Help my lawn has been invaded

[John Terefenko]

I have no idea what has invaded my yard but it has big time. We are having a very dry summer here in NJ and lack of rain has just about killed most of my backyard lawn or at least it went dormant. Has done this before and comes back. But this past week I noticed many many holes dug in the ground. Some are bigger than others All dug on a slight angle and go down about 6 to 8" Some not so deep. There is no pattern but you will see a group in one area and then another group in another area and then some individual ones. Never had this before in the 32 years in the house.

My question is what is it and how the heck do I get rid of it before my entire lawn is a mine field. I thought about moles but never seen them do this. I looked for signs of grubs because I think that is what moles look for but all test hols showed no signs of grubs and I tested pulling up the lawn by hand and that is not happeneing so I do not think it is grubs involved.

Any suggestions and how do I get rid of this. I went outside at night a few times the past couple days to see if I could see something but see nothing. It is getting frustrating. Help SOS!!!!

[Stephen Tashiro]

All dug on a slight angle and go down about 6 to 8" Some not so deep.

Skunks make such excavations. Is your yard dark and quiet at night ?

[John Terefenko]

yes Why would they do that.

[Stephen Tashiro]

Skunks dig such holes to get grubs - or so I have read. Skunks and their excavations appear in my yard every few years. I don't know whether you should expect to find grubs by digging holes yourself. I don't notice grubs in my yard when I excavate.

I have yet to encounter any moles here in southern NM. In NC, moles left raised paths in ground where they had dug tunnels. They didn't excavate isolated holes.

There may be other animals that dug the holes in your yard, Skunks are the excavators that I have experience. with. Most dogs don't know the dangers of attacking a skunk, so until you rule out skunks, be careful about letting your dog stay in the yard at night.

[julian abram]

I'm sure NJ is too far north for armadillos but what you describe is exactly what my yard looks like when an armadillo drifts through the area. I'm guessing they are just digging for a meal.

[John Terefenko]

I posted this question on a couple sights and skunks is what keeps coming up. I did notice about 5 or 6 days ago a very strong skunk oder at night. I had to get up and close the windows. I remember being pissed off because it finally was a nice night to sleep with the windows open and shut the air off for a night.

So now the question is will they come back and what can I do. If it is grubs they are looking for I could not find evidence after a few test holes. May have to put down some grub killer but that stuff is so expensive.

[roger wiegand]

Think of it a a free lawn aeration service?

They are digging for grubs, lowering the grub population is probably the only thing that will help. Inoculation of the lawn with milky spore is expensive initially, but seems to give reasonable long term (multi-year) protection without poisoning the beneficial critters and the neighborhood.

[ryan paulsen]

Skunks! As mentioned, they're digging for grubs. Make sure to shine a light in the yard before letting the dogs out!

[Conrad Fiore]

Grubs/skunks/milky spore. All the folks above covered it.
Milky spore will probably give you the best long term solution. Any of the commercially available grub control products will work well also, but you won't get the long term control of the milky spore and the MS is far more bio-safe.

[Pat Barry]

I agree with skunks. We get them at our cabin after the snapping turtles lay their eggs. The turtles dig holes to deposit their eggs and carefully cover them up in the sandy soil and almost as soon as the turtle leaves the skunk is johnny on the spot to dig up and feast on the eggs.

[Joe Kieve]

Do you have armadillos in NJ? Hopefully they haven't made it up that far yet, but we do down here and they'll do a number on a lawn searching for grubs, worms, etc. creating holes much like you're seeing.

[Patrick McCarthy]

Skunks! . Make sure to shine a light in the yard before letting the dogs out!

AMEN to that, brother. Learned that the hard way!

[John Terefenko]

What is milky spore???? Can I buy it or make it?? What does it do??? I am getting an education here. I have used in the past Grub X but it is so darn expensive. When I had a small problem on the front lawn a few years back. When that happened I was able to actually pick up the grass in clumps by hand and right under it was thousands of white grubs. Got rid of them. This is in the middle of my back yard. Never had a problem there.

Thanks every one

[Todd Mason-Darnell]

I'm sure NJ is too far north for armadillos but what you describe is exactly what my yard looks like when an armadillo drifts through the area. I'm guessing they are just digging for a meal.


I was going to say the exact same thing

[Erik Loza]

We had an armadillo come through and basically destroy an entire bed full of nice succulents while he was rooting around for grubs. I asked a neighbor with experience what to do and he said armadillos are difficult to trap, since the bait that works on skunks/possums/racoons, armadillos aren't interested in. It happens maybe once ot twice a year and I still have plants uprooted once in a while. Don't know what to do. I don't know what I would do about skunks. They probably are easy enough to catch in a live trap but then what? Lob rocks at them and hope they "discharge", then relocate them? No idea. I will say this: On the scale of stuff that will uproot your yard, be glad you don't have feral hogs. Whatever you see now, hogs will do it 100X worse.

Erik

[Brian Tymchak]

Aside from skunks, it could also be raccoons digging for grubs, or squirrels looking for nuts, or burying for next winter.

[roger wiegand]

What is milky spore???? Can I buy it or make it?? What does it do???
Thanks every one

Milky spore is a bacterium (Paenibacillus popilliae) that causes "milky spore disease" in the grubs. The grubs eat the bacteria, it replicates in their gut, kills the grub and then releases new spores into the soil. Making it would be hard.

[John Terefenko]

So far it looks like this was a one night on the town thing. I have since put the motion sensor light I have on my shed back on ( had turned off because it was too sensitive) and maybe this has kept things away. I will now fill in the holes and throw some seed on it and watch the birds eat the seed. Thanks every one

[Curt Harms]

Think of it a a free lawn aeration service?

They are digging for grubs, lowering the grub population is probably the only thing that will help. Inoculation of the lawn with milky spore is expensive initially, but seems to give reasonable long term (multi-year) protection without poisoning the beneficial critters and the neighborhood.


Another vote for skunks digging for grubs. We had a large Japanese Beetle population until the dug-up lawn started. The lawn digging has subsided and so have the Japanese Beetles. We have squirrels also so it's hard to tell what's skunk's handiwork and what's squirrel's. We used grub insecticide a year or two and lightning bugs have pretty much disappeared. I'm not certain one caused the other but the timing is suspicious. Some neighbors are using a lawn service so who knows what's being put down there.

[Randy Red Bemont]

It is skunks and they are feeding on grubs. Get rid of the grubs and the skunks will move on. Milky spore works great but it is not an overnight fix. If you have had an over abundance of Japanese beetles around then you for sure have grubs. Good luck.

Red