Protect Your Plants From Gophers and Moles - Brief Article

Flower & Garden Magazine, May, 2000 by Arlene Orhon Jech

Last fall, when I saw mounds of dirt surrounding my prized rose bushes, I was worried. "Moles," I was told by local experts. "They only eat the grubs. They leave the roots alone." So you can imagine my horror when, in the process of moving a rose bush this spring, I found its roots had been chewed down to a nubbin. The little monsters that had been chewing the roots of my valiant plants were not moles, but were gophers.

"This is war!" I declared. But I had no idea what gophers or moles looked like, let alone how to defeat them. Moles, the dictionary says, are insectivorous mammals, about 6-1/2 inches long, with velvety fur, small eyes and very strong forefeet, living chiefly underground and eating grubs, roots and bulbs. Gophers are burrowing rodents, 8-1/2 inches long, that can cause severe damage to plants by nibbling their roots.

You can tell which one you've got by looking at the mounds, according to the Oregon State University Extension Service. Moles make a line of single mounds that are high and round with indented centers, like miniature volcanoes. Gophers clump their mounds together in tight groups, and these are flatter and fan-shaped with off-center holes.

TAKING MEASURES

After trying a few tricks of my own that didn't work, I turned to the Encyclopedia of Natural Insect and Disease Control in order to research other measures. Moles and gophers, it said, hate castor oil. They suggested the following: Mix 8 ounces castor oil and 8 ounces liquid detergent in a blender until frothy; then add 8 ounces water and 1 T. chili powder. Fill a 1-gallon can with water, add 1/2 cup of the solution, uncover the critter hole and pour this mixture down the tunnel. Pour a diluted mixture (1/4 cup to a gallon of water) in the soil around your plants.

This worked, but a week later I noticed fresh dirt in another part of the garden. Mixing castor oil and lugging it to my garden was labor-intensive, and the vigilance it required was tiring. Clearly, castor oil was only a temporary measure. I needed something permanent.

I ventured to my local garden supply store and looked at traps, but I knew the daily checking, emptying and cleaning of them would be beyond me. As for poison, I could imagine my dog digging it up and eating it. No, I thought, I wanted something else.

"People have had success with these," the nurseryman said as he handed me a commercial gadget to ward off my intruders. "Bury it in the ground and be patient," he advised. "It takes seven to fourteen days for the gophers to get fed up with the sound and vibration and leave." I was skeptical, but it had a money-back guarantee, so I bought one. It was under thirty-five dollars, not counting four size D batteries, but if it protected my garden, I felt it was worth it.

"What about planting baskets to protect the roots?" I asked the nursery-woman at the counter. "Just stomp chicken wire into the hole before planting anything," she recommended.

Hmm, I thought, as I hurried home to bury my sonic emitter. This 16-inch-long aluminum "bullet" emits a penetrating sonic sound every 15 seconds, but its range is an unobstructed 100 feet in diameter. I discovered this a week later when I found fresh mounds of dirt around the corner on the side of the house. My ego couldn't take being outwitted by a gopher, so I bought more sonic emitters, one for each side of the house, and the little mounds receded in the distance.

I was overjoyed to see them go, but the more I dug up chewed-root rose bushes, the more I thought about chicken wire. The sonic emitters worked, but what if the batteries wore out before I could replace them and the gophers came back? I'd feel better knowing that my plants' roots were protected. I tried stomping chicken wire into a hole, but it left sharp edges, so I experimented and found a way to make a basket with a smooth top.

BUILDING A BASKET

Begin by purchasing a 3-foot-wide roll of 1-inch chicken wire. Then, wearing gloves, cut a 20-inch piece with wire cutters or heavy scissors. Your piece of chicken wire should now be 20 by 36 inches. This will make a basket 11 inches in diameter and 1-foot deep.

Bend the chicken wire so the two 20-inch uncut sides meet -- this will be the basket opening (top). Starting at the top, twist the cut wires on each side one over the other. Do this working half-way down the side of your form. Don't connect the wires on the bottom half. Instead, flatten the free ends by stepping on them. To do this, open the top and press down gently to flatten the base, which should create flaps extending from the unattached sides located at the bottom of the form. Then fold the flattened ends against the basket sides and bend the wires so they hold securely. Dig a 1-foot-deep hole, place the basket in it, and plant in the usual manner. You may substitute hardware cloth if you have moles because the openings are smaller.

The baskets worked so well that I planted new bare-root rose bushes in them and replanted the old unchewed ones. When I repotted the chewed-root bushes, I cut them back and added rootone and vitamin B to the soil. I'll be able to save them, but when I put them in the ground, you can be sure they'll be in wire baskets.