A-Z Garden Tips: Go Away, Gophers!

Gophers (Geomyidae) may be small critters, but in the garden or yard, they can be gigantic problem. These furry rodents (measuring approximately 5” to 15”) eat lots of the best plants and burrow all over the place.

How can you get rid of gophers?

Gardeners have tried all sorts of creative and even crazy tactics to send gophers away. This can be a difficult endeavor. Remember Caddyshack? Take a look:

Short of bombing, burning, flooding, gassing, poisoning, shooting, smoking, spraying, trapping, or resorting to other violent tactics, what are the most successful gopher removal strategies?

Here are several tips and tricks for ridding your yard and garden of gophers.

1. Construct raised garden beds.
2. Put a sturdy textile (such as galvanized mesh hardware cloth) under the soil. 
3. Include gopher plants in your garden.
4. Let a cat or dog do the work.
5. Release a gopher-eating snake into the hole (run).
6. Set pinwheels, spinners, or other moving decorations around the yard, and rearrange them often.

Lots of gardeners pour all sorts of concoctions into gopher holes (runs) to send the creatures running. Certainly, caution is warranted with several of these options around children and pets.

Popular choices include:

1. Bubble gum
2. Castor oil (or castor beans)
3. Cola
4. Dirty fish tank water
5. Fish emulsion
6. Freshly soiled cat litter
7. Garlic
8. Gasoline
9. Ground glass
10. Hot red pepper flakes
11. Laundry detergent
12. Mothballs
13. Perfume
14. Tabasco sauce

Some of these may prove effective at gopher control, while others may be more like old wives’ tales.

Have you tried any of these gopher removal tactics?

Which works the best for you? Or do you have another method of getting rid of gophers?

And how successful have the same strategies been to eliminate moles and voles and other furry garden pests?

Gopher, by LeonardoWeiss

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NOTE:  This blogger has no affiliation with any product/s mentioned in this post and received no remuneration from the manufacturer/s or product promoter/s for this post.

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