doubt if the black lava rock has any influence on the problem but I guess I can’t guarantee it. First, we need to make sure it is really moles that are the problem. Raccoons and skunks love to raise havoc in plant beds too. Usually they prefer bark, but if you are seeing damage from above ground that may look like clawing damage, you might consider these critters as the problem.
You may have the type of ground moles that are leaving raised tunnels underground. This feels like you’re walking on marshmallows when you are crushing the tunnels. The moles make the tunnels to look for grubs to eat. I have a great mole trap that is working well for us. We have made a little adjustment to the trap and our success rate is growing! If you think this is the problem, I can pick up a couple of traps for you. The cost is $35.00 per trap. Just give me a couple of days to pick it up.
