I had a patient a couple weeks ago who I was discussing a problem I'm having with my yard, where the grass is simply disappearing. Hundreds of square feet in patches. He asked me if I had noticed any holes in the dirt. I said I didn't think so. He said it sounds like a critter he put a name to, but said that there would be holes in the dirt. So he wasn't sure. Well today, as I was cleaning up the debris left by Hurricane Florence, I noticed there were many holes in the dirt. About nickle size around. No mounds, just flat across the top. Any ideas what these critters were he was talking about? and the best way to treat them and get the grass to grow back?

Voles? If so, get rid of their food source and they'll go away.

One word.......Rodinator.

Seriously, these things are a blast.

Might be mole crickets.

https://images.search.yahoo.co...ts+damage&fr=yfp-t-s

If it is voles then kill the grubs in your dirt.

I haven't been paid for lawn care services since I was 21 so I guess I'm a former pro.

What type of grass do you have? The reason I ask is that with many products you'll treat a Kentucky blue grass (I had it in the Upper Midwest, Calgary, and Anchorage) different than a St. Augustine (I've had the two times I've lived in Houston) or Bermuda.

My Dad still lives in the Upper Midwest and has a Kentucky blue grass. Most years he has to treat lawn for grubs to get rid of the food source for moles. I've had to do that as well when I lived in the North. This year he is experiencing something new, some surface animal is tearing back the turf and digging down (hole depth greater than hole diameter but grass disturbance is clusters of 4 to 6 inches of missing grass). He suspects its skunks looking for grubs but not certain as the new areas are being created in the dark. It looks a lot like this:


Where I live now we have to be on the lookout for dead patches caused by cinch bugs:


We also have to be on the lookout for brown spot which when it first appears looks similar to cinch bug damage:


Brown spot is a fungus (fungicide) so it's treated differently than cinch bugs (pesticide).

Other animals/pests that may make holes in your lawn are covered in this Clemson University website

Cicada's, kadydids are re burrowing now also.
I have big red ants that make tunnels with no mounds that cause my grass to die.