Help my lawn has been invaded

[Brian Tymchak]

Aside from skunks, it could also be raccoons digging for grubs, or squirrels looking for nuts, or burying for next winter.

[roger wiegand]

What is milky spore???? Can I buy it or make it?? What does it do???
Thanks every one

Milky spore is a bacterium (Paenibacillus popilliae) that causes "milky spore disease" in the grubs. The grubs eat the bacteria, it replicates in their gut, kills the grub and then releases new spores into the soil. Making it would be hard.

[John Terefenko]

So far it looks like this was a one night on the town thing. I have since put the motion sensor light I have on my shed back on ( had turned off because it was too sensitive) and maybe this has kept things away. I will now fill in the holes and throw some seed on it and watch the birds eat the seed. Thanks every one

[Curt Harms]

Think of it a a free lawn aeration service?

They are digging for grubs, lowering the grub population is probably the only thing that will help. Inoculation of the lawn with milky spore is expensive initially, but seems to give reasonable long term (multi-year) protection without poisoning the beneficial critters and the neighborhood.

Another vote for skunks digging for grubs. We had a large Japanese Beetle population until the dug-up lawn started. The lawn digging has subsided and so have the Japanese Beetles. We have squirrels also so it's hard to tell what's skunk's handiwork and what's squirrel's. We used grub insecticide a year or two and lightning bugs have pretty much disappeared. I'm not certain one caused the other but the timing is suspicious. Some neighbors are using a lawn service so who knows what's being put down there.

[Randy Red Bemont]

It is skunks and they are feeding on grubs. Get rid of the grubs and the skunks will move on. Milky spore works great but it is not an overnight fix. If you have had an over abundance of Japanese beetles around then you for sure have grubs. Good luck.

Red