I live on top of a gopher hill, and until 2 years ago it was a constant battle. When I planted a tree I put it inside a cage made from Home Depot chinese chicken wire. But after 2-3 years the chicken wire rusts through and starts to break up in spots. I lost a 4 year old Apricot tree and I found a gopher tunnel off the main tunnel, through the rusty chicken wire right up to the trunk and the roots were eaten so all that was left was the tree trunk. After that I started making cages from stucco wire, which is a higher (and cheaper) quality (made in USA) chicken wire and has better quality galvanization coating. The stucco wire comes in two gauge sizes, 17 and 20(or 21). The 17 gauge is real strong looking, but the mesh size holes are too large. The 20 gauge size is like regular chicken wire with 1" mesh hole size, but the size is more regular than the chinese chicken wire. Young gophers might get through, but the ones I've caught look too chubby to get through the 1" hole. 3/4" hole size is what's recommended, but the stucco wire doesn't come in that size to my knowledge.

But the ultimate cage is made from hardware cloth (1/2:" mesh size). I've make a few, 3-4' diameter cylinder(24-36" deep, about 6" above ground), wired a hardware cloth bottom onto it and I think that will last quite a while underground. It's easy to do unless you start to obsess, like I did, on the 1/2" mesh size being too small for a large root to pass through. My solution was to cut out some of the mesh in many places to enlarge the holes to about 3/4". This is a real PITA, time consuming task and I'm not sure it's necessary. If you buy the hardware cloth in 100" rolls, the cost isn't much more than the chicken wire...you just have to find a hardware or lumber yard that carries it for a decent price.

Two years ago the local gophers, rabbits, and a lot of the rats/mice around my canyon home seemed to disappear. I haven't seen a gopher in a long time and I'm hoping it's because of the great horned owls that have been around certain times of the year, sometimes for months. Some people build barn owl homes on top of tall poles as a way to keep the gophers under control.

There were two new ideas I was going to implement before the gophers went away. One was to find the main tunnel(s), which are about 12" down, and lay down 12" areas of broken glass in them. I don't know if a gopher will dig around this, but I've read they will not walk over the glass. The other thing was to put a tub of urine down in the main tunnel(s). It won't evaporate very quickly since it's cool down there, and I think the smell will get stronger as it ages. I was going to put these tubs next to the glass, as a further disincentive.

So these are some ideas for you. Garlic, sonic repellants...I don't think so, just a way to give away money. And if you put down poison granules, just remember you'll be killing the wildlife (hawks, eagles, owls, coyotes, mountain lions, bobcats, dogs, cats. etc...) that eat the poisoned gophers.

Thanks for taking the time to write all of that down jbclem. I have those flat home depot gopher cages you spoke of in the shed. The ground I planted apple trees in was so hard I have up digging a hole large enough for them. The stucco wire and hardware cloth is an even better idea. Anything else that gets planted will get a cage made from that stuff.

I have also noticed a drop in the gopher activity here in San Bernardino. They haven't gone away completely but I have seen a drastic reduction and I've lived in the area for almost 40 years.

The granules I have are actually a scent deterrent. I'm not above using poison however I haven't gone that particular route with gophers preferring to trap them.

I have fought the battle with gophers in my yards for the past 4 years and tried every suggested remedy published. However, the ONLY thing that has consistently worked for my location has been planting Daffodil/Narcissus bulbs. Every time I see new gopher activity, I pant Daffodil bulbs around the area and in the tunnels. The gophers must hate those bulbs, because they don't return to the area. Besides greatly reducing my gopher problem to almost zero now, I get the benefit of having an attractive spring showing of the daffodil flowers.

Great suggestion. I wouldn't mind the flowers in the least. Pardon my ignorance but will they bloom every spring or will I need to plant new bulbs every year?

I hate to be a pessimist, but I doubt that there is anything that actually deters the gophers from eating their preferred plants. Yes, they will probably avoid eating certain things like daffodils, but a prized unprotected plant nearby will eventually still get eaten.

Other than exclusion, such as chicken wire planting baskets which I find last forever in the ground in my arid region, I have noticed some success with the opposite approach to deterrents: attractants… This may sound weird, but it uses the same logic as 'catch' crops for insect pests. Basically, find out the things that the gophers love, and make sure you have plenty of these interspersed among more desirable plants. For me, these are alfalfa and hollyhocks for example, which grow easily from seed and still maintain their own populations despite the herbivory from the gophers.

Thank you nmfruit. I have read about that technique used in other areas. I've read up on the Narcissus bulbs and many people seem to have excellent luck. I'll try ordering a batch and see how it works. The attractant plants might have the opposite intended effect and that is luring a larger gopher population into the yard than I want to try trapping.

Gopher plants worked for me. Their roots give them the equivalent of poison ivy and they left my yard after I planted some, after I'd tried everything else. It's an old Native American way of dealing with them. They are biennials and fiercely prolific the second year. Don't know the scientific name. It's been years since I planted any--these were volunteers this year.

Amaryllis, did you plant these gopher plants over the main gopher tunnels, or just randomly around the yard/garden. Unless they can smell them through the ground/dirt, I don't see how they would even know they were there unless they happened to tunnel by a root and took a nibble.

I've always wondered how the gopher plants worked...I have plenty of poison oak in my yard, but I just walk around it when I need to go somewhere. Wouldn't a gopher just do the same?

Thank you Amaryllis H. It appears your gopher plant may be a Euphorbia lathyris.

I just planted them in a row near where it appeared they were entering my yard from the neighbors who'd been fighting them. I put one more at the other end of my small back yard and that was that. I'll be collecting seeds from these and planting some at the other side of my yard where I have two new cherry trees to protect--I hear gophers like cherry roots better than anything.

In looking for information about the gopher plant I came across stories about how nasty it's sap is. It sticks to your skin, causes intense allergic reactions, and if you get it around your eyes you can end up in the emergency room. The reaction lasts for a long time, and the milky white sap won't wash off with soap and water. You need to use rubbing alcohol to get it off, and if you get it in your eyes you're in trouble since you can't put rubbing alcohol in your eyes.

That pretty much cooled any interest I had in the plant, especially since I think you'd have to have many plants to protect your trees or garden. It apparently self seeds easily, meaning you'd be pulling it up and having a lot of contact with it...and the roots grow quickly underground. I read some stories about how it seemed to work, but just as many telling how the gophers just made their way around the plants to get to their favorite garden treats.

I'm allergic to poison oak and I've had a lot of experience digging it up. I wear long sleeved rubber gloves, and have clothing used only for poison oak removal. Afterwards I wash everything with rubbing alcohol, tools, gloves, hands, and face if necessary. I can usually spot a poison oak allergic reaction the minute it starts and can stop it quickly by using cortisone cream. This gopher plant sap sounds worse than poison oak(or poison ivy), with the only saving grace being that you have to contact the sap rather than just the leaves. However, one of the stories involved a woman who was merely trimming off the spent blooms and ended up with "itching hives, extremely flushed face, swollen eyelids, lips and cheeks" and needed a cortisone shot and cortisone creme to get it under control.

I hope I'm just exaggerating this problem and it's not as bad as it seems...but be cautious with this plant. I think I'll stick to metal baskets for my trees.

I love Narcissus and daffodils, so I'll be ordering lots of bulbs for spring. We plant our trees in gopher wire baskets, but I'll happily surround those with those flower bulbs. The gopher plant is interesting too. Thanks for the thread and all the info!

I guess the answer then if you're worried about being allergic is to cut it down just before it goes to seed. By the way, for whatever it's worth--urushiol is the active ingredient in poison ivy and poison oak and there is a little on the inside of the skins of mangoes, varying with variety--never eat the fruit that pulls off with the skin when you're peeling them.

I use Cinch traps. They are made in USA and I've had pretty good luck with them. Sometimes the gophers push dirt before the trap, and it takes 2 or 3 times of setting it to get the varmint. Placement of the trap is very important.

I have had great luck with gophinator traps Gardenmom. My issue with this last gopher is that he had almost completely eaten the rootball of my cherry tree before I saw his first dirt mound, and I am fairly diligent. I can't trap them if I don't know they are there so I was hoping I could head them off at the pass, so to speak.