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Just look at the picture of
Sir Digby Burrows on the right and you can see the important role gophers play
in West County agriculture. Frustration, anger, amazement - all emotions felt by
the local would-be gardener. Gophers even had a role in driving the
Russians from the California coast in the 1800s. "Ground rats" they called
them.
So what do you do?
There is no perfect solution, sad to say. How you deal with them depends
on your determination, temperament and budget. We carry many products that
will really help the situation.
Traps
There is nothing like trapping to
show proof of a catch.
The Digby Trap
is an old and very
effective trap that is used by professional and amateur trappers with great
success. We have a video you can watch on how to use the trap and a flyer for
you on how to set it.
 Here
is one trapper's technique:
"I have several traps working to keep it interesting. First of all, the fresher
the mound the better. First day fresh. Using a sturdy trowel dig, down and
find the run. I take a floral shovel along for tougher spots. Be sure the run
is really an open hole. When gophers move on they use abandoned tunnels for
their backfill. This dirt may feel softer and easy to dig but your prey is
somewhere else. OK, so you have a nice fresh open hole all cleaned out and
ready. Now set the trap and insert it as far as you can into the hole. If you
are using a Pro trap, be sure that the trigger rod is not binding but will move
to the slight pressure of....... SNAP!! One down. Bury it, feed it to the cat,
whatever but mark it on the calendar and go find another fresh mound. If your
luck was bad, give it a couple of days max and move on. An important tip: make
a marker flag for each trap. I use bright flagging tape on a stiff wire. It
makes running my trap line a breeze. Good luck!"
About once a year we have
"The Gopher Guy"
Gregg Crawford do a workshop
for gopher trappers. It is very popular and he does a great job giving
tips and tricks on using the Pro Trap. He even sells a special digging
tool he has developed for clearing out gopher runs. Keep your eye out for
this in the spring.
Some trappers swear by the
Macabee and Black Hole Trap.
We sell many of these as well.
Gas
and Bait
 There
are several approaches to chemical gopher control. Gas
works best in the spring when the ground is damp (gas will leak through cracks
in dry ground). Gas leaves no troubling residue and is not dangerous to pets or
above-ground wildlife. Use gas bombs such as the Giant Destroyer or hook up a
garden hose to an engine using the Underground Exterminator. Older engines that
produce a lot of carbon monoxide work best.
 Gopher
blocks such as Eaton's Answer should be placed in an active gopher run. They
contain an anti-coagulant that kills gophers. Pets ingesting these gophers can
be treated.
Strychnine-based baits
are quite effective but lethal to pets and wildlife that eat either the bait or
the gopher killed by the bait. One method deposits pellets through a small hole
you pierce in the run and the gopher is killed in the run, but for an
industrious hole-digging dog, finding and eating one would be deadly.
Wire
and Baskets
 Gopher
baskets are a local favorite for planting perennials, roses and trees. Gophers
just can't penetrate the strong wire mesh basket. By the time the roots have a
chance to penetrate beyond the basket there are enough root fibers for a few
gophers. Gopher wire is also effective under raised beds and lawns. It is
available by the foot or in 100' rolls. If your soil is non-acidic (be sure to
test) another wire, aviary netting, can also be quite effective against gophers
and moles. It is a lighter gauge than gopher wire but is easier to contour by
hand.
Our gopher baskets and wire
are made of 3/4" hot-dipped galvanized heavy-duty mesh. The
baskets
are available in 1 gallon, 3 gallon, five gallon and tree sizes. Dig a
hole big enough for the basket and leave several inches of basket (colored
green) above the ground surface to foil climb-overs. You can form your own
baskets from wire, but wear gloves to protect your hands.
Gopher baskets are great for
planting flower bulbs that are vulnerable to gophers, like tulips and most
summer bulbs.
Click here for a
list of resistant bulbs.
Gopher
wire
is available in 25' and 100' rolls in 2', 3', 4' & 5' widths. Lay it out
under landscaping or garden plots or in trenches, leaving a few inches above
ground on each side.
Repellers
Castor Oil Repellers
Gophers and moles both hate castor oil. There are several products that
incorporate it in their formulations. Bonide Molemax is a granular formulation
you scatter on your soil. You can also place it around bulbs to keep gophers
away.
Attach Bonide Mole and Gopher Repellent to your hose and water it into your lawn
to drive the pests away.
We also carry the Gopher-It, a
battery operated stake you put in the ground which drives gophers away.
Gopher Proof Bulbs
These bulbs contain a substance
Gophers don't like and so won't eat. They may shoulder them aside, but
they won't eat them. Other bulbs can be planted in gopher baskets - see
above.
Allium, Anemone, Daffodil, Freesia, Hyacinth,
Ranunculus, Scilla, Dwarf Iris,
Iris Reticulata, Fritilaria, Galanthus, Leycojum, Ornithonalum, Puschkinia,
Lycoris, Muscari, Narcissus, Chinodosa, Arunthus
About Moles
Moles are tough. They don’t cause as
much damage to plants as gophers but they are hard to trap and can really mess
up a lawn. Check out the repellers listed above for one option. We also have
mole traps and the worm-shaped Tomcat Mole Killer.
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