Welcome to

The Invisible Gardener's

Underground Pest Control
STEPS

click on image below to start video.... 

Step One

Observation and Location:

1. What plants are being affected by the gophers?

2. Any signs of them being around? Mounds?

3. Any lawn being damaged by them?

4. When you have spotted the telltale signs of gophers or moles (a small mound of soil or dead plants), locate its entrance (1).

5. Step back and try to see any patterns or method of thinking for their tunnels. Often times this will be obvious.

6. See if you can determine a source (2).

7. If you live in an environment where there are lots of gophers you should start thinking in terms of protecting the property, or any specific sites.

8. Mark all active tunnels with bright flags.

    

Step Two:

1. Obtain the injector tool (3) :

2. Obtain or make the Hot Barrier

3. Obtain or make the Gopher Balls

4. Obtain a sprayer

5. Obtain or make Castor oil (see soil drenching)

6. Buy Garlic oil

Step Three:

1. Injecting into the tunnels: Once you have located and marked off the tunnels then you can start to inject or place into the tunnels any of the following:

The Hot Hot Mixture:

1. 1 LB Cayenne pepper Or any Hot Chili etc. (the Hotter the Better)

2. 1/4 LB Garlic powder Mix well. Keep dry.
   Place the mixture into the active tunnel using the injector(4), then cover the entrance. Cayenne Pepper (5) is a natural irritant and gophers or moles will not like this.

3. Garlic, Peppercorns, etc. will work well too.

4. A good device to inject the mixture into the gopher tunnels is the Gopher injectors available at garden centers. Many models are available from many mail order catalogs. They are lightweight, and easy to use. The baiter applies the mixture directly into the tunnel as it is pushed into the gopher runway. It places the mixture quickly and safely where gophers are. Many injectors come with its own poison bait, you only want the empty container and not the poison!

HOT HOTTER HOTTEST!

• This hot mixture when placed into all of the tunnels, starting from the center expanding out toward the edges of your property, will keep gophers and moles outside your property as long as the mixture stays dry. This mixture will work from 24 hrs. up to 1 week at a time depending on the weather, etc. See Mo Hotta Mo Betta catalog for more hot chilies or other hot stuff you can use! See Hot Barriers Hot Sauces Page see also From Dill to Peppermint and From Peppers to Wormwood Don't water for 24 hours.

Using Smell:

• Hair Today Gone Tomorrow A good `gasser' is decomposing hair. A strong odor is given off as the hair decomposes. Placing human hair in the gopher tunnels will effectively keep them out of passages and should be placed in new tunnels as they appear. Hair works best on hot days and hot nights: The heat causes the hair to smell up the tunnels!. Get your hair from "the good ol'e boys" barber shops instead of hair from ladies salons since most men spray less 'stuff' on their hair^6. If you can, use animal hairs such as dog or cat since this will repel them even better. Visit your local pet shop!

• Straight from Europe, a product called Rodent Rocks are porous lava stones that have been soaked in an herbal formula containing garlic and onion. While not necessarily considered gassers they do smell up the tunnels. When buried, the rocks give off a very strong odor that effectively repels most rodents (including gophers, moles, mice). Bury the small rocks (six inches deep and two to four feet apart) in a protective circle around your vegetable garden or problem area. Rodent Rocks remain effective for four to 12 months. This product is widely used in Germany. I recommend this in place of poison bait if you have animals. Using fish heads in gopher tunnels will irritate them into moving on! Get the picture? Use anything natural that has a foul odor. Cotton balls soaked in ammonia or garlic also work well. Dirty socks any one?

Gopher Balls!

• Holy Smelly Cotton Balls Batman! A cotton ball soaked in either citronella oil, garlic oil or crushed onions and placed into the gopher tunnels will disgust them enough to make them leave the area! Wear gloves to disguise your human' scent. Cover up the entrance and pat down the soil. Repeat at all the locations where gophers or mole `mounds' are present. Return the next day and find the tunnels where the cotton swab has been thrown out of its tunnel. That is an active tunnel. Throw the cotton balls back into the tunnel and secure it down with a large rock. This will last from a few hours to a few days. The critters will be back once the smell has disappeared.

   

More Stinky Stuff:

• There are many products on the market which are used to keep deer away from your plants. These same products can be used on the gophers! Just dip the cotton balls into this stuff and throw into the gopher tunnels. Should last for a few days to a few weeks!

• TOO much work? Try The Underground exterminator

• Long term protection Plant Narcissus Bulbs , Plant all the way around the outside of property.

  

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1. There are many entrances to their tunnels. You can observe them as they pop up to look around. But usually a small mound tells you that they were here and actually where the front door is.

2. They tend to live in a `main' area and work their way around from there. Usually near a source of water.

3. These can be purchased from any garden mail order catalog such as Peaceful Valley, Gardeners Supply, Harmony Farm Supply, Mellingers and lots of others.

4. If you don't have an injector, you can use the pole end of a broom and use it to make a hole into the tunnel. Then you remove the pole slowly and pour the mixture into the tunnels. Cover hole gently to avoid causing cave-in . A light pole is better then a heavy metal pole since you will need to feel your way into the tunnel. You will develop a `feel' for when you have entered a tunnel.

5. Or other `Hot barrier', see Hot Barriers in the Pest Control chapter.

6. Nothing personal but most ladies hair is sprayed with many things all of which don't decompose too well. On the other hand this may prove to be a plus since 1...the stuff one sprays your hair with stinks! And 2...not decomposing could mean that it will last longer under adverse conditions! So why not use any hair you can find!

yours

Andy Lopez
The Invisible Gardener

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This page was last update on: March 8, 2013