Need gopher help!

[Quick!Skills]

I am desperate to hire someone to clear my property of gophers, and then provide regular maintenance. Does anyone have any recommendations besides the gopher guy, who wants me to do my own trapping (which I do not have time for).

Thanks!

Linda

[Barry]

Please reply publicly with referral with this much needed service!

I am desperate to hire someone to clear my property of gophers, and then provide regular maintenance. Does anyone have any recommendations besides the gopher guy, who wants me to do my own trapping (which I do not have time for).

Thanks!

Linda

[afinenettle]

I have gardened in West Sonoma for 10 yrs; grown most of my food and planted trees and herbs. I was astounded when I got here as to the nature of the gopher problem. It peaked when they ate a hole to the surface through the driveway....

You will not win this one by hiring someone. There is no service that can protect you from the gophers. I have tried everything; I have gone to classes here and a seminar on it at the Org Farming Conference at Asilimar.

Here is what you do. You plant in raised beds with wire stapled across the bottom and you plant in wire baskets or dig out trenches and wire that. Securely. Oversee this as some workpeople do not understand that the gophers WILL FIND any holes or weak areas. They are not random pests. They will circle the wire looking for weak spots. They are good at what they do. Hats off.

I never saw a reduction in population with trapping - which they learn to avoid - until I got hunting cats. Wow. They have the skills and the patience to notice the slightest wiggle in the grass and wait there until the gopher pops up. My cats eat 2 -4 gophers a day. They eat baby gophers like popcorn at the movies. It really makes a difference. They are esp. efficient if you keep the grass weedwhacked down a bit. In addition the gophers will leave areas where predation makes reproduction too difficult. Go to FORGOTTEN FELINES to adopt feral feline hunters that have been neutered and vaccinated. See their link on the top of my website at saferhorse.com.
Best of luck.
Kate
SAFER

Please reply publicly with referral with this much needed service!

[neil]

Hi Linda,

I got quite good at trapping gophers when I was farming a few years back. Learned some very helpful things from the gopher guy, and then learned more as I did it for several years. We can talk--maybe come to some mutually-favorable agreement for helping you.

Neil

707 829-8938
[email protected]

[Quick!Skills]

I already do many of the things you mention below. All my vegetables are in raised beds with hardware cloth bottoms. I landscape with plants and flowers they leave alone; and ones they like are in baskets. And though I love cats, I love birds more. Yes, they are effective at reducing the rodent population, but they will also hit anything that moves. This time of year, fledgling birds are dropping to the ground as they learn to fly. Quail chicks are the perfect snack-sized treat and easy pickings. As a board member of the local Audubon chapter, I am all too aware of the damage cats do to the bird population. Were it not for erosion problems gophers are creating on our sloped property, I would be able to peacefully co-exist with them. I realize I will never be able to eradicate them (we live adjacent to a vineyard, with that incredible sandy loam the gophers can pratically swim through), I just want to reduce and manage the population. I'm afraid trapping is my only viable option.

Linda

I have gardened in West Sonoma for 10 yrs; grown most of my food and planted trees and herbs. I was astounded when I got here as to the nature of the gopher problem. It peaked when they ate a hole to the surface through the driveway....

You will not win this one by hiring someone. There is no service that can protect you from the gophers. I have tried everything; I have gone to classes here and a seminar on it at the Org Farming Conference at Asilimar.

Here is what you do. You plant in raised beds with wire stapled across the bottom and you plant in wire baskets or dig out trenches and wire that. Securely. Oversee this as some workpeople do not understand that the gophers WILL FIND any holes or weak areas. They are not random pests. They will circle the wire looking for weak spots. They are good at what they do. Hats off.

I never saw a reduction in population with trapping - which they learn to avoid - until I got hunting cats. Wow. They have the skills and the patience to notice the slightest wiggle in the grass and wait there until the gopher pops up. My cats eat 2 -4 gophers a day. They eat baby gophers like popcorn at the movies. It really makes a difference. They are esp. efficient if you keep the grass weedwhacked down a bit. In addition the gophers will leave areas where predation makes reproduction too difficult. Go to FORGOTTEN FELINES to adopt feral feline hunters that have been neutered and vaccinated. See their link on the top of my website at saferhorse.com.
Best of luck.
Kate
SAFER

[bob tomales]

You may want to try MoleMax.
You broadcast it on the earth and then water it down.
Seems to be working so far for us.

I am desperate to hire someone to clear my property of gophers, and then provide regular maintenance. Does anyone have any recommendations besides the gopher guy, who wants me to do my own trapping (which I do not have time for).

Thanks!

Linda

[Barry]

I'm actually not all that woo-woo, but I'll be damned that the period when I went out into my yard weekly and "asked the gopher king" to move his tribe someplace else seemed to actually help!

What do you do to control / accomodate / accept / lament / grieve gophers in your garden?

[Dixon]

...the period when I went out into my yard weekly and "asked the gopher king" to move his tribe someplace else seemed to actually help!

Barry, could you have a word or two with the Republican King?

[dominus]

I, too, share your thoughts about cats in that I love them but they are hunters and will kill not only gophers, etc. but birds too. Last night, a good sized flock of crows landed in a tree and every bird that was feeding at our feeders scattered quickly. So I don't want to encourage predator birds if I can help it either. I believe that gophers are nature's way of aerating the soil so they have a vital function. With that said, they are voracious feeders. I'm going to try two different methods both of which are nontoxic. The first is sprinkling predator scat around my vegetable beds. If you're interested, here's the link for the product. It might require a regular application but I think it's worth trying.

https://www.critter-repellent.com/gopher/getting-rid-of-gophers.php

The 2nd thing I'm going to do is plant rhubarb. A neighbor told me that gophers hate the smell and will steer clear of it. Of course, that would entail planting a fair amount of it. However between the Fox scat product and rhubarb, hopefully that will have some effect.

[oliviathunderkitty]

I have not seen this link posted yet (apologies if I missed it) so here's one highly recommended source of help: https://www.thegopherguy.com/

I know many farmers who swear by his services.

Also, you can put a small bell on a cat's collar to alert birds of its approach. This won't, of course, protect baby birds, but I have found that after a few months of wearing a bell, a cat gets frustrated and turns its hunting attentions elsewhere. At that point, the bell is no longer needed.

My little dachshund made a clean gopher kill the other morning but it was inside, a result of my cat's catch-and-release tendencies. But doxies were bred as badger hunters and I've noticed that my boy will spend quite a lot of time at gopher mounds once he catches the scent.

[Barton Stone]

Are there any west county gardeners who have not experienced the frustration of watching beloved plants pulled underground, or suddenly limp and dead because their roots are chewed off by gophers? I certainly have.

I am trying to learn to garden without enemies, however, and have learned to coexist comfortably with them on my four acres near Occidental. Here is what works for me:

I let go of the hatred and resulting impulses to violence. That felt better right away. I appreciate the gophers for their service as little underground rototillers, loosening and aerating the soil, mixing and moving minerals and nutrients around, dropping pellets of fertilizer in strategic places, and finally sacrificing their little furry (actually quite beautiful) bodies to increase soil fertility. I thank them.

As Kate said, I keep good boundaries. I plant in gopher wire baskets or raised beds with 1/2" hardware cloth on the bottom. These are not contradictory. There are other people in my life that I love, but still have to maintain boundaries with.
One of our premier human projects is to learn to live as if the earth is a wildlife preserve. For that reason, I avoid having cats, but love to see foxes, barn owls, and gopher snakes.

We have to make it good here for the other forms of life, for we want the same things, and if it's not good for them, it won't be good for us either.

Thank you Linda and all for this good discussion!

[jhstayton]

Male human urine in their holes discourages them. (Female works too, not as strong)

Joy

[redheifer]

Maybe it's because we seldom see them---and feel so helpless to control them---that we compile so many legends and folk tales about gophers. They always surface in any gardening discussion. They are amusing, perhaps comforting, but useless: rhubarb, pissing down their holes, sticking a hose down their holes, marigolds, wind machines, razor blades in their tunnels, human hair, on and on.

Gophers can be controlled (not eliminated) by carefully planned and executed trapping. It takes persistence and some hard work. I've been gardening here for forty years and it seems to me that the best trapping methods I've seen (and used) are set out by the Gopher Guy (Google him and "cinch traps") and the older method using Macabee (no relation to Judah, nothing to do with Hanukkah) traps This latter method can be highly effective but often requires extensive digging.

Poison works, but is usually of a type that is slow to kill and remains for some days after ingestion as a threat to other predatory wildlife (barn owls, especially) as well as cats and dogs---who, themselves can help reduce the gopher population.

Shotguns work, but you need feline patience to wait for the gophers to surface---so why not get a cat? We have induced barn owls to our nests, but the owls work over a wide range and may miss your garden. Gopher baskets work only as long as they are intact. Depending on your soil's acidity they may not last two years. Eventually the gopher will chew its way through the not very substantial wire. There is also a device (Rodenator) on the market using propane and oxygen to blow up their entire tunneling system. It costs about $1,500 and leaves your property looking like a battlefield after all the mines have exploded...Only in America....

[Larry Robinson]

Badgers!

[Imagery]

I'm one who looks to my 2 rescue cats for gopher control. They don't seem to harass the birds, but gophers are hunted and eaten like little gopher burritos...fresh and tasty meals. My one cat is so effective, he's nearly eliminated the population on my 1/4 acre backyard.

Don't discount the benefits of rescue cats.

[Sara S]

I've had great results with solar-powered "gopher movers": just stick them in the ground and they emit a sound that the gophers seem to hate! I get them from a mail order company called "Make Life Easier" for $14 each. No need to kill anything!

["Mad" Miles]

Badgers?

BADGERS?!!

We doan neeed no steenkeengg BADGERS!!!

[Carol246]

Hello:

I'm surprised nobody from West County said this yet. I have heard it is possible to communicate mentally with the gophers on your property, and TELL THEM they MUST LEAVE, that they cannot be on your property, your land is for you, and they must go beyond the border and not return. They are down on the food chain, and must obey, it is said. Then keep the intention that you are gopher-free. Magic DOES work sometimes.

Carol

I am desperate to hire someone to clear my property of gophers, and then provide regular maintenance. Does anyone have any recommendations besides the gopher guy, who wants me to do my own trapping (which I do not have time for).

Thanks!

Linda

[Barry]

Hello:

I'm surprised nobody from West County said this yet. I have heard it is possible to communicate mentally with the gophers on your property, and TELL THEM they MUST LEAVE, that they cannot be on your property, your land is for you, and they must go beyond the border and not return. They are down on the food chain, and must obey, it is said. Then keep the intention that you are gopher-free. Magic DOES work sometimes.

Carol

I said that, albeit using my highly evolved diplomatic skills

I'm actually not all that woo-woo, but I'll be damned that the period when I went out into my yard weekly and "asked the gopher king" to move his tribe someplace else seemed to actually help!

[Dixon]

I have heard it is possible to communicate mentally with the gophers on your property, and TELL THEM they MUST LEAVE, that they cannot be on your property, your land is for you, and they must go beyond the border and not return. They are down on the food chain, and must obey, it is said.

You may be sparing the gophers' lives, but you're killin' me! ROFLMFAO!!!

[jbox]

This solution only available on wacco, lol.

Hello:

I'm surprised nobody from West County said this yet. I have heard it is possible to communicate mentally with the gophers on your property, and TELL THEM they MUST LEAVE, that they cannot be on your property, your land is for you, and they must go beyond the border and not return. They are down on the food chain, and must obey, it is said. Then keep the intention that you are gopher-free. Magic DOES work sometimes.

Carol

[cristdancer]

I have tried every thing! You go to Harmony Farms or any other nursery and get anything that whirls like a propeller on a metal stake or make your own. Gophers hate the sound and leave the area. I have one in my 20' by 80' back yard and two cats, seems to do the trick.

[podfish]

I said that, albeit using my highly evolved diplomatic skills

that won't work - gophers take attempts at diplomacy as a sign of weakness.

[Alkaline Al]

Gopher Free Forever @_@
I dug a 2-ft.X3-ft. trench with a level bottom all the way around my garden, (40x40). I split a 4-ft. roll of chicken wire in half with a saws all, then rolled the 2-ft. rolls all the way around the bottom. I bought a pallet of hardy board—(1/2 inch, light-cement board, used for backing behind tiled walls) and set them on their sides over the inside edge at the bottom, looking something like a capital L. I covered the wire with about a half inch of dry, ready-mix, then sprinkled it with water and waited for the cement to set up... A gofer or mole that try's to go down and under will find an additional 2-ft. at the bottom, ahh, no way will they come back under. However without at least a 10-12 inch fence all the way around the top, they will climb over -__- Alkaline AL

[marko]

You may be sparing the gophers' lives, but you're killin' me! ROFLMFAO!!!

Oh, I tried that 'power of suggestion' stuff, telling them they had to leave and couldn't come back, but they were an extremely hardy clone variety of some sort. Two days later, a U-Haul truck pulled up on the property, loaded my stuff and moved me off the site. I presume the gophers are still living happily there.

[marko]

You may be sparing the gophers' lives, but you're killin' me! ROFLMFAO!!!

Their sign said Gopherville, Pop. 442 on the site, with a big banner reading "Gopher Broke"...

[jbox]

Gopher Free Forever @_@
I dug a 2-ft.X3-ft. trench with a level bottom all the way around my garden, (40x40). I split a 4-ft. roll of chicken wire in half with a saws all, then rolled the 2-ft. rolls all the way around the bottom. I bought a pallet of hardy board—(1/2 inch, light-cement board, used for backing behind tiled walls) and set them on their sides over the inside edge at the bottom, looking something like a capital L. I covered the wire with about a half inch of dry, ready-mix, then sprinkled it with water and waited for the cement to set up... A gofer or mole that try's to go down and under will find an additional 2-ft. at the bottom, ahh, no way will they come back under. However without at least a 10-12 inch fence all the way around the top, they will climb over -__- Alkaline AL

I think this is flat out the best solution I've heard yet. I'm going to call it the Bill Murray solution. As a general contractor, I've put pencil to paper and come up with a bid. This solution would cost about $27,000. I would have to sub out the 10"-12" fence to somebody else cuz I've got a bad back and can't work that low for that long. The only improvement suggestion is to form up the sides 10"-12" above grade and fill the whole dang thing with concrete, that way if you ever decide to build your dream house the foundation is already in. Thanks, Mr. Bill!!!

[Beverly Schenck]

Barry,
Would you send me the address for Wacco, I want to send a thank you check, small as it may be, it's what I can afford now, thank you for your continued kindness, and concern for the community, Beverly Schenck

I said that, albeit using my highly evolved diplomatic skills

[Barry]

Barry,
Would you send me the address for Wacco, I want to send a thank you check, small as it may be, it's what I can afford now, thank you for your continued kindness, and concern for the community, Beverly Schenck

Certainly!

Your contributions are most welcome, especially now that wedding plans are underway...

You can sign up for a non-commercial supporting membership starting at just $24/year here.
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[joehogan]

I dug a 6 foot deep foundation trench next to my garden and was amazed to notice that the gophers had a city underground. Six feet down and there was a warren of gopher holes, one or two every square foot of the sides of the trench. Unless the entire bottom is protected with wire, I'd say you need a ten foot deep barrier to exclude the gophers.

On another occasion I also used concrete and wire for a barrier and after two years I discovered the concrete rusts out the wire VERY quickly down where it's almost always damp. The gophers then chew through the rusted wire in a flash.

Now, I keep the wire high enough so it can dry out fairly quickly. I don't use any concrete. I use gopher wire and traps. It's a fair amount of work, but it keeps the crops safe.

Best of luck to all,

Joe Hogan