WHAT is this wretched beast?!

[ARgardener]

So far, I've lost 1 tomato, 1 tomatillo, 2 peppers, 1 eggplant, 1 datura, and 1 lemongrass...

Whatever it is is sucking the plants completely underneath the ground. There are NO signs of visual distrubance to the soil.. no mounds, piles, etc. No "snake-like" tunnels on the surface/ under mulch like everyone describes with voles.

I don't know what to do considering I don't know what Im dealing with..
I have 2 ultrasonic spike things going for about a week now... nothing changed, I removed all the mulch from the garden.. still nothin.

Any ideas/ advice??

[AlittleSalt]

A hungry neighbor? J/K, but I would like to know what could cause that.

[edweather]

Grounghog/Gopher?

[ARgardener]

Originally Posted by edweather

Grounghog/Gopher?

Not sure how they'd be doing all that without causing so much as a hickup or sign of disturbance with the soil.... Both of those typically cause very noticeable lifts and hills.

[brownrexx]

It really does sound like voles.

[Worth1]

If you are in sandy soil it is gophers I can almost guarantee that.
I bought ten jalapeno peppers one time.
Then I counted 9.
Okay maybe I was mistaken.
Then it was 8.
What the heck is going on?
I started slowly excavating the sandy soil and found an underground tunnel and my pepper plants.
You need gopher snakes.

[ARgardener]

Originally Posted by Worth1

If you are in sandy soil it is gophers I can almost guarantee that.

Update: I found tunnels!!! Not large.. maybe 2.5" in diameter.
I do have sandy soil here in AR... I mean, these are some BIG plants getting sucked down.. couldnt imagine it being lil ole voles..

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by ARgardener

Update: I found tunnels!!! Not large.. maybe 2.5" in diameter.
I do have sandy soil here in AR... I mean, these are some BIG plants getting sucked down.. couldnt imagine it being lil ole voles..

My pepper plants were big too like a foot wide or more and 20 inches tall maybe more.

[brownrexx]

We don't have gophers where I live but voles tend to nibble on the roots of plants. I thought that gophers were pretty big though. Bigger than 2 1/2" like the tunnels you mentioned.

Update: I just Googled it and you have pocket gophers in your state and their burrows are 2 - 3 1/2" in diameter. I'll bet it is pocket gophers.

[Worth1]

There are several kinds of gophers maybe 40 or so.

Worth

[ARgardener]

This is certainly not a little "nibble".. it's a full-fledged sucking down of 2'+ tomatos, rock hard lemongrass stalks, etc.. No trace left behind

[edweather]

Ever see the movie Caddyshack? Gophers don't mess around.

[zeuspaul]

The gophers I have make smaller holes, anywhere from 1 1/2 inches for the young ones up to 2 or 2 1/2 inches for the adults. 2 1/2 inches would be for well established adults. The last thing I want is for them to get established. I set traps the same day I see evidence. They will eat an entire young tomato plant. Larger plants may take a few days.

They also like my apple trees and just about any fruit tree. They eat the roots first and the tree falls over. Then they are done and follow an underground PVC irrigation line to the next tree and start munching.

Originally Posted by brownrexx

We don't have gophers where I live but voles tend to nibble on the roots of plants. I thought that gophers were pretty big though. Bigger than 2 1/2" like the tunnels you mentioned.

Update: I just Googled it and you have pocket gophers in your state and their burrows are 2 - 3 1/2" in diameter. I'll bet it is pocket gophers.

[ARgardener]

Does removing mulch help with gophers?? When I thought it was voles, a friend instructed pulling away mulch would help. Being that it's not voles, and that it's 90* daily now.. I'd prefer to mulch if it wont have a negative impact.

What do y'all say??

[Worth1]

Mulch wont have any effect what so ever one way or another.

I used to live in gopher country big time.
Worth