West of the Mississippi River, many states are inhabited by gophers, also referred to as pocket gophers, in densities as high as 50 gophers per acre.  There are over 30 species of this burrowing rodent, which measures on an average between 6 and 12 inches long. Farmers join suburban gardeners in the search for a gopher repeller that will prevent the honeycomb of tunnels resulting from this rascal’s voracious chewing and digging.

In a natural setting, the gopher’s tunneling is advantageous, because it aerates soil, improves water retention, and lessens soil compaction.  Additionally, gophers’ activities add organic matter through their waste and by leaving plant matter that is not consumed.  The tunnels provide shelter for other small living creatures such as mice, snakes, and toads.  However, the effect of such an underground labyrinth on cropland or a landscaped yard is less than desirable.  Gopher repellent is definitely on the shopping list of anyone wanting to preserve a garden and keep the harvest.

Tunnels can cause damage to irrigation dikes and farm equipment, and the rodents have been known to chew through electrical wiring and irrigation piping.   It is reported that an alfalfa field with a population of gophers can lose up to 50 percent of the crop.  They tunnel near the surface of the soil and eat roots, tubers, seeds, grasses, bulbs, and even tree bark in an amount equal to 75 percent of their weight a day.  Gophers are active year round and can be identified by the fan shaped, horse shoe shaped, or crescent shaped mounds of dirt that surround their holes.  Unlike voles, gophers dig at an angle to the surface rather than straight down, causing the shaped mounds.

Existing gopher repellers are mechanical, topical, and air born.  Burrow fumigants, lawn sprays, electronics, baits, and traps are marketed as gopher repellents.  The decision must be made to either kill the gophers or to disturb them enough that they will relocate on their own.  Frightening devices used to drive the rodents away include pinwheels, vibrating stakes, and the sonic gopher repeller.  One version is a battery operated metal stake that is pounded into the ground, where it emits a sound or vibration to repel them.  A good approach to driving gophers away is to vary deterrents every two weeks or so until they find it too aggravating or confusing to persist.

For small garden areas, barriers are an almost fail safe solution to gopher burrowing.

Planting in raised beds with a floor of ¼ inch galvanized hardware cloth secured to the frame can protect a backyard flower or vegetable plot.  When planting ornamental or fruit trees, protection from gophers can be provided by lining the hole with hardware cloth and running it six inches about the ground.   The root system can become well established before it grows large enough to be available to gophers.  Surrounding underground wiring or irrigation lines with six to eight inches of 1 inch in diameter gravel can be a great deterrent to gophers.  As the saying goes, where there is a will, there is a way.