How to Keep Gophers Away From Your House, Yard, or Garden

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It is quite difficult to keep away a gopher but it doesn’t stop people from trying. Not only do they possess the ability to devastate your flowerbed and lovely garden in literally no time at all, they also enjoy burrowing under your electrical lines and water pipes causing damage wherever they show up. If you’ve been looking for repellants to use against them, here are some ideas that others have used for repellents.

Liquid Repellants
There are a lot of repellants sold in the stores for gophers whether they are liquid or powder; however, most of them will contain chemicals that can be harmful to pets, children and other animals. Some people even make their own repellant using 16 ounces of castor oil and 8 ounces of dish liquid. You’d mix these ingredients together until the blend becomes foamy and place some it inside of a spray bottle. The rest of it can be stored in a 2 liter drink bottle in a cool place. The applicator on your spray bottle should be set to release 2 tsp of the blend for each gallon of water or you can choose the light setting on the applicator. Once you have set the applicator, you can hook it to the hose and water your lawn, garden and anywhere else in your yard where gophers are a problem starting with the problem areas first. This mixture has to be reapplied every two weeks and doesn’t show signs of improvement immediately.

Rotating Crops
If you have a gopher damaging your yard on a regular basis, it may be because they’re looking for food. Take your grain crops and rotate them with alfalfa. Because storage structures underground that are large enough are not established by these annual grains, there becomes a short supply of food for gophers and they are encouraged to look elsewhere for food. Not only is this supposed to protect your other crops but it’s supposed to run the gopher off. Yet, there is no real evidence that this true. Some people use 6 inches of gravel that is coarse or a buffer of bare ground rather than planting annual grains.

Flood Irrigation
Flood irrigation basically refers to putting enough water into a gopher’s tunnel making him uncomfortable and wanting to flee. It is recommended that you find a gopher hole in your yard at the highest mound and open it up. Use a water hose so that you can flood the entire tunnel system quickly. If you don’t see them come out running, chances are they were able to dig an escape route. This is not an effective repellant because it wets the roots of the plants making them a more available food source. It also makes the soil moist giving the gophers’ easier access to the goods.

Fencing
Fences can be placed around trees, shrubbery and gardens that you don’t want gophers demolishing. The fencing spaces should be no larger than ¼ inch so that it becomes difficult for gophers to slide on through. The fence should be as deep as 18 inches and 24 inches away from the specific area being protected so that access to plant roots due to tunneling can be avoided. Netting can be placed over new roots and saplings, but there’s no guarantee that the gopher won’t chew through it. Fencing can be effective to a point, but it only provides your vegetation with limited protection and for only a certain period of time. Not to mention, having a fence installed can be quite expensive.

Trapping
Trapping is another method for repelling a gopher for good. By catching a gopher in a live trap, you can remove them and live a gopher free life, which is until the next gopher tries to intrude. To trap a gopher, you’d need to locate all of their holes caused by tunneling and seal them up leaving one open for placing the trap inside of. Once the gophers head for the main exit, they get captured and you can move them to another area. People use repellants hoping to repel gophers, but the truth is they’re only effective for a short period of time. Trapping is the only way to effectively repel them for good.

More in-detail how-to gopher removal articles:

Information about gopher trapping - analysis and methods for how to trap.
Information about how to kill a gopher - with poison or other methods.
Information about how to catch a gopher - remove one stuck in the house.
Information about gopher repellent - analysis of types and effectiveness.

This site is intended to provide education and information about how to keep gophers away from your house, yard, garden, so that you can make an informed decision if you need to deal with a gopher problem. This site provides many gopher control articles and strategies, if you wish to attempt to solve the problem yourself. If you are unable to do so, which is likely with many cases of gopher removal, please go to the home page and click the USA map, where I have wildlife removal experts listed in over 500 cites and towns, who can properly help you with keeping away gophers.

Click here to read more about how to get rid of gophers.