getting rid of moles eating my sweet corn

[INCase]

haveing a tough time this year with moles eating the sweet corn seeds. planted 3 rows and only have about 6 plants growing. if course they are spread out so they aren't growing well.

have replanted but they buggers eat it up. planted some (a lot) mole poison and they appear to have eaten that as well but then if i put a couple kernels in the ground they're eaten. Tried a mole trap. something triggered it but no luck getting the darn thing to reset.

any suggestions?

want to get another batch in before it gets too late.

 

[thdrduck]

Hate moles. The only thing I have any luck with is traps made by Tom Cat. They are plastic and you set them on feeding trails. Last year I killed 7 moles in my yard and this year I have got 1, but no more mole activity. I don't know how they would work in heavy soil, but in sandy ground they are magic.

Good luck

 

[johnofnewhaven]

Dynamite

 

[WESnIL]

My success rate with traps is zero and have had better luck with the bait. They are two active ingredients in the various products available. I am not sure which one is the best as I generally use both at the same time. It has been a battle over the years. As of two weeks ago I thought my problem was over but yesterday I saw some new damage so I baited again yesterday afternoon. Luckily my damage is on the property line and not close to the house and the 'good' lawn.

 

[old]

I don't have much trouble with them but then again the barn cats kill them and so do my ducks

 

[Steve@Advance]

I doubt moles are eating the seeds.

Moles are strictly insectivores, worms, grubs, larvae...

Now they can damage root systems with their burrowing, but eat plants or seeds, no.

 

[Richard G.]

Whatever is eating your corn, put the seed in a can and pour a bit of diesel fuel in it and stir it around.
Whatever is eating the seed will quit and the corn will come up fine.
Richard in NW SC

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Plant some Castor Beans in with the corn.

 

[Janicholson]

It may be birds, crows and blackbirds/grackles love seeds. Putting burlap over them can let them germinate. Jim

 

[INCase]

well i presume they are moles that are eating the seed. There are tunnels under each row of corn and between of course. easy to poke finger in and find a nice open tunnel.

i guess it could be chipmunks maybe ?? as they tunnel but i usually see them around above ground too. I would think the bait would be killing them unless they are hording the bait (and seeds). but that doesn't sound right..

of course the garden is tilled and is super soft and easy digging/tunneling. it is also a raised garden (about 12)

thanks.

 

[IaLeo]

Do you have those striped ground "squirrels" that live under ground? As a kid, I had to patrol the edges of the newly planted cornfields looking for well worn grass paths in the sod fence row and find their "open" hole. They always dug up the newly planted nearby seed. I used poisoned (purple) coated corn kernels.

Today, being a non-farmer, I put tablespoons full of rat poison down any of their hole I find anywhere near the house. Leo

 

[Fordy20]

That's exactly right. Poison moles with Talprid (looks like a gummy worm) and gophers with ProZap (looks like grain). Got rid of both on my five acres with poison down their runway and they haven't been back in the last five or so years. Shape of the mound will tell you which it is.

 

[DonB]

Thank you Richard G. I had the same problem as Incase. So the diesel wont hurt the germination? I will give it a try

 

[Bruce95304]

I don't like to use poisons on my vegetables nor around my kids and pets -- too much risk. My solution: BBQ'd moles and gophers! After I finish grilling my own dinner, I drop the still glowing briquets into all the holes and tunnels I can find. Just use one briquet or else they'll smother themselves out. The now-covered tunnel will fill with carbon monoxide for the next hour, send the odorless gas throughout the network of tunnels. Takes out the whole family.

CO is the humane, ethical, effective, and safe -- unless you're is tall, dry grass. Be careful.

 

[Fordy20]

If its a mole, there will be mound thats round. To poison then you locate the runway which is generally 4 to 12 inch deep. Then drop the Talprid worm into the runway and cover the small hole where you dropped it in.

If its a gopher, the runway will be kind of U-shaped and you do the same excerpt drop a spoon of Prozap down into the runway.