No More Gopher Problems

[@feedbackart]

Diego is roughly 25 miles South of my farm. I grow in Fallbrook, CA. Natural soil mycelium will consume the steel from hardware cloth and chicken wire within 10-18 months, depending on the moisture available to the mycelium (intended by the mycelium for the flowing mineral transport network). The most ideal solution for my commercial farm was to define the barrier of my planting area, then surround the area, where the rodent fence would be, with a vertical hardware cloth buried 4 feet below the surface ON ALL SIDES, WIRED TOGETHER AT THE CORNERS. If you really want to be hardcore, you'll go 6 feet deep, because food and sleeping dens of Bota Pocket Gophers can be up to 6 feet deep. My first idea, in 2015, was to line every Hugulkultur bed I planted with 1" hex mesh cloth underneath. I planted 1,875 feet of these beds, each with a 3'x27'x2'' steel basket underneath shaped like a taco tortilla, ending above ground. Within 1 year, the mycelium deteriorated the steel in the high-rotation beds to the point that these hemophiliac gophers didn't even cut themselves on the former steel to invade the beds as they burrowed through and ate my profits. Again, if you define your growing area, where your ground rodent fence will be: if you have moles or gophers you MUST bury the hardware cloth there, because the moisture level will be at a minimum near your planting boundary (compared to directly below the planting beds), and the steel will last FAR longer than putting it under each plant or each planting bed. This is my 3 year battle's resolution, which is currently working. Even with raised beds and Hugulkultur above hardware cloth: mycelium gets hungrier with every watering, and it degrades steel faster than any hard wood in a Hugulkultur bed. I've found even soft wood like sumac still intact, and the adjacent steel just made the soil red where it used to be (and the entire area is coated white in mycelium, literally pointing out to me the steel-deteriorating culprit). Don't waste your time with steel baskets. You'll have a yearly re-digging and re-planting ordeal under each plant or bed. Especially if you plant bananas in the baskets: Bananas are high water plants which require greater than a year to maturation and fruiting. Gophers will get to the roots in a steel basket before you harvest your first banana. But, if you define your entire planting area lined with at least 4' of vertical, underground protection: chances are far greater, for a longer period of time: you will have fewer intrusions and greater success. Best of luck. We're all in this together, so keep us posted! Diego, thanks for your thousands of hours serving the greater Permie culture!

[@suzannelove]

I love fallbrook! So it's been 2 yrs. Does your battle plan still work?

[@kimberlykelly7280]

I spent 2020 putting 1/2 inch hardware cloth under my 12 x 20 ft rows because i was done with the gophers!! Then surrounded the garden with a chicken wire fence to keep the feral cats out. Many gorilla carts of dirt were moved and replaced. Hog clips were used to connect the rows of wire every 2 inches so the gopher couldn’t sneak between the gaps of the wire. Yes- 2020 was productive and I got a lot of exercise. Thank goodness I have my garden!!

[@danacraig220]

I have been doing this for 3 years and I am getting burned out. But it works! I still have more to do and the learning curve was expensive. I started out putting in 2 foot deep vertical fences against squirrels. and then the voles took over. So then hardware cloth raised beds were installed.

[@IMCcanTWEESTED]

Mesh baskets only last so long. Moisture rusts them out and those little shits bust through. Going with containers above ground. Why don't I bury the plastic containers below grade? Because the gophers will pile dirt around their desired prize until they have enough dirt to tunnel over the container rim into the root system. Why can't someone come up with a bait that will render gophers sterile, barren or at least gay.

[@Bob-vw3ce]

I would like it to be like back in the good Ole days when a 22 long rifle handled all your problems. Sit in a rocking chair waiting for the first sign of movement. Cheaper too. 10 cents a shell maybe even five.

[@BurtBowers]

I made many of these out of 3/4" chicken mesh it works well but lot of work mending them together especially when you are making 10+ of them but as you say the top of basket should sit up least three inches I watched gophers come out of their holes & amazed how far they will go away from their hole to grab what they can then pull grass or weeds down their hole.

[@elsadakota1021]

Here in half moon bay ca, there seems to have been an explosion of gophers, moles, and voles! Seems all surrounding neighbors are digging down a foot and laying wire for new lawns and the gophers seem to all be coming to us. We’ve now caged all veggies or I’ve put my herbs in big pots. I’m sacrificing a bunch of onions and garlic to deter them from my blueberries and such that weren’t caged! Hope it works!, IM WITH YOU PAL! NOT GIVIVING THEM EVEN ONE MORE !

[@Lbaculanta]

Thank you so much for that wire tip for gophers.

[@FruitTreeForest]

thanks, very handy for handling gopher problems.

[@hardwareclothwww.sebossfen6011]

Hi,Nice job, You will get a beautiful lawn,very impressive beautiful environment. Thanks for your ideas, Just for who need SEBOSS hardware cloth,1/2,1/4 opening ,19 GA, Hot dip galvanized after welding, double galvanized, strong and sturdy, delicate and beautiful, suitable as gopher wire, protect lawn/garden from all kinds of gophers.

[@Chris-dw6cu]

Are bigger baskets needed for dwarf fruit trees than plants? Or do you think I could use 9x9 baskets for them? Seems like the roots will find their way through the openings no matter what but I'm not sure

[@farmergirlofchickens8779]

Informative and funny when worn as a hat 🎩. Here in Western North Carolina we don't have gopher trouble. We have cut worms that travel across the ground a cut the plant off at the base. We use aluminum foil and plant the tomatoes bottom two leaves under the ground. I will use you wire basket idea to keep the moles from eating my bulbs. You have a soothing and calming voice. Thanks for the videos.

[@paulb8719]

Love your pod cast and all your videos , they just keep getting better the problem is I can't stop watching daily vlog you and Curtis stone got me hooked o yea and The American farm tour with Justin and his Familly.

[@unitedstatesdale]

Farmergirl of Chickens Those Dang Moles are 10 X Sneakier than gophers. Good Luck !

[@WR_CTorch]

I’m surprised chicken wire will stop a gopher. The ground where I live is so hard and full of rock, the gophers must have carbide teeth.

[@Whiteyholmes08]

Nice presentation… I don’t want to use poison, because I have hawks and owls and Ravens hunting in my backyard every day… I don’t want to poison the good guys… I’m Losing too many expensive plants and need these cages…

[@amyjohnson7834]

since my gophers are starting to eat my tree kale and tree collards, I think those baskets are in my future :)

[@bodyrot2794]

I bury these all the way to soil level and make a rock border around my succulents and fill with rock top dressing. It looks a lot better imo then the mesh wire sticking out of the f ground.

[@cherylodell1954]

I just lost too many plants this past year and won’t plant anything without them.

[@wiscgaloot]

My sister and I did the same with chicken wire, and the thin wire that the roll of chicken wire was wrapped in. We made ~2 gallon baskets. Last night a gopher tipped over a small tomato in a plastic pot and ate it, but completely left the two tomato plants next to it alone--they were in their wire baskets!

[@GHOULSPBS]

Dang gophers! Get yer own 'matas!!!

[@richardmang2558]

Apply the Gopher Bait 50 by Martin's with either the Yard Butler www.homedepot.com/p/Yard-Butler-Gopher-Bait-Applicator-IGBA-1/308104258 available in store at Home Depot for about $25, perfect for a small backyard. Or if you have acres use the heavy duty Gopher Prod by Rugged Ranch www.ruggedranch.net/traps.html about $55 depending where you shop.

[@DiegoFooter]

Never had good luck with baits. The best trap I have found is the Gopher Hawk.

[@richardmang2558]

@@DiegoFooter I am wondering which style of baits you have tried? If you have only tried the pellet type baits , then try the poisoned seed type. I have had the pellets clog up the applicator and this caused no pellets to flow, hence no poison in the tunnel. The round seeds flow better and rarely clog up. I verify flow by raising up the applicator high enough so I can see the seeds fall down into the hole. I had it happen once where I was surprised how long the poison was lasting and the hopper was still full. Then I tested the applicator and nothing was falling out the trap door. SO....all I had been doing was poking holes in the ground for the last week. :( The Gopher Hawk looks like something I want to try out. It would be nice to not have to spend the time to dig up and clear the tunnel. A real time saver. Let us know how it works out. I see that they also offer replacement loops so if the gopher chews it up you can fix the trap.

[@bigunone]

What is so hard about just buying 3/4 or 1/2 inch chicken wire and making your own?

[@CharlesEngbers]

chicken wire is too thin. the gophers chew right through it. The cages are made of thicker wire....

[@liamdonaldson6449]

Why not make square baskets ? Uses a bit more material but the construction time would be less. I think it would be a good idea to use large diameter (12") plastic pipe (with holes drilled for water) say 24" long buried to 12" deep with some fine mesh underneath. Or a plastic cap with holes drilled rather than mesh. The pipe would last a long time and could be left in place. Just add some new soil each season.

[@DiegoFooter]

My worry on the pipe would be, it wouldn't let enough roots through to the outside.

[@liamdonaldson6449]

Depends on how many holes are drilled and the hole size? Don't the gophers eat the roots that get through the mesh? Seems those might be tempting for them?

[@DiegoFooter]

I think you would have to drill A LOT of holes. Playing off that idea may using expanded metal welded into a cylinder would be a better bet. The gophers may eat the roots, but that's not such a big issue. The baskets are there to stop them from taking out the whole plant. Root nibbling is a much less negative problem.

[@sportsonwheelss]

why not make it the same size and shape with the cheap mesh?

[@Bob-vw3ce]

I have Mexicans throwing gophers in my yard. I'm going to try rap music next year. I'm going to rewire my speakers from series to parallel and cause a massive vibration. Hopefully that should run them away.

[@OrganicallyAnn]

Thank you so much for the gopher tip

[@powersonic6255]

Great , i will try it .

[@souzou1000]

And I thought u controlled the gopher problem 😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆 u really don't know them

[@maxkilo4789]

nice name

[@shashakeeleh5468]

Wait, I thought you had a skunk problem?

[@lucyboryer9319]

hilarious!