A friend of mine mentioned that following his recent move, he is experiencing a lot of gophers on his new property and concerned about the damage they may do to his roses. Has anyone experienced this and what effective means did you use to manage the gophers?
Hi, I spoke with my daughter today and she has gopher issues. A pest control person said to try placing unwrapped sticks of a sweet chewing gum, such as Juicy Fruit in the gopher hole. The gophers eat the gum, it swells in their stomach and they cannot eat and therfore expire.
Judith
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I live in a rural area and do see gopher mounds frequently. Gophers tend to be quite solitary (although they must change tactics in order to increase their population!) My favorite solution, quite visible and also deadly, is the Victor Gopher Trap. The small hole at the end of the trap leads them to “plug the hole” and as they move toward it they hit the “trigger” of the trap which grabs them around the middle and effectively kills them. Of course you have to have to remove them from the trap, so you can’t be squeamish, but I have no problem with that and have even taught my grandsons the same so they can handle the gophers that dare to venture into my rose garden…and vegetable and fruit gardens, too.
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Hi Judith - Thanks for sharing!
Gopherhawk
In our state the gophers have turned it into Swiss cheese. I bought the Gopherhawk and caught three in an hour and a half. The Gopherhawk is an excellent product.
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I don’t have a gopher problem in my rose bed (yet), but they are prevalent in and around the Three Sisters Garden I manage at our local Archaeology Museum. We use a number of strategies to keep them from destroying the roots of our cultivated plants. First of all we bury wire mesh cages before planting. These last for years and keep the gophers from reaching the roots of the plant. In addition, we watch for tunnels and when we see them, we stuff the tunnel with dog hair (donated by a local dog grooming business), garlic cloves, and rocks which seems to work well in redirecting the gophers. Finally, we use a sonar device that is intended to deter the gophers. So far, the combination of these methods seems to be working well.
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Thank you for sharing!