1. Pocket Gophers, or Ground Squirrels as they are sometimes called, can be as big a problem as ants.

2. Gophers are like little bulldozers. They dig a network of tunnels usually six to 12 inches below the surface.

3. Tunnels near the surface are for gathering food and act as highways to get around; deeper ones are for sleeping, raising the young and storing food. Well-suited to burrowing, gophers have small eyes and ears that don't clog with dirt, and sensitive whiskers and tails to guide them in the dark. Gophers have long teeth for biting off chunks of hard soil or roots. They are sensitive to sound, and a variety of smells, as well as light.

4. To successfully control gophers and other rodents, one needs to understand their senses of smell and hearing. If you see a plant being dragged under ground you know you have gophers.

5. Gophers eat plant roots as well as bulbs. They will eat almost anything including most vegetables such as tomatoes, carrots, squash, lettuces, etc. and they also love roses (the roots). They'll nibble on the roots of your fruit trees, roots of most flowers, and tulips.

6. Moles are insectivores they eat earthworms, bugs, larvae, grubs, spiders, centipedes and only occasionally nibble on greens and roots.

7. Most of the time, they do very little damage other than through their tunneling, unearthing plants and exposing root systems.

8. How can you tell a gopher from a mole? Gopher mounds have dirt pushed off to one side of the mound while moles have a volcano effect with the center at the entrance to the tunnel (usually plugged up).

9. Poisons do not work on moles! They must be trapped and moved away.

10. Gophers can do a great deal of damage,

11. but are an important part of the natural ecosystem. I do not recommend the use of traps as they are inhumane and very cruel.

12. It is important that you properly feed and care for your plants as gophers are less likely to attack healthy plants. By top-dressing your lawn and property with year-old horse manure, you will not only be feeding your soil, but also repelling gophers naturally as they do not like manure.

13. You will also be encouraging natural predators as compost promotes healthy environments which always attracts the variety of life needed for there to be a balance.

• When there is balance there is co-existence.

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1. And as easy to control!

2. The deeper the tunnel, the older the gopher that dug it!

3. This is the key to their control!

4. If they wanted to do damage they would! It would be better to get used to them if possible then to try and kill them off. A lot depends on where you live. In my garden, gophers come and go as they please. They are welcome as they do a lot of soil turning over for me! It is not hard to train them to only be in certain areas of your garden and to leave other areas alone. Actually, I like gophers coming through certain parts of my garden during the right times for them to loosen the soil for me, eat any grubs, insects and then leave the garden for me and my vegetables!

5. Unless you use the humane traps which don't hurt them and they can then be moved to another safer area.

6. check out Underground Exterminator

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andy lopez

Invisible Gardener

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