Gophers are the animals that are bad for your garden as they tend to eat the plants or fruits and even dig the plants, pots, and vegetables.
As Gophers are plant lovers and they aren’t picky eaters they can eat and destroy the plants and fruits that you grow in your garden.
So here are some of the strategies for keeping your garden safe from Gophers attacks that can destroy your plants:
Gophers vs. Groundhogs, Voles, and Moles: What’s the Difference?
Gophers and groundhogs are different animals but people often get confused about Gophers and groundhogs. While both of them have brown to grayish fur and burrowing rodents remember that gophers are much smaller than groundhogs as gophers can be measured about 5 to 14 inches long while groundhogs are 25 inches long and weights 14 pounds. Gophers had cheek pouches which helped them to carry food and nesting materials with them while groundhogs have no pouch and are known to be pouch-free.
Like groundhogs, they are also mistaken as moles and voles but they are a lot more apart from each other. Whereas moles have darker fur and strange, noses that are shaped like stars and they can detect insect movement underground. They create volcano-shaped dirt around the holes they excavate. Unlike gophers, they are also known for not eating plants.
Voles and Gophers both eat plants but voles more closely resemble mice and they spread tunnels near the soil’s surface. But in the tunnel and digging Gophers are particularly good than voles they have more prominent front paws that are especially well-suited for excavating than the voles.
Signs of Gopher Activity in Your Yard and Garden
Gophers are one of the hardest animals to spot outside as they are quite sensitive to bright light because of their burrows and their eyes. Even if gophers are in your garden it will be hard for you to spot them. However, if you spot these kinds of signs in your garden or yard there is a chance that your yard and garden have been infested by gophers yard and garden have been infested by gophers
1. Tunnels and excavated dirt
If your yard or garden has a pile of dirt and a 2- to 3-inch small hole horseshoe-like then that means that the gopher tunnels are running through your yard. You may not see the entrance near that pile of dirt as gophers tend to hide the entrance of holes with dirt to keep predators out. So, if you see a pile of dirt and dig around the dir and find a 2- to 3-inch small hole horseshoe-like then you can be sure that your yard and garden have been infested by gophers.
2. Crop damage
If gophers have infested your yard and garden then you may find damage to your vegetables, flowers, and bulbs, or your plants may be completely uprooted from the soil. They tend to target wide variables of plants but particularly they love to eat and are fond of potatoes and sweet potatoes, dandelions, alfalfa, tree roots, and flower bulbs.
3. Missing plants
if your yard and garden are infested by gophers then you may find that your plants may not regrow and you may end up with missing flower bulbs and crops. If you are lucky and see gophers at work then you can see how the plants disappear before your eyes as they tug the plant’s leaves and all straight down into their burrows.
How to Prevent and Get Rid of Gophers from Your Yard and Garden
Removing gophers from your yard and garden is possible but it is better to prevent pest problems from the beginning as it is much easier and safer than after and it can also help you avoid costly pest control bills in the future. So here are some of the ways you can protect or save your yard and garden from gophers:
1. Add Fencing
Most of the burrowing animals are hard to control with standard fences but you can bury the standard fences deep in the garden so that can prevent gophers from tunneling into your yard or garden. You can bury ¼ to ½ inch hardware cloth deep in the garden and it will also allow 1 foot of the cloth to be exposed above the soil line. The remaining 2 ½ feet of hardware cloth should be buried below the soil with the lowest 6 inches of the cloth angled outwards away from your garden to make it even harder for pests to dig in your yard or garden. Burying fencing deep is hard but it’s the best way you can prevent gopher problems in your yard and garden.
2. Install Other Barriers
You can also install other barriers like gopher mesh if your area has a lot of gopher issues you can invest in it to keep them out of your yard and garden. The gopher mesh can be installed buried under new lawns or sod installations to keep them away from tunneling into grass lawns.
If you want it on a smaller scale you can use “gopher baskets” to protect your plant from gophers individually. They come in different sizes and they are also made up of sturdy wire that keeps digging them away from plant roots and protects them.
Or you can also make one in your house as a DIY project by making baskets out of hardware cloth, or grow prized plants in grow bags or other sturdy containers.
3. Try Natural Repellants
There are a lot of natural repellant products that you can try to get rid of gophers from your yard and gardens just remember to change or switch the products from time to time as the animals or gophers can get comfortable with the same natural repellant products. You can get a better result if you use natural repellant products with fencing and other natural control methods as they can give more security and ensure that gophers won’t get in your yard and gardens.
Most of the garden center shops sell dedicated gopher-repellent sprays but you can use things like fish emulsion, blood meal, castor oil, hot peppers, and predator urine which can help you more to get rid of gophers in your yard and gardens. Remember to use the gopher-repellent sprays close to your garden or home and also apply them further from your home. You can use the gopher-repellent sprays every 2 to 3 days to usher gophers away from your property.
You also need to reapply them throughout the season and after heavy rains to keep them effective. You can also use ultrasonic gopher-repellent stakes as they are handy and are solar-powered and emit low-frequency sounds that gophers hate but humans can’t hear.
5. Grow Repellant Plants
There are a lot of plants that will invite gophers to visit your garden but there are also a lot of plants that will help you repel gophers from your garden. You can plant rosemary, lavender, marigolds, alliums, or gopher spurge as border plants around your yard and garden to get rid of the gophers as they don’t like their smell. Or you can also try daffodils that are naturally resistant to rodents.
6. Attract Gopher Predators
Gophers play a vital role in local ecosystems by aerating compact soils but they are also prey for larger animals, like hawks, herons, foxes, coyotes, and owls. So you can add a house owl to dogs to guard your yard and garden as owls can hunt them during the night when gophers come out of the plants.
7. Live Trapping
Trapping gophers can also be a great solution but it can take some time and it is usually best to hire professionals to do the work for you. However, suppose you are determined to trap gophers on your own. In that case, you’ll need to locate the main gopher tunnel in your garden and place an appropriately sized live trap within the tunnel endings to capture gophers while they are traveling through holes.
You can use veggies, fruit, or peanut butter as a trap food to lure them into the tarp. Remember not to use poison bait as it can break local rules and regulations or can even harm animals like owls and pets.
Always remember to wear gloves while handling gophers and traps as they might get aggressive. Also while releasing the gophers in the wild far from human habitation remember to check the areas for other gophers as they are known to be highly territorial animals and can fight to the death if released too close to each other.
FAQs
Q. Are gophers, Groundhogs, Voles, and Moles the same?
No, Gophers vs. Groundhogs, Voles, and Moles are not the same at all and have a lot of differences from each other.
Q. How do gophers’ tunnels and excavated dirt look?
Gopher tulles are piles of dirt and a 2- to 3-inch small hole horseshoe-like then which means that the gopher tunnels run through your yard.
Q. Are gophers territorial animals?
Yes, gophers are highly territorial animals and they can fight each other to the death if they find each other too close to each other territory.