Gopher Prevention
Gophers are herbivores that live in underground tunnels. These small rodents, in their search for food, can wreak havoc on lawns and gardens. Their attacks not only ruin the growth of plants but the holes they produce can also create tripping hazards for people. The treatment of gophers needs to be paired with a proper prevention method to get rid of a gopher infestation efficiently while minimizing the damage. However, gophers spend most of their time underground, thus making it difficult to prevent them from making one’s lawn part of their tunnel system. Different methods are available for gopher prevention that can help to make one’s yard less favorable to these small rodents.
Exclusion
One such method is covering the plants underground which can either be done through exclusion i.e. use of physical barriers to keep the gophers out of your yard.
Fencing is one way of exclusion. By extending the fence underground and curving its bottom part such that it is parallel to the ground, an encounter of gophers with this part is likely to turn them away.
Another technique that can be used for exclusion purposes is using gopher baskets made out of netted material. These baskets allow young plants to sit in the dirt without being vulnerable to gophers.
The building of barriers around the plants using mulch or gravels can also serve the purpose as they make it difficult for gophers to dig through them. Moreover, the taste and smell of these materials are not liked by gophers, thus they are likely to be turned back from these barriers.
Another technique that can be used for gopher prevention is raising plant beds and allowing plants to grow in raised plant boxes in order to prevent gophers from digging. It has proven to be a very cost-effective technique for preventing gophers.
Natural Predators
The introduction of natural predators such as cats or dogs can also play a part in the prevention of gophers. The smell of stool and furs of predators can also turn gophers away as they require a favorable place to live because gophers have sensitive noses, thus if there is a smell which they do not like, they may leave.
Noisy Environment
Just like a repugnant odor, gophers do not like a lot of noise, thus creating a noisy environment can prevent them from staying on your property. Portable radios covered in plastic bags or wind chimes can be used for this purpose
A wide variety of repellents can assist in the prevention of gophers. They are helpful in creating unpleasant tastes, smells, or sounds for the gophers, making the area under consideration unfavorable for them. They need to be applied consistently in order to attain successful results. There might be a need for using multiple approaches simultaneously in order to get rid of stubborn gophers.