Gophers are the burrowed rodents. They have the pear-shaped bodies with short ears looking something similar to squirrels but overweighing.The most identifiable feature is the front incisors which continue to grow until filed down by the friction of digging.
The herbivores enjoy plant leaves and vegetables as their diet.They live in tunnels that are built by them. The tunnels generally are connected in complex networks.
You can get rid of gophers by using the below-mentioned home remedies.
Why Do We Need To Get Rid Of Gophers?
- The presence of gophers in your garden can be marked by the overturned brown dirt.
- The gophers dig incessantly in your garden for food causing the tunnels and mounds.
- Their food habits are a threat to your garden and lawn. They may tear up your whole garden.
- The little rodents are shown no mercy while ruining your beautiful garden in search of their food.
But your garden can be saved from these rodents with easy working remedies.
Home Remedies To Get Rid Of Gophers
The following are some home remedies to get rid of gophers
1. Castor Oil
One of the easiest ways to stop gophers from destroying your garden is a castor oil repellent. After smelling castor gophers run away as they cannot stand its smell.
Procedure
Spray diluted castor oil (by mixing some water in it) in the tunnels.You can also use granulated castor and sprinkle it.
2. Pet Litter
Your pets are your best friends and in such a way that even their waste helps you. Felines and gophers are natural foes.Therefore, you can get rid of the rodents by filling its home with your pet’s litter.
3. Coffee Grounds
You can save your garden with your very own coffee.For this fill the gophers moulds with the leftover coffee grounds and pour some soil over it. This not only helps to get rid of gophers but also enhances the fertility of your garden soil.You may also sprinkle it all over the area of the garden.
4. Noise
Gophers are peace loving creatures as they leave places surrounding loud noise. This can be taken as an advantage to save your garden.
So you can place loud sound producing things near their holes to shoo them off.
A portable radio is most appropriate for this. You can keep in a plastic zipped bag to protect it from moisture. Even wind chimes can be an aid.
5. Chewing Gums And Soft Candies
This one of most popular methods used to get rid from gophers. Here, a piece of soft candy or chewing gum is put in the gophers’ hole.
6. Plants
Some plants not only enhance your garden value but also help in keeping fit. Gophers do bear smell and taste of some plants like the Marigold, castor bean and the beautiful daffodil.
Gopher spurge or euphorbia lathyrism is as the name suggests, it is a specialist of this.
Therefore, you plant one or all of these plants in your garden to keep the gophers away.
7. Mulch
Gophers clearly don’t enjoy mulch and mulch with a twist of jalapeño peppers in it can let you relieve from the unwanted guests.
8. Garden Pipe
Gophers can be made to leave their comfortable home by flooding it with water, planting a hose pipe carefully inside gophers’ tunnel and running water until the rodents come out of it.
9. The Wonder Mix
This is the most working technique to get rid of gophers.
Mix Tabasco sauce (1 tablespoon) + castor oil(1/2 cup)+ water and some peppermint drops. Shake the mix well and dip some cotton balls in it and place them in holes where gophers live.This wonder mix completely helps you to save your garden by keeping the gophers away from it.
10. Naphthalene Balls
The moth balls are a great rescue in keeping the gophers away. You can place them in the tunnel where gopher’s live and to keep their smell intact wrap them up in a plastic bag.
11. Traps And Cages
Put cages and traps in places where the gophers are most likely to be found. Place them strategically. Once you trap them, leave them at a far place so that they don’t intrude again in your garden.Don’t forget to keep a bait to tempt the rodent!
12. Keeping The Soil Moist
This can be easily done increasing water supply. The gophers would be forced to dig deeper so as to be away from the collapsing tunnels.
13. Scents
The smell of scents is strongly detested by gophers. The lawn can be made gopher free by filling their tunnels with scents of fish, chicken etc.
14. Burrow Blasters
This is the perfect solution for complete dismissal of gophers from your garden. The technique uses a mixture of propane and oxygen and kills the gophers and other pests by causing pulmonary haemorrhage in them.
15. Chicken Wire Baskets
Surround the roots of plants with chicken wire. They help to protect the young plants and their roots till they are grown up.
16. Exhaust Of Vehicles
Suffocate the gophers by flooding their tunnel with your vehicle’s exhaust which contains carbon monoxide.
Tip – cover the holes with mud after flooding it with exhaust to prevent leakage.
17. Lacking Food
Decrease the food supply for gophers in order to send them away.
18. Vibrating Stakes
These are used to frighten gophers. These are available in 2 kinds :
a) Battery drove which is invisible when completely driven into the ground.
b) Non- battery driven which uses the wind energy and has an ornament projecting from the ground, more like a windmill.
These are currently one of the best options to get rid of gophers.
19. Detergent
Gophers detest the smell of detergents.Dryer sheets are the simplest way to get rid of gophers.
20. Poison
Zinc phosphide is one of the most used poisons for killing gophers.Although precautions must be taken while working with it.
21. Cornmeal
Cornmeal act as the deterrent to gophers as they dig , they don’t like the taste left in the soil. For this, sprinkle the cornmeal in your garden and soak it nicely so that its taste lasts in the soil.
It also acts as a fertiliser giving the dual advantage to your garden.
22. Human Hair
Stuff the holes of gophers with your hair that’s In your comb. This will force them to dig deeper.
23. Mirrors
Place mirrors in gophers mounds. They will see their reflection and get scared and would run away.
Empty Wine bottles can be helpful in this.
24. Vitamin D
While vitamin D is beneficial for humans, its a killer for gophers as it upsets their metabolism.
Vitamin D3 is particularly beneficial for this work.
25. Lava Rocks
Put lava rocks dipped in onion and garlic paste about 6 feet under the ground. The smell would create a havoc in gophers and would send them far away.
Do’s
- Have pets to scare Gophers away and you also get a company.
- Try the above remedies with prior preparations.
- Do as much needed to cope with the gophers.
- Keep planting your favourites and shoo gophers away instead.
Don’ts
- Avoid touching the poisons.
- Do not touch smelling things with bare hands as the scent may remain in your palms for quite some time.
Precautions
- Using poison can be dangerous. Take extra care while working with one specially if you have pets or kids at home.
- Always use gloves before spraying.
- The tunnels are interconnected , so destroy all of them to completely get rid of gophers.
- Rodents may bite so be at a safe distance when you throw them away.
These remedies would surely help you in getting rid of your unwanted garden guests – GOPHERS.
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