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Re: Gophers
On Tue, 07 Oct 97 09:03:53, cnorman@best.com#nospam (Cyndi Norman)
wrote:
> I'd like to start a similar
>discussion about gophers, which have just appeared in my yard (a couple
>weeks ago). I bought the house in late May so I have no idea if they
>arrive every fall or if they are new immigrants to my garden.
>
>Actually, I don't know for sure if they are gophers. We are seeing piles
>of dirt 2-3" high and 6-10" in diameter appear in the lawn, especially next
>to the watered beds (we don't water the lawn ever and it's rained once this
>summer). How can I tell which burrowing animal it is? I live in the San
>Francisco Bay Area.
>
>We have no intentions of killing them off. The mess they are making is
>minimal (so far anyway) and we are happy to give them food and shelter.
>But we are about to put in a vegatable garden (not too far from where
>they've been digging) and I'd hate to lose significant portions of it. I
>don't mind losing some (10-20% to all animals...gophers, birds, insects,
>etc).
>
>Anyone want to offer thoughts on gophers' role in the garden? How to
>discourage them from certain areas (someone on rec.gardens suggested
>putting human hair into their burrows...but there are no visable holes in
>the ground, just mounds of dirt)? If I will need chicken wire under my
>veggie bed? And how to keep them happy and alive without turning my entire
>yard into a dirt mound?
>
Gophers can do significant damage to your gardern. I too, don't mind
sharing my plants and crops with some pests but my natural gopher
population was to large to leave unchecked.
I have had much success with using chicken wire. Gophers generally
make their tunnels in the first 18 inches of ground so when I plant a
tree, I encircle it with a cylinder of one inch chicken wire. This
has worked for me. The baby gophers can still get thru this diameter
mesh but I have not had much damage.
The real damage I get from gophers is from their tunnels diverting
water away from the roots of the trees. So even with the roots
protected from their voracious appetites they can still do you in with
their custom underground canals stealing water from your basins.
I have also had success lining the bottom of a 10 x 20 foot vegetable
bed with chicken wire. In four years I have only had one 'break in'.
People warned me that the chicken wire would rust away very quickly
but I have some that has been in the ground for over 5 years still
protecting my mango and papaya trees in S Cal.
The mounds you describe are consistant with gophers. They push up the
dirt from the little tunnels, called laterals, that they use for
feeding and exploring. These laterals always attach to the main
tunnel which is the one you want to collapse if it is diverting your
irrigation. I have never seen a gopher above ground. My chicken wire
cylinders are only two inches above ground but I don't think this is
even necessary. They don't seem to venture above ground even at night.
I would keep an eye on your population. Owls and gopher (bull) snakes
are great natural predators.
Gophers are also very terratorial, it would not surprise me if all of
your mounds are being created by one animal. If he gets eliminated,
you should collapse all the tunnels and you may not get any more for a
long time.
Sometimes they have tunneled complete circles around the wire
cylinders protecting the trees. I'm sure you have heard the stories
of entire tomato plants being pulled into holes by hungry gophers. I
too have witnessed this, reinforcing my decision to use raised beds
with chicken wire lining for my strawberries and blueberries.
Good luck,
References:
- Gophers
- From: cnorman@best.com#nospam (Cyndi Norman)