Subject: Re: Attack of the Gophers
From: "Bill Robinson" <roseguy@flash.net>
Organization:
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 98 20:37:00
Message-ID: <MOD$981011.11279@rec.gardens.ecosystems>
Chris Campo said:
>I'm having a problem with gophers in San Diego, >California. I'm wondering
if there's any way to drive >them off or whether they just have to be
killed.
"Common-Sense Pest Control" by Olkowski, Daar, and Olkowski says that
physical barriers are the
safest and most effective control measures for gophers. Here in the Los
Angeles area, we also have problems with gophers and many home gardeners
install underground hardware cloth baskets as protective barriers. They are
more or less effective. Apparently, gophers have a keen sense of smell which
they use to sniff out roots, bulbs, tubers, etc. They find their target food
and burrow to get it but the baskets stop them from getting through..
Their burrows are usually fairly close to the surface but they can be down
as deep as 18" so the barrier needs to be a basket rather than a simple
underground fence to stop them from coming up from below. The basket
barrier is, of course, easier to put in before you put in the plant
material. A basket barrier for a whole bed or a portion of a bed is easier
than trying to have a basket for each and every plant.
The gopher poisons are often grains baited with strychnine which could be a
problem for pets as
well as a problem for any predator that feeds of the poisoned gopher.
Fumigation and/or flooding just
doesn't seem that effective.
There was a post of rec.gardens a year or so ago that advocated the use of
Ex-Lax to drive off gophers. It was suggested that a couple of tablets be
dropped down the gopher holes. I talked to a pharmacist about this and he
said that the active ingredient is Ex-Lax is particularly toxic to rodents.
He thought that they might work .
I think I'd stick with the wire cloth baskets.
Bill
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