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Mole mesh or a bulb basket

Updated: 22 October 2026

The lawn is lumpy and the tulips have gone, and a search for mole mesh or a bulb basket treats those as one purchase. The Royal Horticultural Society says moles eat invertebrates rather than plants, so a hill is spoil and root damage is incidental. This page is the fork: a sheet when the surface is the problem, a metal basket when a root is the problem. The five listings stay on the [mole mesh comparison](/hub/garden-supplies/mole-mesh). A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Peter F. used those amazon.co.uk lines and public UK sources, and did not bury mesh or count hills.

The lawn is lumpy and the tulips have gone, and a search for mole mesh or a bulb basket treats those as one purchase.

Our top picks

C&Xanadu C&Xanadu roll, 400 mm × 6 m

Best overall

C&Xanadu C&Xanadu roll, 400 mm × 6 m
8.8/10about £26.99
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PICK FOR LIFE PICK FOR LIFE roll, 6 m × 20 cm

Best value

PICK FOR LIFE PICK FOR LIFE roll, 6 m × 20 cm
8.4/10about £13.49
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QOXEZY QOXEZY mole and vole basket

Rank 3

QOXEZY QOXEZY mole and vole basket
1.4/10about £10.51
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On this page
  1. 1.Hills and missing bulbs are not one job
  2. 2.Choose a sheet when the surface is the problem
  3. 3.Choose a basket when a root is the problem
  4. 4.If you have both

Hills and missing bulbs are not one job

Start with the animal, then the shape. A molehill is soil pushed up. The RHS diet is worms and other invertebrates, not your bulbs, so a missing tulip is a weak reason to buy a lawn sheet on its own. Which? treats voles as the animals that leave surface runs and eat plant material, and it recommends wire of about 6 mm or 6.5 mm over buried bulbs and a little way up the stems. That split is the usual reading of those two sources. It is not a claim that every chewed bulb in Britain has a vole under it. If the only sign is a fresh hill on turf you can open, you are in the sheet case. If the only sign is a bulb taken from below, you are in the basket case.

Choose a sheet when the surface is the problem

A sheet is for spoil on ground you can open, and it has to be continuous. The laying sequence sits on how to lay mole mesh. The rolls kept here are strips of 20 cm or 40 cm. Six metres by 20 cm is 1.2 square metres before overlap. A 4 m by 3 m lawn is 12 square metres, so one ribbon leaves most of the grass uncovered. PICK FOR LIFE, at £13.49, states a 7 × 7 mm hole and mentions bulbs. Those words do not turn the roll into a pocket.
C&Xanadu C&Xanadu roll, 400 mm × 6 m

Testsieger

C&Xanadu C&Xanadu roll, 400 mm × 6 m
8.8/10about £26.99
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Choose a basket when a root is the problem

A basket is a pocket around one bulb group or one small root ball. Which? suggests about 6 mm or 6.5 mm wire over the bulbs and a short way up the stems. Kerbl's UK vole basket is hexagonal wire at 16 mm, meant to break down after the early years, so it is a wider product. Thompson and Morgan sells plastic bulb baskets from about £5.99 as a way to plant and lift bulbs, not as a vole barrier. QOXEZY and the Generic set do not state an aperture. The size clashes belong on mole and vole mesh baskets.

If you have both

Hills on the lawn and missing bulbs two beds away are two jobs. A sheet under the grass does not guard a tulip in another border. A basket around that tulip does not stop a mole pushing soil through the lawn. If you can open the lawn, the sheet is for that surface. If bulbs are being eaten, the basket is for those roots, with a stated hole around the 6 mm Which? describes. You may need both. Where a listing contradicts its size or omits the hole, leave it and use the mole mesh buying guide.

Common questions

Do moles eat tulip bulbs?
The RHS says moles eat invertebrates, not plants, so a hill is spoil and plant damage is incidental. A tulip that has vanished from below is the pattern Which? ties to voles, which eat plant material and leave surface runs. That is the usual reading of those sources, not a rule that voles always follow moles. Mesh choice follows the damage you can see.
When is a sheet the right buy?
Choose a sheet when molehills are the problem and you can open the ground, before turf or by lifting it. The sheet has to be continuous and wide enough for the area. The rolls in this comparison are 20 cm or 40 cm strips, and 6 m by 20 cm is only 1.2 square metres before overlap. A narrow ribbon is the wrong shape for a whole lawn, compared with a wider roll.
When is a basket the right buy?
Choose a basket when a bulb, a shrub, or one root ball is being eaten. Which? suggests about 6 mm or 6.5 mm wire over the bulbs and a little way up the stems. The basket listings in this set do not print a hole, so they fail that check until a size is stated. A lawn sheet does not do this job for a plant in another bed.
Will plastic mole net stop voles?
Plantura's UK page says plastic net can stop hills and that voles can chew plastic. It also means lifting turf. Which? points to metal wire around 6 mm for bulbs, not to polypropylene net. Plastic net can be a hill barrier on ground you open. It is a weak choice when the damage is eaten plants, compared with fine metal around the root.
What if you have both hills and eaten bulbs?
Treat them as two purchases. A continuous sheet is for the lawn you can open. A fine metal basket is for the bulbs. One does not cover the other: the sheet stops at the grass, and the basket stops at that root. Plastic lifting baskets and 16 mm degrading cages remain different products. If a listing omits the hole or prints two sizes, use the basket page before you add it to the order.

Related pages

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Mole and vole mesh baskets: stated hole, size and metal

Mole mesh buying guide: hole, metal and square metres

How to lay mole mesh: depth, overlap and open edges

Sources

Public UK sources for this comparison. Prices, stars and review counts are the amazon.co.uk listings in this set. Page updated 22 October 2026.

  1. GOV.UK: foxes, moles and mink (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  2. RHS: moles (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  3. Mammal Society: mole (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  4. The Wildlife Trusts: mole (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  5. Mesh Direct: 6 mm mole mesh (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  6. Premier Netting: anti-mole netting (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  7. British Pest Control Association: mole traps (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  8. Spring Traps Approval (England) Order 2018 (retrieved 22 October 2026)