WATERTOWN, S.D. (KXLG) — It has been a cold and snowy winter in the northern plains and now with the melt underway lawns are becoming visible again and so too is the snow mold, moles and voles. Terry Sorensen with Watertown based TruGreen lawn services says lawns emerging with matted turf and a grayish-white color are often showing signs of snow mold.

He says moles and voles also damage lawns during the winter and spring.

Sorensen said the field mice look for areas in the winter where they can build tunnels and yards present an ideal home.

He says the best preventive measure is to ensure all debris is removed from the yard in the fall.

Raking your lawn should address most of the mold issues, however pink mold could require some disease control. He does caution, however, that chemical application for pink mold is expensive and doesn’t always produce good results. He’d rather see people clean their yards and apply fertilizer. Sorensen said it’s also important to let the lawns dry out before raking to avoid yard damage.