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How to Treat & Repair a Mole-Damaged Lawn
How to Treat & Repair a Mole-Damaged Lawn. Moles are rodents that burrow underground and come from woodland areas. Moles have a bullet-shaped head and nose, strong shoulders and strong, outward-facing, clawed feet. They are built for digging underground and feed on cutworms, Japanese beetles, centipedes, spiders and earthworms. When their habitat...
Moles are rodents that burrow underground and come from woodland areas. Moles have a bullet-shaped head and nose, strong shoulders and strong, outward-facing, clawed feet. They are built for digging underground and feed on cutworms, Japanese beetles, centipedes, spiders and earthworms. When their habitat is encroached upon, they may end up in your lawn, digging tunnels and tearing up your plants. You must use one of the few effective methods for eliminating moles. When these pests have been eliminated, you can then repair the damage to your lawn.
Things You'll Need
Mole traps
Lawn roller
Lawn seed or sod
Inspect your property carefully, making note of the location of tunnels.
Purchase mole traps from a garden center or home improvement store. Traps can either catch them alive or kill the moles.
Place the traps in the hole and check daily.
Remove traps that have moles and dispose as recommended by your county extension service.
Use a lawn roller to push down the hills of dirt caused by the mole tunnels.
Replace grass on bare areas damaged by tunneling.
Tips & Warnings
You may hear many myths and strange remedies for eliminating moles from your lawn. These methods range from placing razors into tunnels to hooking up tubes to run car exhaust fumes into tunnels, according to MSNRealEstate. These methods are ineffective, and some can be dangerous.
Moles leave two types of tunnels, old tunnels and active tunnels. Determine which are actively being used and place the mole traps in these tunnels. If you're dealing with a large bare area of grass, it may be easier to place sod over the area instead of seeding.
Reducing the number of grubs in your lawn, which moles feed on, can help to eliminate the mole problem to some degree. Dursban and diazinon are recommended for grub control, according to Michigan State University.
Smoke fumigation can also be used to eliminate a mole problem on your lawn, but the amount of smoke must be considerable to flood the tunnels and do the job.
Having a dog or cat can help to eliminate moles from your property. Attracting owls to your property can also help keep the mole population down.
Do not routinely overwater your lawn. Moles like wet environments, and if there are any in your yard, they will migrate there.
It's illegal to release live moles into random areas. Consult your county extension service for advice on proper disposal of live moles.
