Do you think that moles will damage my thick plastic bamboo barrier?
I just spent a lot of time digging a 50 foot long, 16” deep trench and put in 18” wide, 80 mil thick bamboo root barrier. I noticed that my trench cuts right through some existing mole holes. Been dealing with moles in our yard for many years (caused over $4 K damage to our driveway).
I tried googling for information about this but to no avail.
I’m thinking that I might have wasted time, effort and money if the moles simply chew right through the thick plastic barrier. Thus allowing the bamboo rhizomes through the barrier. The plastic barrier is supposed to last 100 years if it doesn’t get chewed up.
Guess I’ll find out eventually. HA!
What do you think?
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8 Answers
Maybe use something made of steel.
They certainly have the teeth for it. My guess is though yours may be unfamiliar with it, they will certainly adapt and quickly.
They’ll be through the fake bamboo in less than three weeks.
From time to time voles will travel above ground. If they can go up and over they certainly will. Voles have big teeth for their size. If they are determined to they could go through it. Wouldn’t it be nice if the people who made the root barrier products would think about things like chewing burrowing animals?
Would it be possible for you to bury some mesh galvanized screening along side of the plastic barrier? It certainly would cost you more but maybe it would be worth it.
@jca2 I know exactly what moles are and what voles are, how they work (there are quite a few different species of both by the way). At different times we have had both, thank you.
@gondwanalon Bottom line, no matter what critter you’re dealing with, if it is determined, it will find a way to get where it wants to go. The easiest thing to do might be to make your yard less attractive to voles in general, so they will go somewhere else. That’s easier said than done I know.
Thank you all for your input. Neither vole or mole would have much of a problem chewing through 80 mil thick plastic. Although the rodent incisors of the role would likely have an easier time chewing through than the insectivore teeth of a mole. I know that I’m dealing with moles in my yard. My cat has caught and eaten two moles that I know of.
Anyway this is what I get for not thinking this through. The moles are after worms and insect larvae (mostly crane fly). I could discourage the moles by killing the bugs with a poison like malathion. But the world has too much poisons already.
I’m thinking about making an underground wall of concrete blocks.
I have a confession: I have recently begun to need reading glasses, and I posted my above answer without using them, which resulted in an answer that made perfect sense to me, but must have made the rest of you wonder what I thought I was doing.
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