Another option is to use repellants to drive them away from your lawn. Start by placing castor oil pellets, peppermint oil, or fabric softener sheets in the burrows closest to your home. Wait 1-2 days, then place more repellants in some burrows that are a little further out. Repeat the process until you've added repellants to the outermost burrows.
Grow them in different parts of your yard, especially in areas that are frequented by the creature. Another way to repel gophers is to plant castor bean, daffodil and marigold in your garden as these critters hate the smell and taste of these plants. Gophers do not get scared easily as they are immune to the constant noise and vibrations caused by people moving around. However, if your garden is infested with gophers and moles, dig a hole and put a vibrating stake into it. Next, compact soil around the hole until it is tightly seized. Within a few days, you will find the gopher’s population diminish in your garden.
Using Gopher Repellents
Sink metal barriers at least 8 inches beneath the ground to keep the critters out of your yard. Gopher baskets can be placed around the root balls of fresh plants so that the underground pests can’t get to them. Euphorbia lathyris is commonly used to push critters out of the area. Also called Gopher Spurge, is available in nearly every gardening zone. These natural predators will find prey quickly and create an unwelcome space for the rodent population. However, it may not fully deter the furry pests from finding purchase in your outdoor play area.
Knowing the right time is the key to dealing with gophers successfully. Happily, you can buy types of wire mesh made specifically for burial under raised beds to keep out tunneling critters. Some are even referred to as "gopher wire." Regardless of what they are called, be sure to look for products made with stainless steel wire. A widely available product you can use to line the bottom of a raised bed and deprive gophers of access is "hardware cloth," which isn't really a cloth but a mesh. For best results, use a live trap designed for small-to-medium-sized pests.
Bait
As for dogs, some dogs you'd never think were ratters can be very good. But if you want to be sure you're adopting a dog who'll hunt gophers, try to get two Jack Russell Terriers . They'll wait on opposite sides of a hole, and when the gopher emerges one or the other will get it. If you have a friend with JRT's and your yard is fenced and dog-escape-proof, you can ask to borrow them, too. It can be a true source of headache to homeowners to see their yards and gardens become infested with annoying moles and gophers.
Stinging insects and some garden bugs also seem to hate it. A basic neem oil insecticide recipe is to mix 4 teaspoons of neem oil with 2 teaspoons of liquid soap and a gallon of water. Shake well and spray the insecticidal solution on plants. Alternatively, make a homemade pesticide for plants by combining 5 tablespoons of DE with a gallon of water. This liquid homemade insecticide will kill insects when it dries out. So if you have a pet dog or cat, let them wander around in your garden, and they will help control the gopher population naturally.
Are moles good for your yard?
Place the solution into a spray bottle and apply it to the affected areas. Companion planting is an organic method of controlling pests. And it isn’t just limited to flowers either — you can plant vegetables and herbs such as onions and sage.
Repeat this process after every 3 to 4 days so that the gophers are encouraged to leave. Now soak some cotton balls in the liquid and drop them into every gopher hole you find. If you have a lot of gophers on the property, it will become quite hard to get rid of all of them using this method. Castor oil is great as it is neither a lethal method nor does it harm the environment. This method is great for those who have a small garden or is dealing with a small number of gophers. To use the peppermint oil, soak a cotton ball in the oil, then put it on the entrance of a gopher tunnel.
How To Get Rid of Gophers
Be aware that they are dangerous for pets, children, or other wildlife which you aren’t trying to eradicate. Even handling poisons improperly or forgetting to wash your hands afterwards can lead to irritation and discomfort. A burrow will stretch underground from roughly 200 – 2,000 square feet and 2 ½” – 3 ½” in diameter, with nesting and food chambers that may reach a depth of six feet. The main tunnel starts about 12”-18” away from an aboveground soil plug and will typically run 6”-12” beneath the surface. The burrow system is complex and may even carry up to 200 yards of tunnels. Now this is yet another hack that is hard to believe, but works like a charm!
They are active year round and may burrow at any time of day. However, gophers are most active in the spring when they may construct up to three mounds a day. Additionally, they seem to be more active around dusk and at night.
These traps will catch the gophers and you can take them out of your property and release them in the wild far from your garden. This method is great for catching gophers but always uses a preventative method to make sure they don’t come back. Gopher mesh is quite inexpensive and does not need much effort to set up, yet it protects your plants quite well. Gophers may still eat some of the roots of your plants, but if they find it hard to tunnel, they will leave that area eventually.
I bet you didn’t know that you could repurpose your dog's pet waste to fight the battle against moles and voles. Moles prefer moderate temperatures and will typically go deeper into the soil during the hot summer and cold winter months. They are more active during the late spring, early summer, and fall.
Unlike other gopher baskets, this option breaks down within a few years, so it doesn’t girdle your tree’s roots. You can do this by laying down gopher wire at the bottom of your beds or planting your plants in wire gopher baskets. You might also consider adding a solar- or battery-powered ultrasonic deterrent spike in your garden or yard to keep gophers at bay. Gophers need to eat, and they’ll set up shop anywhere they can find food sources. Gophers are herbivores, meaning they only eat vegetation. Fortunately, there are ways to get rid of gophers and reclaim your property.
These pests can create a lot of havoc and destroy your beautiful garden. Hence, try out these remedies and find the one that works most effectively to keep your property as lovely as you want it to be. If you are looking for an inexpensive yet effective home remedy to eliminate gophers, you should consider using mothballs. Simply place several naphthalene balls in a gopher tunnel opening. Wrap it with a plastic to make sure that the smell of the mothballs stays intact. As soon as the nasty little critters smell the naphthalene, they will leave your yard or garden as quickly as they can.
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