I got that little root eating monster

[desertlzbn]

(First let me apologize to those of you who may be squeamish/pocket gopher lovers)
I got one of those little suckers in my trap today, it had eaten almost ALL of the roots out my biggest tomato plant (it was almost 5 ft tall!) I put a trap down last night into the hole, and today when I got home from work, there he was in the trap. I do have to admit I did do a happy dance when I pulled that trap out and it had a gopher on it.
LET ME TELL YOU I have mixed feelings about this, I hate hate hate killing the little critters, but BUT it is eating all MY food. I had to do something. Now I still have to combat the ground squirrels!

[KLorentz]

ground squirrels and gophers=evil Thank God I do not have to deal with them anymore. When I lived in Central California you would see some of the hands from the horse ranches out shooting ground squirrels.


Kevin

[desertlzbn]

Well there are more I am sure of it. I found 3 new mounds tonight, no new tunnels though, I dug up some of the mounds, but could not find out where the tunnels were. My doggie found the tunnel in one, so I put a trap there.

[dustdevil]

Maybe tan the hides and make garden gloves out of them ;-)

[desertlzbn]

YUCK, I don't even want to touch them to get them out of the trap, let alone diesect them.

[desertlzbn]

We Got Another ONE!!!! There must be alot of them! DW checked the trap earlier and there was one in it. She made my dad take it out of the trap though LOL she wasn't gonna "touch" it!

[David Marek]

I had potted artichokes in the garage to overwinter and mice ate all the crowns out in two days. Oh well, I didn't have a good spot for them anyway. There seemed to be a lot of mice and voles around here this year. I had not seen the fox family all summer, perhaps they moved on. It has been a good lesson: if I build a hoophouse it will be well sealed. Luckily the bigger critters are less common.

Anyway, out came the snap traps. I don't feel as bad when I empty them if they are already dead.

[hostamomma]

David - you're from my neck of the woods! (Dundee, IL). You overwinter artichokes!?! I sooo want to try doing that. What size pots did you put them in and do you grow them in pots?

[David Marek]

Welcome hostamomma from another newbie! The artichokes can only handle about as much cold as kale and brussels sprouts, and I am 0-2 so far. The first year I left them in the ground (I got the seeds from Underwood gardens when they were still in Woodstock, so they must have had a way...) they were mush come spring. This year I had some in gallon pots; some in the ground, then transferred to 2 gal pots in August. The ones in the ground got much bigger, so I think that is the way to go. I need a "32 degree house" if I expect to be successful.

[desertlzbn]

If you have moles, I have heard great things about these traps http://traplineproducts.com/onlinestore.html , I have not used them, but am thinking of getting the traps for gophers here. Much more humane that the Macabee traps

[cdbva]

It puts a whole new face on things when animals are eating your garden. Last year deer destroyed all my beans.

No doubt the park service, where I have my plot, would be irked with me if I shot the varmints.

Sometimes I wish I lived in a less civilized area.

Christine

[harleysilo]

My cat brings me a vole-a-day, worth her keep.

[dice]

I had a cat, Flash, that showed up on the porch with a mole
once at dinner time when I was just pulling a big slab of salmon
out of the oven. He was ready to trade.

Searching Google Images for a good picture of a cat with
a caught mole, I came across this picture (completely
off-topic, but too good not to share):

http://www.dametto.it/curiositaimg/T...0ecologico.jpg