Its worse every year--the holes and heaps of dug-up soil on my lawn. At the moment, the mole, and perhaps also chipmunk problem is so far out of control on my front lawn that I'm afraid to walk on it! Its like walking on a soggy sponge with some areas where you can really get a foot caught. I understand its the grubs they're after, but I've tried numerous "cures" that haven't worked from milky spore to camphor to fertilizing to make the lawn very healthy. I suspect the chipmunks are also taking up residence because of the size of the heaps of dirt and some of the holes. If I lived out west, I'd swear I had prairie dogs! I have a well, so I'm trying my hardest to avoid a chemical solution. Any new ideas?

To be honest, I haven't. At this point, anything's worth a try, before someone breaks a leg. While going thru some of the other questions, I also saw the info on nemotodes, which I am ordering today. On another site, I think I may have come up with a good explanation for the really large dirt mounds and holes. I didn't know that raccoons and skunks dug that kind of hole to get at the grubs. So, I'm declaring critter war! Funny thing is, I've never been a grass freak--could care less if its perfect and green. But dangerous is another matter. Thanks for your reply!

your welcome. I hope something works for you. It is terrible when you can't walk out in the lawn without twisting an ankle. My lawn up in Port Orchard Washington was like that. We used a chemical but all that did was move the little critters up to my neighbors yard and then he would treat and back down it would come.

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Duckie: I'll check the organic forum out today. Thanks for the heads-up on it!

TK: Did you ever get your lawn in Washington cleared up? I'm thinking that once I do get these pesky things out of it I'll have to use a heavy roller to flatten things out again to make the ground more firm underfoot, or maybe even add an additional top layer of soil. I sure can't leave it as is.

Meg: I think those clumps are actually weeds, but hey, they're green anyhow. Your little flowers sound pretty. I remember seeing some yards with very tiny blue flowers that gave a cloud-like effect to the lawn. Pretty.

The key to getting rid of moles is by getting rid of their favorite food supply, the grub.

Milky spor does not work in most soils as it needs almost perfect conditions for the spor to spread.
A heathly lawn actually attracts the beetles which lay eggs and hatch into grubs.

The best way to do this is by using a product called Grub-ex. It is pretty safe to humans and mammals. This must be watered in within a couple of days after application or it will be useless and have no effect what so ever.

One application will last the entire season, which is good because the grubs are only present during the mid spring and late summer. You can put down the application once the grass is activly growing, but it will not have an effect until the grubs begin to show up. Since the grubs in your lawn will die, the moles will go off in search of them elsewhere. Until then you will just have to live with them.

Hope this helps

Mike

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Mike Maier
aka
The Plant Doc