Moles or gophers? (lawn, growing, vegetables, worms)

[Fields of Green]

I live in the Pacific Northwest. Seems people here are always talking about how to get rid of moles, but I'm not actually sure if we tend to have gophers as well. My dogs dispatched a mole once, so I know we have those in our yard. I have lawn (which I don't care too much about, am moving toward having less and less lawn, and more garden) and some large raised cedar beds, some of which have hardware cloth underneath. The boxes with hardware cloth show lots of evidence of critters trying hard to get underneath the box. I imagine the non-hardware cloth box shows less activity because the critters are simply waltzing right in.

I read that moles, specifically, are not very interested in eating my vegetables and perennials, they just want to tunnel around the lawn and eat grubs. Is this true? In that case, would all this activity around the raised beds tend to be gophers?

Sorry to be so long-winded!!

[Butterfly4u]

Fields of Green,
Unless you kill the grubs in the lawn, you will always have moles.
Grubs are japanese beetles, so if you see any in your yard, you ahve grubs.
The grubs really did a job on my lawn this spring, so I bought some
Scotts grub killer and applied immediately. Then I have to reapply
in June when the beetles lay eggs. (different time depending where you live).
Just kill the grubs and no more moles.
Get rid of the food scource.
That is what I'm doing.

[cdelena]

Moles eat anything but their primary food source is earth worms so you don't want to try to starve them. I find that if diligent I can trap one a year which slows them down as they are territorial during active season and the runs may not be used again that season. I have never seen a grub on this property but the clay soil and moisture levels favors a high worm population and therefore moles.

[Fields of Green]

When planting new perennials and vegetables over the past few weeks, I always find several grubs and also the beetles under rocks. These raised beds were filled entirely with brand new, bagged soil so I guess the grubs have moved right in. I'll try grub killer next, but can it be put in dirt where you're growing food?

[Ellwood]

As OP stated, check with your nursery center as far as when to apply the grub killer. In the northeast we were advised to use the Bayer Adv and to apply it in July. If you apply in the spring, the grubs aren't hungry. It takes three years to eliminate them, so you will need to treat three years consecutively. Some people use Milky spores which are more natural. We were told (by a master gardener) the spores only work on Japanese beetle grubs (cut one in half and if the contents are milky it is a Japanese beetle grub. Using milky spore takes a couple of years for it to work.

[Butterfly4u]

Fields,
Don't put any chemical in a raised bed that you are growing food in.
If you see grubs in the bed, kill them yourself.
Scotts has a new product on the market, go to local Big Box store, like HD,
it's not expensive, read insturctions right in store.
You can apply the new product at any time during the season,
but especially put it down within the next month.
It is unbelievable the damage those stupid grubs can do to your lawn!
I was shocked! I had to reseed and couldn't do so til I killed the grubs
because they would just eat the seedlings.
My lawn looks horrible til the seeds grow and I am reapplying the
grub killer again to get the new ones soon.
My problem isnt the mole damage as much as the grub damage.
I'll be applying this grub killer faithfully every year now.
Live and learn.