Once a mole has found your yard, he can crisscross it with tunnels and molehills in days. Shortly thereafter, you will probably notice plants beginning to wilt or even disappear. Why do moles insist on wrecking your yard? They're just looking for a meal. The same conditions that make your yard a showplace--moderately moist soil with low acidity that is relatively temperate and lush with vegetation--make your soil a great nursery for the insect grubs, larvae, and earthworms that make up a mole's diet. Moles can eat up to 100 percent of their body weight daily, so it's not hard to see why they have to cover such large areas with their tunnels.

Plant damage is incidental to a mole's presence in your yard and comes from roots damaged as the mole tunnels. If you see roots being eaten or entire plants disappearing, you probably also have herbivores like voles or field mice that may use the mole tunnels to reach their vegetarian buffet.

What to do? In theory, it's simple. You either have to get rid of the food supply or you have to get rid of the moles.

Underground insects can be controlled naturally by introducing milky-spore disease into the soil. Milky spore is available at many garden centers or from gardening catalogs. The disadvantage to this method is that it takes a while before insect populations decline enough to convince the moles to move on.

Traditionally, controlling the population of moles has been done by either a very patient cat or with the use of underground traps. It is, unfortunately, hard to tell which cats make good molers, and trapping seems a harsh way to treat an animal that is just doing what comes naturally.

Fortunately, moles are very sensitive to sound and vibrations. Products taking advantage of this sensitivity have proven to be an effective, humane way to drive moles from a specific area. These products range from a folksy looking windmill that creates vibrations as the wind turns it to battery powered devices with electronic vibration generators. For the windmills to be effective, you need to have a site that gets breezes fairly regularly.

Electronic mole repellers work 24 hours a day as long as the batteries remain charged. If you have a sunny yard, you can get electronic mole repellers with a battery pack that is automatically recharged during the day by a small solar panel. For a shady yard, repellers powered by regular replaceable batteries are more convenient.

So if you have a mole problem, don't despair. Give these humane methods a try before looking for a new neighborhood.