Berlin Wall for Gophers

[DoomsDave]

Noting the travails of Matty and others with gophers, it's pretty clear that prevention is key, if you can do it.

Wire baskets only work for so long before they rust, and if you have a large place and a lot of palms, they get expensive.

Continued controls only work if one is vigilant constantly. Turn your back for a month, and a palm that took 30 years to grow can be destroyed overnight.

An underground wall is an obvious possiblity.

There are questions of course, the most important of which is how far down do you have to go? I really don't know, and my research hasn't turned up any information.

A concrete block wall would work, but that would be expensive. Maybe take a "Ditch Witch" or similar tool, dig a deep trench, and fill it with railroad ballast, or something that the gophers can't dig through.

Obviously, if you have a really large place, this could get expensive. But if you combine with others, particularly if you have "pie shaped" lots, with the narrow ends on Gopheropolis, it could be reasonably priced, and priceless at the same time.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[Stevetoad]

Then there would be no more exciting episodes of the Gopher Chronicles

[DoomsDave]

Then there would be no more exciting episodes of the Gopher Chronicles

We could live without it. There's always the Kardashians . . .

[BigFrond]

Hehehe... If you think wire is expensive then concrete is out of the question because gophers also have deep tunnel up to 5 ft deep.

An alternative to concrete is cement backer board and it will be cheaper than concrete footings. You will have to glue the backer board together. I believe this is pretty easy because the backer board is 3 or 4 feet by 6 feet. Above ground, you will have to include at least 6 inches of wire because at night the dang gophers can just crawl out of the hole.

I have not try this for gophers, but it works like a charm to prevent the neighbor's mint from taking over my yard.

[MattyB]

I was thinking of digging a deep ditch and backfilling with 3/4" rock or even larger gravel, but the cement backer board sounds easier than that. But here's the question: Can a gopher chew/burrow through a cement backer board? They burrow through some pretty hard soil sometimes.

Expanded metal would work until it rusts.

What about corrugated metal panels? Do they make them out of aluminum so they won't rust?

I'm sure a lot of things would work, but the effort of digging a 3' deep minimum ditch would be pretty huge.

[Stevetoad]

I was thinking of digging a deep ditch and backfilling with 3/4" rock or even larger gravel, but the cement backer board sounds easier than that. But here's the question: Can a gopher chew/burrow through a cement backer board? They burrow through some pretty hard soil sometimes.

Expanded metal would work until it rusts.

What about corrugated metal panels? Do they make them out of aluminum so they won't rust?

I'm sure a lot of things would work, but the effort of digging a 3' deep minimum ditch would be pretty huge.

let me know if you want to try this. i sell backerboard and galv. 2.5 lath. ill give you a screaming deal...

[Jastin]

It would be way to much work for me. Traps have been the best ( becides my cat the gopher hunter ) . Especially if you already have your garden installed. It's hard enough for me to even find the time to work out in the garden let alone plant anything lately!

[LJG]

Matt, I am slowly putting root barrier around my yard as two of my neighbors have gotten lazy controling gopghers and they have been coming over in greater number each year. I kill them within days using poison but they keep using the same holes. The root barrier rolls are 2 1/2 deep and most gopghers tunnels are 2 feet and above. Seldom do they dig deeper. The stuff is flexible and can be cut should I hit boulders under ground. Plus it is not that expensive.

[Stevetoad]

I put this in the other gopher thread but what about using co2 in gas form or dry ice... Co2 is heavier that air so it should sink to the lower hole and suffocate the rodent. Being that it has no smell the gopher wouldn't even know what hit him.

[MattyB]

Dry ice would be aewsome

[trioderob]

your avatar is awesome............

[pogobob]

Matt, I am slowly putting root barrier around my yard as two of my neighbors have gotten lazy controling gopghers and they have been coming over in greater number each year. I kill them within days using poison but they keep using the same holes. The root barrier rolls are 2 1/2 deep and most gopghers tunnels are 2 feet and above. Seldom do they dig deeper. The stuff is flexible and can be cut should I hit boulders under ground. Plus it is not that expensive.

Nothing is worse than lazy neighbors and their Gopghers!

[Palmə häl′ik]

there's gotta be some kinda sediment or aggregate that these gophers don't like...

what won't they dig through...

sharp edged lava rock; maybe

how about buyin' some doe urine in your local huntin' shop and try pourin' that around...

they might smell that urine all over in your yard, and move on...

i dunno... just throwin' it in the air...

[GeneAZ]

I have seen gophers walking around on the baked clay and granite ground in Phoenix looking for soil soft enough to dig into. So I would suspect yours would just come above ground to circumvent your rock barriers and walk till there was an opportunity to burrow and get back to life as usual.

G

[Peter]

I think Gene is right; what's to stop them from just walking over the barrier? They do colonize that way.

[yachtingone]

I put my eletric service underground. To do that I had a 4' deep trench 110' long dug. A gopher fell into the trench from his tunnel and I killed m. The tunnel was 3' down!

I interupted quite a few tunnels! It has been back filled for a while. Now the gophers can't use old tunnels to get from one side of the trench to the other.

I have very digable soil for those little &$#%^erds maybe thats why they dug deeper than the 2' Len mentioned.

Randy

[DoomsDave]

I have seen gophers walking around on the baked clay and granite ground in Phoenix looking for soil soft enough to dig into. So I would suspect yours would just come above ground to circumvent your rock barriers and walk till there was an opportunity to burrow and get back to life as usual.

G

An above-ground barrier.

How high?

A couple of feet? Can they jump? Bet they're more agile than you think . . .

[Al in Kona]

I've seen advertised a solar powered device (Electronic Rodent Repeller) that you stick in the ground and it produces a sonic pulse that you and your pets can barely hear, but it makes burrowing rodents run to "safer" ground away from your garden. During the day, it runs on the sun, at night, it's powered by an internal rechargeable NiCad solar charged battery for 24 hour protection. They advertise it to cover a 6,000 square foot area and eliminates gophers and moles. The catalog I saw it in was selling them for $17.99. Has anyone of you tried it or something similar?

[DoomsDave]

I've seen advertised a solar powered device (Electronic Rodent Repeller) that you stick in the ground and it produces a sonic pulse that you and your pets can barely hear, but it makes burrowing rodents run to "safer" ground away from your garden. During the day, it runs on the sun, at night, it's powered by an internal rechargeable NiCad solar charged battery for 24 hour protection. They advertise it to cover a 6,000 square foot area and eliminates gophers and moles. The catalog I saw it in was selling them for $17.99. Has anyone of you tried it or something similar?

Yes, I've heard of them.

So, apparently have gophers, who, from what people who've used such devices have told me, don't care.

We used to sell those years ago in the nursery, and had to stop because they didn't work, at least not in the long run.

[LJG]

I think Gene is right; what's to stop them from just walking over the barrier? They do colonize that way.

True, but now you will find mounds to know there is activity. I killed two this way this year in my front yard. When they use old holes, they can get to your plants without you knowing.

[MattyB]

Al, I call those gopher vibrators. Both my neighbor and I have several different types. They dont work.

[Peter]

I don't think there's any one solution that will eliminate all of your gophers. I'm facing the fact that I will always have some issues with gophers, and so in the meantime I'm doing everything I can to lessen their impact-in other words, I'm killing as many as I can but I know that I will still lose some plants to them. So do I think building a wall underground is the magic bullet-no. It might lessen their impact, or as Len points out, it may make their tunnels more visible, so it's another tool. You'll still have to stay on top of your garden and watch as nature usually finds a way. My two cents worth.

[DoomsDave]

If you build a big enough wall, you can fence them out.

The question is, how big is big enough?

But, even slowing them down significantly will be a huge help. Sort of like the Great Wall of China.

Eventually, the Mongol hordes busted through, but it was a lot of work . . . Even gophers can't bust through a wall. I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope

[iwan]

You can not dig deep enough (within reason) to create a barrier.

Due to hardpan and a rock layer near the surface, I prefer to have holes bored for my trees and planting beds for positive drainage. Typical holes are 3' diameter and up to 10' deep (or until the driller hits sand). I have found gopher holes at the bottom of unfilled 10' deep holes and tunnels in the walls of the hole down several feet.

Several cats and an owl that has taken a liking to our property have made a significant dent in the gopher and squirrel population on my 2 acres. Owls decimate gophers and if you can encourage one to take up residence your worries are lessened.

The gophers were so bad that you could actually see the gopher mounds on Google Earth pictures of my property.

Edited January 8, 2012 by iwan

[Rafael]

Why not a trap?

[Mark Heath]

If you build a big enough wall, you can fence them out.

The question is, how big is big enough?

But, even slowing them down significantly will be a huge help. Sort of like the Great Wall of China.

Eventually, the Mongol hordes busted through, but it was a lot of work . . . Even gophers can't bust through a wall. I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope

Hey Dave,

Sorry to hear about your dilema w/ gophers. If i had that problem, i would rent a ditch witch. They can dig down as deep as 3 1/2 feet and are only 4 inches wide so you would'nt have to buy copious amounts of concrete. I would insert steel rods in the fresh concrete that i would attatch the galvanized metal sheeting to for a complete wall.I am not sure though of the rocks that you guys have as to the effectiveness of the ditch witch.

At my palm grove, the rabbits defoliate small palms in a hurry, and Don has pictures of how we deal w/ that. Hopefully he'll chime in w/ a pic of the "bombs" that we shoot down the buggers burrows! We even talked about you guys when he visited the NPR and took a pic of the explosion for your enjoyment.

I feel for you guys,,, good luck!!

[Don]

We started out with the big guns but in two days of looking never spotted the what must be nocturnal rabbits. Tracks everywhere along with palm leaf carnage. The target shooting was great thou!

[Don]

Knowing were the burrows were we decided on a different approach.

No more crazy wabbits!