Q.3″ hole/tunnels being dug right beside the base of my shrubs and trees.

Zone Leeper, Pennsylvania 16233 | Anonymous added on June 11, 2020 | Answered

Everywhere that they are digging these perfect holes/tunnels is where I put my landscaping years ago, which consists of 1st putting down professional grade black weed paper, then we cut holes in that to plant all our shrubs in an organized fashion, then we brought in truck loads of red lava rock to spread all around the shrubs on the weed paper. This landscaping goes the whole way around our house AND we have the weed paper and lava rock all around the single trees n our yard also (which those have also been known to have holes/tunnels around the exterior edge of the them-out around the perimeter of the paper and lava rocks, NOT right up where the big tree trunk is, but out like 4 feet where the edge of the paper and rocks end). The holes/tunnels ALWAYS originate right near the base of the shrubs where the thick weed paper doesnt quite get close enough to that plant, so there’s a small area where its just dirt with no weed paper OR lava rocks, and that’s where they manage to dig down n there. There is always a big mess of dirt mounded outside the hole also, but you can’t see it on my photos very well because it has rained hard on it. ALL the holes start out at the base of one of my shrubs or trees- NEVER out n the actual lawn.
My husband died last spring, and when last summer came, so too came this problem, and it’s back this summer. I never once heard him talk about these holes when he was responsible for doing our yard work, which leads me to believe that last summer was the first time this started. I don’t have a lot of money to use on this, but I’d appreciate any guidance you could give me. Most people are saying they are ground moles digging tunnels, but I don’t think i see any tunnels through my yard, but I haven’t studied my yard real well. There are holes beside other shrubs, and the distance from one shrub to another is ENTIRELY covered by weed paper and thick lava rock. So if they are tunneling under the paper and lava rock, I wouldn’t know that.
Thank you for any help you could suggest to me.