How to Keep Gophers out of your Garden

Before we can discuss some of the ways you can keep gophers out of your garden, you must understand and differentiate these rodents from moles!

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Gophers are rodents that burrow in your garden and cause unsightly mounds and holes. You can get rid of these rodents when you understand their way of life, burrowing, differences in mounds, and other characteristics that differentiate them from moles and other rodents. In this article, we shall discuss how to get rid of gophers and other related rodents from your garden so that they do not cause a lot of damages to your crops and plants.

Here are methods to keep gophers out of your garden:

1. Flood the Gophers out of the Garden or the Yard

This is one of the many methods that you can use to get these rodents out of your garden or yard. However, one has to be careful so that you do not affect the foundations of a building near the burrows. First, identify the gopher tunnels from the surface. It is not very easy to identify these tunnels. However, use the mounds and indications of the tunnels and with help, pour water into the tunnels dramatically and quickly. Use gallon buckets to pour the water from different directions or different tunnels to flood the tunnels and drive the gophers out.  You can do this during early spring or late winter just before these rodents start breeding.

2. Fencing off Prized Gardens Against the Rodents

This is another good way to ensure your plants are not destroyed by gophers. It may be a little expensive but will pay off in the long run. Create barriers around your gardens by raising the beds and nailing wire mesh around the sides and the bottoms of the beds. For new trees, you can plant them inside a wire basket frame to protect the roots from gophers. Existing trees could be a little challenging to protect. One way to protect the trees is by installing an underground gopher fencing in the form of hardware wire mesh cloth.

3. Trapping Gophers

Trapping rodents is a very effective method of controlling the gophers if the other methods you try fail. Keep in mind, however, that this will result in killing these rodents. Some trappers are specifically made for gophers and these are commercially available. To be successful in the use of these items, you need to ensure that you use it in the active burrows.

4. Use smells that Repel Gophers

Gophers have sensitive noses and as such, it is easy to chase them from your garden through the use of smells that repel these rodents away. One of the things that can repel these rodents is the smell of fish. You can place some fish fins or meat in the tunnels. You can also use castor oil for this purpose. Drop some castor oil capsules into the tunnel and allow it to work. Coffee grounds are another thing that you can place in the tunnels and allow them to work. Mix the coffee grounds with soil and sprinkle it into the gopher tunnels. These smells should help you chase the rodents.