Welcome to the forum, @Ihatemolecrickets,

IMHO that's not too bad of damage. If you are going to level in the spring I would go with straight sand but the zoysia will fill in and repair on its own. I live in the panhandle of Florida and I am constantly fighting off mole crickets invading from my neighbor's yard. I have heard that some mole crickets have developed a tolerance for Bifentrin but I have been able to control them with monthly apps of Bifen XTS and quarterly apps of Imidacloprid.

 

thank you! My wife agrees that the damage is really a non issue - but after seeing it look flawless this summer, I am desperate to get it back to that level.

Sand alone would be cheaper so maybe I will do that. Ironically enough I am in Pensacola so do you think we could just use sand from the beaches here or do I need to go the full masonry sand route?

Lastly - yep been on the Bifen I/t program per this forum and haven’t really seen any results. I’ve tried literally everything and the only real results came from some “southern AG mole cricket bait” but even that was short lived. I have not tried the imidacloprod yet but maybe I will look into it. I was considering getting my yard nuked this spring with some sort of restricted fire ant pesticide that also controls mole crickets for apparently 3 months. Can only go that route using local lawn care company.

 

I wouldn't really use beach sand or river sand as there is something about the shape of the grains that makes it compact really bad. You will want a moderately course sand that has minimal debris, pebbles, or rocks in it. I get my sand from a local utility company that sells it as "yellow fill sand". They pull it from a pit locally and it is pretty darn clean with no sticks or rocks. As for Bifen, I would try the XTS version versus the I/T version. The only difference is the XTS version is oil based so you can't use it indoors but I have heard that it works better than the I/T version in yard applications.