How to Eliminate Gophers?

How to identify Gopher infestation?

The most obvious sign of gopher infestation or damage on your property is the mounds of dirt shaped like crescent moons or horseshoes. You will also find a plugged hole next to the dirt mound. Gophers are ferocious and are not deterred easily from nibbling at your plants, damaging your irrigation system and building their extensive underground tunnel fortresses beneath your lawn or yard. 

If you notice any of the signs, it is advisable to consult with gardening experts, such as Eden for the best way to eliminate gophers from your property. 

How to get rid of Gophers?

A single gopher is able to easily dig several mounds in a day. So, you can imagine the extent of damage that an entire family of gophers can cause to your garden or lawn. Gophers are known to gnaw at irrigation lines, buried cables and sprinklers. Besides this, gophers also damage the roots of plants. 

To avoid this extensive damage to the lawn and your property, you should find an effective way to get rid of gophers. To do this, you can choose any of these tried-and-tested methods to eliminate gophers:

1. Trapping 

Laying traps is a non-toxic and effective control method for gophers and homeowners who are worried about humane methods to catch gophers can choose this. The best time to trap gophers is between fall and spring. Some of the most common traps for gophers include Gophinator, Cinch, Macabee and Victor Black Box. 

To set these traps, you will first need to find the main runway of a gopher tunnel, which is usually near a fresh mound of dirt. Once you find a gopher mound, check it for burrows. You will then need to use a wooden dowel or similar device to probe deep into the tunnel. If the wooden dowel sinks 4 to 12 inches into the tunnel, then it indicates to being a gopher burrow. After you identify the gopher tunnel positively, you should wear protective gloves and stake two traps into the tunnel, facing each other. 

In case no gopher gets trapped in 2 to 3 days, you should move the trap to a different burrow. When you have successfully captured all gophers from your property you will stop seeing fresh mounds of dirt. 

2. Poison Baits

Poison baits are extremely effective in eliminating gophers. However, it can also affect other animals, such as foxes and owls. Make sure to follow the instructions on the label carefully when laying out poison baits for gophers. 

The best time to use gopher bait is spring as this is the time when gophers lack sufficient food. To lay poison baits for gophers, you will first need to probe for the main gopher tunnel, as described above. Next, you will need to lay out the bait at the main runway tunnel. Make sure to plug the burrow’s entrance quickly after laying the bait. 

Make sure to check the area regularly for 2 weeks. Remove any dead gophers wearing protective gloves and dispose of it properly. Once you stop seeing fresh dirt mounds in your yard, you will know that you have successfully eliminated gophers. 

3. Underground Fence

Underground fence is an excellent way to deter gopher infestation from returning, though it is not a method of eliminating gophers. This is an excellent technique to keep your garden and vegetable patch safe from getting damaged by gophers. 

To do this, you will first need to bury hardware cloth, or a ¾ -inch mesh poultry wire, at least 2 feet under the raised flower beds. Next, you will need to bend 6 inches of the mesh or wire at a 90-degree angle away from the plants. Then you will need to wire baskets to protect individual plants. However, you will need to make sure to leave sufficient room for the roots to grow underground. 

4. Flooding

Flooding gopher holes is another excellent way to eliminate gopher infestation from your yard or lawn. Flooding tends to push gophers out of their burrows and makes them more vulnerable to get hunted by predators, such as hunting dogs. 

To do this, you will need to follow the set of instructions to identify fresh gopher tunnels. Then you simply need to use a garden hose and start filling the tunnel with water. As the water seeps deeper into the main tunnels, it will force the gophers to abandon the tunnel network entirely and go above-ground. 

5. Fumigation

Fumigation is another technique to eliminate gophers, though not as effective as trapping or baiting. The reason is that at time, the gophers may seal their burrows for protection against predators, which may also prevent the fumigant to reach every tunnel in the burrow. 

This technique of eliminating gophers is usually chosen when there are only a few gophers to get rid of. To do this, you will need to call professional pest controllers. 

6. Barn Owls

You can also attract barn owls to your lawn as they are natural predators of gophers. However, there are certain limitations to this method. For instance, you will need to buy and install barn owl boxes to attract owls to nest on your property. However, you will need to remember that barn owls tend to have a large territory so they may not hunt for prey such as gophers in your yard alone. Hence, using barn owls to eliminate gophers is not as effective as other methods on this list.

Conclusion

Gophers can be eliminated with traps, baits, flooding, fumigation or barn owls. Not all of these methods may work effectively for all, so you may have to experiment with a few of these initially. Once you find the most effective way to eliminate gophers you can try that method the next time you see gophers infesting your property.