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New to the Northeast, and I slit seeded a new lawn this past fall. It came in nice. It’s January now, and during some of the recent snows, after the snowfall melted, I started seeing these patchy areas, littered with clipped grass, and all that is left is the stubble of the blade close to soil (so maybe it will grow back). Later, I started seeing pathways through the grass (see photos) and found droppings. Does this look like mice or vole damage? Any remedies or ideas to control them? Are they more nocturnal? We have a cat . We live adjacent the woods, and as far as I can see, none of the little paths have led back to any burrows.
Voles (also called meadow mice) and moles...grrrr. Yes, both can damage your grass. Pay close attention in June to see if you have an abundance of Japanese Beetles devouring your shrubs....this will indicate a bountiful menu of grubs living in your soil (larval stage Japanese beetle), which the moles are feeding on. Remove this food source, and you may cause the moles to move elsewhere.
"Mole Diet. Moles are insectivores, eating 70-100% of their weight in worms, grubs and insects each day. In order to hunt down their ground-dwelling prey, moles constantly excavate, leaving behind a series of tunnels." Getting rid of moles.
I have used insecticides, am currently using a natural product (Milky Spore), and will be applying diatomaceous earth as well to try to rid my lawn of the moles food source.
"Voles are mostly herbivorous, feeding on a variety of grasses, herbaceous plants, bulbs, and tubers. They eat bark and roots of trees, usually in fall or winter. Voles store seeds and other plant matter in underground chambers." What see in your photos looks like meadow mice trails that were under the snow....a mole would be under ground. Getting rid of voles
I've lived in my house for 24 years and never had a mole problem until last year. They have infested my entire neighborhood and nobody is having any luck getting rid of them. Between my one neighbor and and me, we have 3 of the Talpirid Mole Traps and we have caught two moles in two years. Those traps requre very careful placement that requires digging a hole in the path of an active mole tunnel. That is the difficult part since they seem to abandon tunnels quickly.
Between a couple neighbors and me, we have spent probably a thousand bucks on traps, poison, repellent, and electronic devices. Nothing has worked. The neighbor across the street uses a lawn service for fertilizer and grub control. He does not have a grub problem but has moles all over his yard.
They continue to tunnel regardless of the weather, but the warm winter has probably contributed to the ongoing problem this winter.
Thanks for the replies. I'll take another look at the "paths" through my yard... they appear to be more like travel paths or paths that were created by eating their way along. And that slight stubble of grass close to the ground makes me think something is essentially eating the grass close to the crown. I haven't seen any signs of underground tunneling yet, so maybe more of a vole issue.
In fact just found this picture online that looks just like my lawn damage....
Oh man... do I feel your pain... and nothing really works on them...
Just wait when mowing starts and you blades go bad after 2 mows.
If he has voles, it won't be a problem. With moles it is a real pain. I have a mound of dirt in my back yard right now that is about five inches high. I assume it is their nest. I had to mow most of my yard on the highest setting, which is 3.75 inches on my mower.
If he has voles, it won't be a problem. With moles it is a real pain. I have a mound of dirt in my back yard right now that is about five inches high. I assume it is their nest. I had to mow most of my yard on the highest setting, which is 3.75 inches on my mower.
Nope, that's not a nest. Moles make their nests deep, deep down underground. That pile of soil on the surface is called a mole hill and it is literally tunnel tailings. It's all the loose dirt that they have excavated out when they are digging their tunnels. They push all that loose dirt through tunnels up to the surface and leave piles of loose dirt (mole hills) sitting on top of the grass above a tunnel entrance.
It is wonderful dirt to use as potting soil for containers or in the garden because it will have no stones, no chunks of wood or plastic garbage in it, no insects or insect eggs, no slugs, no grubs and (unfortunately) no earth worms either. Just PURE, clean, loose, fluffy rich soil that the moles have cleaned up before depositing it on the surface.
What you are doing - setting mower to highest setting - does more harm to your lawn than good and it is a lazy thing to do. So don't be a lazy slouch by setting your mower to the highest setting to mow over top of the piles of dirt because that doesn't solve any problems, it creates more problems, and it won't get rid of your moles. What you need to do is you get out a bucket (or wheelbarrow) and a shovel and you shovel up those piles of loose, fluffy soil and put that soil in your garden beds. It's really easy to do and the soil is rich so your plants will love you for the new food. Then you will have no mole hills on your lawn and you can mow the lawn at the lower setting that you would usually do.
If you are disabled and unable to take up the mole hills with a shovel and can't get somebody else to do it for you then your other alternative is to get a rake out and you (or somebody else) rake the mole hills flat and spread the dirt out evenly all over the surface of the lawn. Then water the soil down into the grass.
Under each pile of soil you will find the tunnel entrance that they pushed the soil out of. After you have removed the mole hill stick the end of the garden hose down inside that tunnel hole and flood the tunnel with water. That will either drown or discourage the moles and they will go away.
[quote=Zoisite;57116940]Nope, that's not a nest. Moles make their nests deep, deep down underground. That pile of soil on the surface is called a mole hill and it is literally tunnel tailings. It's all the loose dirt that they have excavated out when they are digging their tunnels. They push all that loose dirt through tunnels up to the surface and leave piles of loose dirt (mole hills) sitting on top of the grass above a tunnel entrance.
It is wonderful dirt to use as potting soil for containers or in the garden because it will have no stones, no chunks of wood or plastic garbage in it, no insects or insect eggs, no slugs, no grubs and (unfortunately) no earth worms either. Just PURE, clean, loose, fluffy rich soil that the moles have cleaned up before depositing it on the surface.
What you are doing - setting mower to highest setting - does more harm to your lawn than good and it is a lazy thing to do. So don't be a lazy slouch by setting your mower to the highest setting to mow over top of the piles of dirt because that doesn't solve any problems, it creates more problems, and it won't get rid of your moles. What you need to do is you get out a bucket (or wheelbarrow) and a shovel and you shovel up those piles of loose, fluffy soil and put that soil in your garden beds. It's really easy to do and the soil is rich so your plants will love you for the new food. Then you will have no mole hills on your lawn and you can mow the lawn at the lower setting that you would usually do.
If you are disabled and unable to take up the mole hills with a shovel and can't get somebody else to do it for you then your other alternative is to get a rake out and you (or somebody else) rake the mole hills flat and spread the dirt out evenly all over the surface of the lawn. Then water the soil down into the grass.
[B]Under each pile of soil you will find the tunnel entrance that they pushed the soil out of. After you have removed the mole hill stick the end of the garden hose down inside that tunnel hole and flood the tunnel with water. That will either drown or discourage the moles and they will go away.
Although the OP looks like they have voles and not moles; I use my riding mowers to get rid of my moles. I simply keep driving over their tunnels and move only far enough so my wheels crush every square inch of their tunneling system. By rolling over all of their affected area like that I either kill them or discourage them from coming back.
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. We live adjacent the woods, and as far as I can see, none of the little paths have led back to any burrows. 
