Skunks are common nocturnal visitors that can cause significant damage to a well-kept lawn, often leaving behind scattered patches of torn-up turf and small cone-shaped holes. This destruction, which appears overnight, signals that the animal is intensely foraging for a meal. Protecting your lawn requires understanding the skunk’s motivation and implementing a combination of physical deterrents, immediate repellents, and long-term food source removal.
Understanding Why Skunks Dig in Your Lawn
Skunks are omnivores with a diverse diet, but their digging behavior is almost exclusively driven by their search for ground-dwelling insects and larvae. The most common target is the white grub, the larva of various beetles like the Japanese beetle or masked chafer. Skunks possess a highly developed sense of smell that allows them to detect these protein-rich pests just beneath the soil surface, sometimes up to three inches deep.
When a skunk locates a concentration of grubs or other insects, it uses its sharp front claws to create a small, cone-shaped hole about two to four inches wide. If the grub population is dense, the animal may tear up entire patches of sod to access the food source. Skunks also hunt earthworms and other soil insects. This activity often increases during late summer and fall when grubs are feeding near the surface, and a moist lawn makes it easier for the skunk to penetrate the soil.
Applying Immediate Repellent Strategies
Immediate strategies focus on making the affected area unappealing through strong scents or unexpected disturbances, convincing a skunk to move its foraging elsewhere. Since skunks have a sensitive nose, scent-based repellents are a popular temporary solution. Natural options like scattering citrus peels or cayenne pepper around damaged areas can be effective because skunks dislike these odors and tastes.
Commercial repellents often use strong ingredients such as capsaicin or the scent of predator urine, like coyote. These products are applied directly to the lawn surface to mask the scent of insects or signal danger to the skunk. The main drawback of any topical repellent is that it requires frequent reapplication, especially after rain, which quickly washes the active ingredients away. Motion-activated sprinklers or bright lights can also startle the nocturnal animals, providing an immediate, non-chemical deterrent to prevent entry after dark.
Installing Physical Barriers to Prevent Access
Physical exclusion is a highly reliable method for protecting specific sections of the lawn, especially since skunks are not adept climbers or jumpers. For small areas where digging is recurring, laying a temporary barrier of chicken wire or hardware cloth directly over the turf can block access. The wire should be secured to the ground with landscape staples or bricks, frustrating the skunk’s attempts to tear up the sod.
For a more permanent, whole-yard solution, a perimeter fence must be installed with an underground component to prevent burrowing. The wire mesh or galvanized hardware fabric should be buried at least six to twelve inches deep. To enhance effectiveness, bend the bottom six inches of the buried wire outward in an “L” shape, pointing away from the yard. This horizontal flange acts as a physical ceiling that a skunk encounters when attempting to dig down, causing it to abandon the effort.
Eliminating the Primary Food Source
The most effective long-term solution is to eliminate the primary food source, which is typically the grub population living beneath the turf. An infestation is often identified by a spongy feel to the lawn or the presence of five or more C-shaped white grubs per square foot when peeling back a section of sod. Addressing this core problem removes the skunk’s incentive to visit the property.
Two main approaches are available for grub control, beginning with biological controls. These include beneficial nematodes, which are microscopic worms that parasitize the grubs. They require careful timing and watering to ensure they reach the target larvae before dying from sunlight exposure. Another biological option is Milky Spore, a bacterium that causes a disease in Japanese beetle grubs, providing a long-lasting but slower-acting control method.
The second approach uses chemical insecticides, categorized as either preventative or curative treatments. Timing is crucial for success. Preventative insecticides are applied in late spring or early summer (late May to early August) to kill newly hatched larvae before they cause damage. Curative treatments are used later in the season (August or early September) when grubs are actively feeding closer to the surface. Reducing the grub count below the threshold that attracts foraging skunks provides the most permanent protection for the lawn.