Spring Has Come - And So Have Those Gophers
April 5, 2012
Gophers are one of the garden pests that seem to always be with us. It seems as though everyone has a favorite method for controlling them. I was surprised to read that gophers are loners and that only one gopher inhabits a run. Of course, no one can really determine how long that one gophers run might be. Mounds of dirt pop up all over the lawn and garden making it hard to believe that this is the work of one gopher.
According to garden experts, the best way to control gophers is to use traps. If you prod around one of those newly formed volcano shaped piles of dirt, you should be able to find the hollowed out tunnel. Then you can insert two wire or box traps in the tunnel. You use two because you want them to face both directions since you don't know where the gopher might be in relation to the spot you have opened. Cover the hole with a board and cover the board with dirt to block out the light. Check daily. Sadly an existing run can be occupied by a new gopher.
There are other methods that folks claim are also effective. There are the vibrating stakes that are supposed to keep that gophers away from the area that carries the vibrating sound. This does not kill the gophers it only sends them somewhere else. One of the more interesting solutions that I've heard is to put the chlorine pellets that are used in pools into the gopher tunnel and then hose it down. The chlorine gas that is released will inundate the tunnel and the gopher will never reappear. I haven't tried it so I don't know how effective it might be.
Garden experts still believe that steel traps are the only real solution.
Gophers are one of the garden pests that seem to always be with us. It seems as though everyone has a favorite method for controlling them. I was surprised to read that gophers are loners and that only one gopher inhabits a run. Of course, no one can really determine how long that one gophers run might be. Mounds of dirt pop up all over the lawn and garden making it hard to believe that this is the work of one gopher.
According to garden experts, the best way to control gophers is to use traps. If you prod around one of those newly formed volcano shaped piles of dirt, you should be able to find the hollowed out tunnel. Then you can insert two wire or box traps in the tunnel. You use two because you want them to face both directions since you don't know where the gopher might be in relation to the spot you have opened. Cover the hole with a board and cover the board with dirt to block out the light. Check daily. Sadly an existing run can be occupied by a new gopher.
There are other methods that folks claim are also effective. There are the vibrating stakes that are supposed to keep that gophers away from the area that carries the vibrating sound. This does not kill the gophers it only sends them somewhere else. One of the more interesting solutions that I've heard is to put the chlorine pellets that are used in pools into the gopher tunnel and then hose it down. The chlorine gas that is released will inundate the tunnel and the gopher will never reappear. I haven't tried it so I don't know how effective it might be.
Garden experts still believe that steel traps are the only real solution.
posted by shirley harry at 7:51 AM
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