Isn’t it disheartening to see that beautiful garden of yours being wrecked by those atrocious gophers and moles? Gophers, to be precise, only like to feed on plants and you probably can’t even start to imagine the havoc that these pests can cause to your lawn. Gophers have an innate talent for destroying your lovely plants and lawn. They tend to infest your garden while leaving your neighbour’s lawn completely untouched. If you come across a mound of brown dirt overturned in your yard, then that often means there are gophers, mole, or a combination of both skittering under the ground and destroying your lawn and garden in the process. Gophers and moles do not tend to hibernate like other animals generally do, which is why they need continuous supply of food. The mounds and tunnels in your garden become prominent owing to their incessant need to dig for food. There are multiple home remedies that can help you drive these critters out of your lawn and yard.
1. Vibrating Stakes
Vibrating stakes frighten both gophers and moles. Generally, these vibrating stakes are invisible as they are completely bore into the ground. You can also choose to use a lawn ornament that will project out of the ground, exactly like a windmill. These type of windmill vibrating stakes do not need any battery as they vibrate solely using wind power. Batteries are used for stakes that are buried into the ground. Gophers are moles are not frightened easily as they are continuously exposed to vibrations and noise from vehicles, people moving about and power equipment. Hence, they sort of become immune to it.How to use: Dig a hole in your lawn or garden and put the vibrating stake into it. Next put the soil around the hole and compact it until the stake is tightly seized. Make sure not to push or hammer the stake onto the ground. Within a few days, you will see the population of mole and gophers go down.
2. Plants
Euphorbia Lathyris is most commonly recognised as “Gopher Spurge”. It is said to be highly successful in controlling subterranean borrowers such as moles and gophers. You can get your hands on these plants easily as they are available in nearly all nurseries. All you need to do is grow these species of plant all over your lawn and yard, especially in regions where these critters are frequently found. Another effective way to get rid of these mole and gophers is to plant daffodil, marigold and castor bean in your garden as these pests hate the taste and smell of these kind of plants.
3. Poison
Poison is another alternative that you can go for if you want to get rid of gophers and moles from your lawn and garden. However, a word of caution is that you have to use this home remedy very carefully if you have children or pets at home. There are several poisons available in the marketplace that can help you get rid of these critters. The two most popular poisons among them are strychnine and zinc phosphide. Strychnine is a poison that is naturally found and is blended with grain. Make a hole on the gopher tunnels using a shovel or a broomstick and apply the poison by hand inside the tunnel. This remedy can also be done mechanically when the ground is heavily infested. Mechanically, it is done the same way. An artificial hole is dug by a mechanical bait applicator and the poison is placed in small quantities in every burrow three to four feet down. Another type of poison that you can use is diphacinone. To use this poison, at first a solid block of diphacinone, wax and grain is made. This block is then placed inside the gopher tunnels. The pests are killed as soon as they feed on it. You will surely see gophers and moles disappearing faster than you expected.
4. Castor oil repellent
Easily accessible castor oil is a famous home remedy to get rid of moles and gophers. The usage of castor oil for getting rid of these pests is scientifically verified in the Easter United States. The moles and gophers get diarrhoea when they eat this. Because of this they leave their current habitat in search for a new one. How to use: To make this repellent, mix a quarter cup of castor oil with two tablespoon of dish washing liquid. What you have to do right now is dilute this concoction by mixing one gallon of water with two tablespoon of this mixture. Spray this concoction on the gophers infested areas of your yard and lawn and you will see these pests gone in no time. Furthermore, you can choose to plant the castor oil plant on your garden and lawn to get rid of these critters.
5. Burrow blasters/detonators
Burrow detonators and blasters are one of the most famous remedies for the absolute removal of these pests from your yard and lawns. For these burrow detonators, a mixture of propane and oxygen is used. What this remedy does is cause pulmonary haemorrhage in the critters and kills them. There are many devices used to control pest infestation. Propane is used in several of these devices. Few of these mechanisms are devised to create loud noises which usually scares these pests away and other devices are used to kill them. A word of caution: you need to be careful while using this method to get rid of moles and gophers as this technique is known to have some injury hazards.
6. Gopher baskets
Gopher baskets are usually made of chicken wire. This helps in protecting the early roots till the time they are established fully. You can use these gopher baskets to plant vegetables and various other plants as well. You can buy these baskets either from nurseries or from farm supply facilities. You can also opt to make this at home. You need to use a dual layer of one inch of mesh chicken cable. This is mainly used for trees and shrubs that needs to be safeguarded only when they are young. You need to remember to leave sufficient space for the roots to develop. You can use gopher baskets that are made from half inch of mesh chicken wire for plants and shrubs that require long term protection. But you need to know that this is generally a temporary problem solution as moles and gophers are perfectly able of digging lower than around 24 inches. In order to protect the parts of little plants that is above the ground, you need to use one gallon plastic tubes or plant containers.
7. Exhaust or gas of vehicles
This home remedy is genius. The exhaust or gas of your automobile contains harmful carbon monoxide. This is poisonous for the gophers and moles. So, use your vehicle’s exhaust for a good cause and all you need to do is flood the tunnels dug by these critters. How to use this remedy: Connect your vehicle engine exhaust to a pipe and place the pipe inside the gopher burrowed tunnels. Pack the soil around your pipe tightly and start the engine. This will flood the entire tunnel network. Do this for three to four minutes. This particular method to get rid of pests is commonly known as Pressurized Exhaust Rodent Control (PERC). For the control of pocket gophers, burrow fumigants like flammable gas cartridges and aluminium phosphate are generally registered. A word of caution: fumigants should never be sued on lands, gardens or yards. They are just meant for usage in gopher and mole infested tunnels.
8. Mothballs
Mothballs are another gopher repellent by which you can keep gophers and moles away from your lawn and yard. This is an inexpensive yet a pretty effective home remedy to successfully get rid of gophers without killing them. All you need to do is place numerous naphthalene balls in a mole and gopher tunnel entrance. Make sure to wrap these naphthalene balls with plastic to keep their smell intact. How it works: As soon as those nasty moles and gophers are hit by the smell of these naphthalene balls, they will scurry out of your garden and lawns as quickly as they came. A word of caution: You can use this remedy only when there is a minor gopher infestation in your yard and lawn. It won’t work for heavily infested grounds. Also, this is a temporary solution.
9. Traps
One of the best ways to get rid of ground moles and gophers is to trap them in your yard. There are several kinds of traps available in the market but the most successful one is the scissor trap. Scissor traps usually consist of two scissor like, four in all blades that sits in the gopher dug tunnels. These blades are connected to a trigger mechanism and a handle that is placed above the ground. How to set the trap: Target the gopher infested tunnels and dig a small hole in the middle of the mound using a shovel or a broomstick. Keeping in mind the fact that critters like moles and gophers have a habit of reopening blocked tunnels, place the trap right in the middle of the tunnel that is dug. Wrap the area and cover it with a burlap or a black plastic piece of sheet so that light doesn’t reach inside the hole. Read the instruction given on the box and set the trigger accordingly once the trap is correctly placed. You need to check the trap every day in the evening and get rid of the dead gophers and moles and discarding it somewhere else. Once you have removed the gophers and moles, fill in the tunnel by pressing your foot down it, so that the gophers cannot infest it again.
10. Tabasco sauce
Tabasco sauce is one such ingredient that is usually very readily available in everybody’s home. You can make good use of this ingredient to get rid of moles and gophers that have infested your lawn or garden. How to use: The ingredients needed are tabasco cause, peppermint oil, water and castor oil. All you have to do is create a mixture simply by mixing one cup of water, half a cup of castor oil, few drips of peppermint oil and one teaspoon of tabasco sauce. Take this mixture in a bottle and shake the mixture well until it has completely blended. Take some cotton balls and immerse them with this mixture and put the cotton balls into the holes dug by the moles and the gophers. Those critters will quickly leave your lawn and garden alone.
Few things that you need to keep in mind while using these mole extermination remedies is to wear gloves while using gopher poison, traps and mothballs as the repellent. You can also keep a pet to scare them away. These nasty rodents can create a havoc and destroy your lovely garden and lawn, hence it is absolutely necessary to get rid of them. These are a few of the most effective home remedies that you can go for to get rid of gophers naturally.
