Every summer/fall my lawn gets absolutely destroyed overnight, pretty sure it's raccoons digging for grubs. Nothing seems to work. Help?
This is what I wake up to every year like clockwork in Bay Area (East Bay). Strips of turf completely ripped up, sod rolled back, holes everywhere and it happens overnight throughout the backyard. I'm 95% sure it's raccoons based on the damage.
I was told they're digging for grubs so I put down grub-killing granules (the standard stuff you find at Home Depot) and nothing.
My neighbor told me that the over-the-counter grub killers are basically useless for this and that I need to use something like Arena 0.25G (clothianidin), which he says is the only thing that actually eliminates the grub population reliably enough to stop the digging. I don't want to use this because of its impact on bees.
I stopped nighttime watering entirely and shifted everything to pre-dawn only. Wet grass at night seemed to attract the animals. Since making that switch the damage has noticeably decreased, though it hasn't stopped completely.
Any guidance is appreciated. Thanks.