They love regular Ca poppies, eschscholzia californica, that is often how I tell where a new gopher is, when I see a wilted poppy. My theory with some suceptible plants from seeds is to plant extra, so there is enough if they get attacked. When I see damage, I set a trap, the cinch traps work the best for me. When I see a mound, I am usually in the middle of another garden task, but I drop everything and set the traps, because the longer you wait, the harder to find the freshest mound. I have planted many fruit trees and my most prized plants in the bought cages, but it is so much more digging and effort to get those cages in deep and I have read that some people say they stunt plants. I think you have to be very careful to make sure the cage is filled with soil, especially the corners and around the rootball, and underneath. On my to do list is raised beds lined with hardware cloth for veggies.

I finally caught one this morning. Used a Victor BlackBox trap and it took less than 20 minutes, no bait whatsoever. Revenge is SWEET!

It will be an ongoing battle. Traps, smoke bombs, poison, all work but you need to keep on it as new ones always move in. The good news is, be thankful you're digging for them in sandy soil and not in my heavy loam. Do you have any neighbor kids you can pay a bounty to for each trapped gopher? Preferably one to young to have a real paying job.

Gophers, as well as voles, are known to eat Lily bulbs and the best way to prevent that is to plant the bulbs in a cage that prevents the varmints from reaching them. Cages made of 1/4 or 1/2 inch mesh hardware cloth work quite well.