How to deal with and identify moles in your lawn

I have a lot of dead grass in rows all over my lawn. It looks as though an insect or animal as dug through the grass and made tunnels.

These symptoms are almost for certain moles. Moles are mice like creatures that spend the winters tunneling under the snow through the grass looking for insects to feed on. As they tunnel they cut off the grass and pile it up in mounds or rows. They also make shallow trenches in the soil on the surface of the lawn. Usually they are a real problem during winter.

These creatures live and nest all summer in long grass or in protected locations around your yard. If there is a vacant property or farmer's field adjacent to your property they will be prevalent. As soon as the snow falls they begin their digging under the snow on your lawn.

The best control for moles is to put down mole bait (poison) in the fall around the perimeter of your property so that they will feed on that and not be interested in the grubs. As well, tramping the snow, after the first snowfall, around the perimeter of your property will pack the snow so that they cannot get underneath it as easily and that will also discourage them. You can also use a mole trap in the spring when you can easily see all the tunnels. You can check out mole traps by clicking here.

The clean up process for spring involves raking up all the dead grass adding a good topdressing of soil in these areas, and the addition of grass seed. The earlier this can be done the better because grass seed germinates best in cooler weather.