Raccoons….as cute as they may seem, the bandit masked animals are wild and are not an unfamiliar sight. They will eat just about anything.
When sod is laid (regardless of the time of year) the fresh soil underneath and moisture due to watering attracts worms and grubs to the top of the surface – right under the sod. A delicacy for Raccoons. They are clever and quick to discover when food is to be had. They can actually roll up large chucks of sod to eat the worms and/or grubs. To be honest…we can’t stop the raccoons. The only thing you can do is take away the source of the problem.
Grub control with Nematodes is certainly part of the fix. Getting a preventative treatment every year in late August or September will not only keep your grass well rooted and hard to flip up, but will prevent a crop of grubs from eating your roots and turning your lawn into a raccoon buffet. Rooting is key because it makes digging difficult. If they do flip up the turf, fold it back ASAP before it dries out, water it and get a root-building fertilizer on it.
There are other resources such as cayanne pepper or commercial repellents that are somewhat effective. You can also place unrolled chicken wire on top of the sod as it will only frustrate the creatures. Just be sure to move it around every few days to keep from growing into the ground.
We recently had a customer waking up each morning with this exact thing. We made the choice to set up traps to remove them from the area and it has worked so far. With a can of tuna in the trap, we were able to capture two of them on two different days.
