What is pushing soil out on edge of my lawn?

[bigbearbear]

I watered my lawn and since then, I've been seeing soil being pushed out on the edge of the lawn into my driveway. It is a weird, I have caught moles in my back yard and I know what mole tunnels and mounds look like, this isn't anything like those that I've deal with. For one thing, no mounds of any sort on the lawn itself, just soil on the edge.

Seems like some kind of insects that didn't like the water and are now pushing out the soil to build new nests perhaps? Or is it some other insects disturbed by the water?

Pic 1, next to my garden hose for size comparison:


From another angle:

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[L84Cabo]

Ok, that's weird!

 

[Mikej]

That's moles following the edge of the concrete. Death to moles! Good luck man. I have the bastiges in my garden beds.

 

[SrMachoSolo]

That's moles following the edge of the concrete. Death to moles! Good luck man. I have the bastiges in my garden beds.

Mole lives matter!

-Robert

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Better call Carl Spackler , from the Bushwood Country Club...
Andy

 

[Flopsweat]

Mole lives matter!

-Robert

Close their checking accounts. Mole money, mole problems.

 

[TTSX]

Communists?

 

[Flopsweat]

Communists?

Trump.

 

[Hemlock]

Those diggings are moles. And you better get on them quick. They eat grass roots and bugs and grubs. They'll tunnel your whole lawn.
Smoke them to death, poison them, trap them, what ever it takes. Even then it's a never ending battle. They may go dormant, but they never go away!

 

[Provincial]

What happens is that when you kill the moles, new ones migrate in and find the old tunnels. They then use the existing tunnels to advance their activities.

The main tunnels are surprisingly deep underground. You only see the "hunting" tunnels close to the surface. Those are often "one-time" use, or rarely returned to. In order to get the moles, you have to find the deep tunnels, and the mounds of dirt from "mole hills" often lead you to them.

 

[RicInOR]

I watered my lawn

There's your problem!

 

[Flopsweat]

What happens is that when you kill the moles, new ones migrate in and find the old tunnels. They then use the existing tunnels to advance their activities.

The main tunnels are surprisingly deep underground. You only see the "hunting" tunnels close to the surface. Those are often "one-time" use, or rarely returned to. In order to get the moles, you have to find the deep tunnels, and the mounds of dirt from "mole hills" often lead you to them.

OMG they're the Hamas of lawn care.

 

[Mikej]

Moles eat worms and bugs, not plant roots. HOWEVER, when those little bastiges get digging around in my good soil in the roots of my beans cucumbers and tomatoes? You end up with damage to the roots that are in the tunnels.

 

[eb in oregon]

That's moles following the edge of the concrete. Death to moles! Good luck man. I have the bastiges in my garden beds.

I agree, it's a Mole. The water just made the worms happy, which Moles feed on, so that Mole is happy also.

 

[bigbearbear]

Thanks guys, and yes, its a mole. It threw me off because it was only digging and push soil on the side of the lawn which is very different from the other 2 I caught in the back yard. Those 2 moles went everywhere and probably reigned free for 4 years under the previous owner who ignore them, and I had tons of mounds and tunnels all over the lawn in the backyard when I first moved in. It was causing issues for my lawn mower until I finally caught them last year.

This mole in my front yard made a mistake yesterday, it started tunneling inwards to my lawn and created 2 mounds, allowing me to zero in on its tunnels and deploy those in-tunnel type traps which I previously used to great effect. I also found some other travel tunnels closer to the surface and used a mixed of spike and in-tunnel traps on those too.

Its a matter of mathematics now and odds are in my favor. The mole will have to be lucky ALL the time to avoid all my traps, I only need to be lucky once.

P.S.: It is interesting to me that this area of my front yard lawn is also where the septic tank is located. Due to the smell (mostly because of the ATU), this is also the one area this feral cat I've been feeding do not venture into. The mole did get lucky in finding this location or the scent of the cat is other areas drove it here. Looks like I'll have to keep my mole traps handy to keep this part of my lawn free of moles.

 

[bigbearbear]

Moles eat worms and bugs, not plant roots. HOWEVER, when those little bastiges get digging around in my good soil in the roots of my beans cucumbers and tomatoes? You end up with damage to the roots that are in the tunnels.

I feel your pain in this, when I first moved into this property, I have no idea what a mole is and what they activities look like. They would create all these mounds in my backward and let me tell you its no fun when the blade of your lawn mower hits one that your failed to spot.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Thanks guys, and yes, its a mole. It threw me off because it was only digging and push soil on the side of the lawn which is very different from the other 2 I caught in the back yard. Those 2 moles went everywhere and probably reigned free for 4 years under the previous owner who ignore them, and I had tons of mounds and tunnels all over the lawn in the backyard when I first moved in. It was causing issues for my lawn mower until I finally caught them last year.

This mole in my front yard made a mistake yesterday, it started tunneling inwards to my lawn and created 2 mounds, allowing me to zero in on its tunnels and deploy those in-tunnel type traps which I previously used to great effect. I also found some other travel tunnels closer to the surface and used a mixed of spike and in-tunnel traps on those too.

Its a matter of mathematics now and odds are in my favor. The mole will have to be lucky ALL the time to avoid all my traps, I only need to be lucky once.

P.S.: It is interesting to me that this area of my front yard lawn is also where the septic tank is located. Due to the smell (mostly because of the ATU), this is also the one area this feral cat I've been feeding do not venture into. The mole did get lucky in finding this location or the scent of the cat is other areas drove it here. Looks like I'll have to keep my mole traps handy to keep this part of my lawn free of moles.

Why are you feeding feral cats?

 

[ilikegunspdx]

What happens is that when you kill the moles, new ones migrate in and find the old tunnels. They then use the existing tunnels to advance their activities.

The main tunnels are surprisingly deep underground. You only see the "hunting" tunnels close to the surface. Those are often "one-time" use, or rarely returned to. In order to get the moles, you have to find the deep tunnels, and the mounds of dirt from "mole hills" often lead you to them.

+1

 

[Certaindeaf]

Naked mole rat. Or Nancy Pelosi.
Same thing really.