Author Topic: High Winds and a Gopher  (Read 2876 times)

JeffDM

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High Winds and a Gopher
« on: January 21, 2017, 02:50:48 PM »
Yesterday's storm that blew through San Diego had some strong wind gusts that knocked down several papaya plants along with the shade cover over my spa.
Today I looked out and saw the fallen papaya stems moving and discovered that it wasn't so much the wind that did them in, but a pesky gopher who was busy finishing the job.
Over two inches of much needed rain fell in my area yesterday, but now I've got the underground invader to deal with.
« Last Edit: January 21, 2017, 02:56:56 PM by JeffDM »

Bhkkatemoya

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Re: High Winds and a Gopher
« Reply #1 on: January 22, 2017, 12:45:06 AM »
I have a gopher digging near my papaya tree as well.  I have guava, atemoya, and a few pepper trees next to it.  Do they like those?  I bought the gopher poison to treat it but still seeing signs of new digging. 

How do you guys fight against these guys?

JeffDM

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Re: High Winds and a Gopher
« Reply #2 on: January 22, 2017, 12:43:48 PM »
I used a mole/gopher repellent in my front yard that chased away a pesky mole that was building dirt mound in my grass.  I'll try it in the backyard on the gopher and report back.

joehewitt

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Re: High Winds and a Gopher
« Reply #3 on: January 22, 2017, 01:03:43 PM »
If you want to try trapping I recommend Gophinator traps (for both gophers and moles). I've had a very high success rate with these (and I live in gopher country so it's a problem that never goes away).

http://www.traplineproducts.com

JeffDM

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Re: High Winds and a Gopher
« Reply #4 on: January 22, 2017, 01:58:49 PM »
After 19+ years of battling the ground squirrels than infested my back slope and the surrounding area I've finally declared victory.  After live trapping and the Rat Zapper had some results the thing that finally worked was a ground squirrel bait station and some effective ground squirrel bait.  Now it's just me and the gopher.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31DmhSrrIRL.jpg

pineislander

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Re: High Winds and a Gopher
« Reply #5 on: January 22, 2017, 09:03:31 PM »
the thing that finally worked was a ground squirrel bait station and some effective ground squirrel bait.  Now it's just me and the gopher.
After 19 years maybe you're ready for the Strychnine?  ;D

https://www.solutionsstores.com/gopher-bait-50-strychnine?gdffi=c31c80d4230c434a8e4885abc126c47d&gdfms=27430A7094C64E1CBF6E1597AD4AE4BC&gclid=CK7ClICW19ECFQeNaQodLHIJ_Q
« Last Edit: January 22, 2017, 09:12:15 PM by pineislander »

knlim000

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Re: High Winds and a Gopher
« Reply #6 on: January 22, 2017, 09:41:45 PM »
i gave up.  What I do is plant all of my trees in pots.  I cut the bottom of the pots and leave it on the ground. It seems to be working so far.

spaugh

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Re: High Winds and a Gopher
« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2017, 11:36:59 AM »
Ive got over 60 trees and hundreds of gopher holes everywhere.  They dont seem to do much damage if any to my trees?  Ive tried traps and poison but with acres of land its futile.  I just leave them be...
Brad Spaugh

ScottR

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Re: High Winds and a Gopher
« Reply #8 on: January 23, 2017, 11:55:21 AM »
If you want to try trapping I recommend Gophinator traps (for both gophers and moles). I've had a very high success rate with these (and I live in gopher country so it's a problem that never goes away).

http://www.traplineproducts.com
I agree with Joe, I've used trapline gopher traps for quite a few year's and love them there made out of stainless steel so they never will rust. Also I trap gophers all the time and the best way to get the smaller ones is with the mole trap @ trapline because it fit's into smaller hole easily. best of luck catching your critters! :-\

simon_grow

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Re: High Winds and a Gopher
« Reply #9 on: January 23, 2017, 12:45:10 PM »
For everyone with gophers, I highly recommend against using any type of poison. The gophers have probably already tunneled beneath your house and you would not want a rotting gopher smell eminating from your foundation. I would also believe that poisons may be taken up by the roots of nearby plants.

I had a serious gopher problem at my old house on the side of a canyon and I was finally able to get rid of my gophers. I did it by using the cheap metal gopher traps at Home Depot. Simply place one trap in each hole that you see, bury it of course and I also recommend staking it to avoid having the gophers drag it off in case only part of its body gets trapped.

I kept ignoring my gopher problem and by the time I decided to take action, the gophers tunneling had already damaged my foundation. I know this b cause I lit one of those gopher smoke bombs and hurried it in one of the gopher tunnels in my front yard and I had smoke coming into the middle of my house through the foundation.

For those of you that think you have gotten rid of all your gophers, think again. You may have captured all the gophers in your yard for now but the tunnels are already built and gophers from the surrounding environment will eventually take up residency.

Once you find out you have gophers, you need to take immediate action. The more tunneling the gophers do in your yard, the higher the probability of other gophers inhabiting your yard after you rid yourself of the current gopher problem.

It will be an ongoing battle once you kill off all the current gophers, there may be periods of months to years where you will not see signs of gophers but they will come back. I've helped so many of my friends with their gopher problems that I've even considered starting up a gopher killing business:)

Simin

JeffDM

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Re: High Winds and a Gopher
« Reply #10 on: January 23, 2017, 08:23:39 PM »
Smoke coming through the foundation?  Was it a slab or is your house on footings?