gophers....

[Lycopene Dream]

First post, unfortunately to this section of the forum. Just thought I'd share the carnage from a gopher attack that happened at some point yesterday. This was a Super Sweet 100 plant that was loving life. When I built the raised bed, I failed to screen the bottom....thinking that wasn't needed

I just spent over an hour researching gopher eradication online, very mixed results out there. Can anyone offer their experience, particularly in Southern California?

[Fred Hempel]

http://www.snareshop.com/prodinfo.asp?number=ADC602

[Worth1]

Hello and welcome to the forums.

I remember my first experience with gophers.

10 peppers plants.
Next day 9 okay I miss counted.
Next day 8 okay there is a thief.

This was sandy soil so the Gophers were pulling the plants into their tunnel and the hole closing in.
I went to the local hang out in the area and reported people stealing my pepper plants.
Someone had to tell me it was gophers.
I had never even seen one before.

Worth

[efisakov]

wow, I never knew it was possible

[Stvrob]

around here we have big gophers!

[Redbaron]

I use everything against gophers! Pin wheels that make a rattling noise to scare them away, rat traps, poison, flooding them out with a hose, filling their burrows with nasty things they don't like for instance coffee grounds, collapsing their burrows over and over, dogs, stabbing them with knives, blocking their escape paths with a shovel, then digging them out. Every day I come up with a new evil plot to harass them. It is a war though. I have been bitten 3 times. They will fight back.

One of the best tricks that has worked several times is dig a hole that crosses their burrow leaving it open to the air. If it is an active burrow they will come to block the hole by shoveling fresh dug dirt. Then stick a shovel behind them to block their escape and stab the ground repeatedly where their burrow is. (you can tell when the knife or pointy steel rod hits a void) If you get lucky you'll get him right away, otherwise he will do one of two things, try to dig a new tunnel and you'll see the movement, or run out onto the surface.... right into the mouth of my gopher killing attack chihuahua Sassy. If it gets lucky and escapes Sassy, it won't escape Duke (a whippet mix that can outrun anything) Surprisingly this doesn't take long. I got bit twice by gophers when I accidently dug into their burrows transplanting seedlings. That's what gave me the idea. Needless to say they are thick here. Real thick!

[Worth1]

Scott after having my run in with gophers I resorted to using gopher bombs.
Here is one in use.
I haven't seen one in years now.
Worth

[henry]

Blackhole traps work we use about 20 of them on the farm for pocket gophers.

http://www.rodentman.com/index.php?m...products_id=98

[DavidP]

This link is about the best advice you can get UC pest note for gophers.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7433.html

Trapping is the way to go, caught one a day for most of this week, average about 25 a year caught, the swimming pool catches 2-3 a yr as well. Theres plenty more around.

Here's a youtube video of a farmer looks like in California who employs 4 people full time gopher trapping and takes 10,000 a yr according to him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlpaj95j6sE

Good luck, trapping seems to work well, every now and then i get one that seems to evade it for a few days but i usually get him in the end.

[Lycopene Dream]

DavidP - that's encouraging. I was thinking about the Victor 0625 traps based on some rave reviews. The "problem" is that I have dozens of gopher holes in the backyard, finding an active tunnel may be hit or miss. I guess I know which tunnel was active yesterday though! It was my second plant loss in the past 2 weeks, but the first real loss within the raised planter.

[BarbJ]

Go the Carl route;


http://youtu.be/iR0sWU1HzTE

Seriously, I do sympathize. We have legions of pocket gophers. I have a larger yard, but have to use 15 gallon pots for veggies if I'm to get anything. Trapping is the only thing that really works. My hubby keeps a running count each year, I think he's got about 25 this year so far. The classic Macabie trap works pretty good, but we've been using these, which are based on the Macabie trap but is stainless steel so lasts longer, and he's tweaked it a bit to be a little more efficient.

http://www.traplineproducts.com/

[Lycopene Dream]

Just an update - I lost another plant (Black Krim) last Friday. That makes 3 out of 11 plants gone (2 of the 5 plants in the raised bed) within about a week. So, I can't do much about the plants that are in the yard, but I bit the bullet and "unloaded" the entire raised bed and lined the bottom with 1/2" galvanized screen, the only near term solution. In the process, the remaining three plants (Hillbilly and Sungold) were essentially moved to a different location in the bed as they were re-planted. I tried very hard to keep the roots intact, but the plants showed signs of extreme stress within minutes. All are recovering, but there has been some loss of the outer growth. I have never attempted a transplant before, any wisdom here is appreciated regarding the viability of the outcome, fruit production, etc. Am I better off just starting over?

henry- those Blackhole traps look pretty effective and probably a bit easier to place than the Victor ones. My wife had already ordered the Victors so we will see how they turn out.

BarbJ- those traps look interesting- do you think there is any chance that a dog can dig and erroneously set the trap off? We have a boarder collie that loves to hunt gophers, not sure if she would get in trouble with the "exposed" mechanism of these traps.

My traps will arrive in a couple of days, and I have some fresh mounds to experiment on in other parts of the backyard!

[barkeater]

Originally Posted by Lycopene Dream

Just an update - In the process, the remaining three plants (Hillbilly and Sungold) were essentially moved to a different location in the bed as they were re-planted. I tried very hard to keep the roots intact, but the plants showed signs of extreme stress within minutes. All are recovering, but there has been some loss of the outer growth. I have never attempted a transplant before, any wisdom here is appreciated regarding the viability of the outcome, fruit production, etc. !

LD,

I don't know how mature your plants are but they should bounce back fine if the roots are kept moist. I would pull off any tomatoes that have formed on any of the plants too, as they won't make it.

[Vickipr]

I to have a battle with gophers taking over my lawn and garden, even the gravel driveway. I sprayed the area with Caster oil one week ago. Been told they can't stand the smell in the soil so they take off. So FAR it has worked. There are some granules also at Fred Meyers and Ace that work, but with acreage it is expensive.
Give it a try.

Vicki

[Tom A To]

I used to employ traps and there for awhile I was pretty proud of myself having killed quite a few of them. After every score, I would do a little celebratory dance in the garden. Silly me. Little did I know that when you kill one, two take its place.

I've learned since then that gophers will stay in one area for a season or two and then move somewhere else. So I built two raised beds with galvanized 1/4" screen under them to guarantee I would always have at least 16 plants. The rest were planted in open dirt but I planted enough for myself and for the gophers. Most I ever lost was 12 plants, leaving me around 30 in the ground.

This year I'm lucky, no gophers. But they'll be back....