Rehabing lawn

[Pilot]

Our lawn was subject to an unusually heavy attack by moles this winter. Not just us but lots of folks in the area. The result is a very rough, uneven surface, especially in the area of new lawn. I have had poor success with trapping the critters, but that's another issue.

The question now is how to smooth out the surface. I have a tiller, so I wonder about killing the grass then tilling just 1 inch or so deep, then blade smooth and reseed. I know that if I till it deep, I'll have a lot of sod to deal with. Option 2 is fresh top soil over the lawn, but spreading it out would be a big job.

No matter what, I'll do what I can to trap all the moles before reseeding.

Any better ideas?

 

[RalphVa]

Moles will go away if you get rid of the Japanese beetle larvae with milky spore.

Around here in Virginia, you wouldn't be able to reseed very successfully until about mid September. Don't know about Oregon. Around here, you'll need sod.

Ralph

 

[oldballs]

So far I've tried two lawn areas where I killed off all vegetation with RoundUp, raked up most of the dead stuff, tilled it, seeded it then rolled it. These two areas are the nicest parts of my lawn going on three seasons now.

Some mole tunnels did occur afterwards, but I finally trapped the critters and the grass grew back after awhile.

As to Moles, I'm retired. Thus, using 12 plunger type traps, I've cleared my 3 acre place ...... for now anyway. Mole Body Count = 37 in 12 months.

Good Luck

P.S. .....the reason I killed off those areas, was that an invasive Bermuda grass was spreading. That too was remedied.

 

[Pilot]

Oldballs, how deep did you till it? If deep, did you gradually till it deeper and deeper to break up the sod?

Last year I sprayed, then when dead tilled it immediately as deep as my tiller would go and ended up with a lot of sod to rake.

My summer project will be to trap the moles. At least killing the moles is my first priority. Tilling and blading should go pretty fast. I hope.

 

[oldballs]

Honestly, I don't remember. Both areas were about 30 x 30 ft. I probably didn't go but 3-4 inches deep, and don't remember having a lot of work with the old sod layer. I used my B2620 with a 54 inch tiller.

On the other hand, I've tilled gardens for the neighbors where there was long standing sod. In that those cases, I tilled shallow one way, then deeper at 90 degrees then, then deepest the original direction. This pretty much worked up the plot for planting a garden within a month, after some rains. But, heck, I'm an amateur.

Around here the moles work year around when the winter is mild, like last year.

Cheers,
Mike