The Ultimate Guide to Preventing Gophers from Damaging Your Yard
While gophers may look cute and harmless, these furry creatures are actually pests that can wreak havoc on your yard.
After spending time keeping your yard looking nice and healthy, the last thing you want is a gopher tunneling underground. So, if you think you might have gophers in your yard, take the next steps to remove them before they cause any lasting damage.
Fortunately, if you’ve spotted some burrowing around your garden, you have a few gopher control options to remove the gophers quickly and safely.
Here’s everything you need to know about preventing gophers from damaging your yard.
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| How to Prevent Gophers from Damaging Your Yard |
How to Spot and Identify Gophers in Your Yard
The first step in removing gophers is being able to effectively identify the problem. So how do you know if gophers are causing damage to your lawn?
Gophers live underground and love to dig, so the first step in identifying a pest in your garden is looking for mounds popping up around your yard. Gopher mounds will be crescent-shaped with fresh dirt at the top. You may also spot smaller feed holes and some damage to flowers, plants, or underground cables.
Gophers damage your yard with tunneling, gnaw on anything they find, and create tripping hazards throughout your yard with their fresh mounds. If you start seeing these signs of gophers in your yard, it’s time to act immediately to prevent any future damage.
Here are some steps you can take to prevent more damage and receive the best gopher control available in your area.
Call in a Professional Gopher Control Service
The best first step in safely removing gophers from your yard is finding the best professional gopher control service near you.
Start by googling services in your area. When searching around for a service, read plenty of customer reviews, compare quotes, and take a look at the removal method to find a service that best meets your needs.
Expert gopher control services have years of experience in identifying infestations and working with customers to safely remove pests without any yard damage.
There are two main ways these services remove gophers from your yard - trapping and poisoning.
Trapping Gophers
The trapping method is often the safer, more effective, and more environmentally friendly gopher control option. A professional, poison-free gopher control service can exterminate gophers with underground traps in as little as two days.
Trapping is often the safer and more efficient option for smaller, residential gopher infestations, so it may not be the best choice for commercial property. But if you’re looking to remove gophers from your yard with little risk, a removal company with plenty of trapping experience is a fantastic option.
Poisoning or Baiting Gophers
Another common gopher removal method is poison or bait. This method is often used to control gopher infestations in larger commercial settings.
While this option is less labor-intensive than trapping, there are some downsides. Poison isn’t as effective as trapping, so the gophers may not be as removed as quickly. There are also safety concerns when being used in a residential space, as the poison can harm or kill cats, dogs, or other animals.
Be sure to do your research and ask questions during an initial property inspection to be sure a service meets all your needs and will remove the gophers in the safest, most efficient way possible for your yard.
What to Expect With a Gopher Control Service
Once you’ve found a service that works for you and your yard, you’ll schedule an appointment for gopher extermination. During this initial appointment, they’ll identify the infestation, inspect your property, and get started with their gopher removal methods.
While the time it takes for the services to take depends on the company and method used, a professional, experienced gopher removal service can typically remove the gophers in just a few days.
Other Ways to Prevent Gopher Damage in Your Yard
While calling in a professional is the best way to avoid gopher damage in your yard, there are some preventative steps you can take at home to deter burrowing or avoid a recurrence after gopher removal.
Smells or Repellants
One of the best preventative measures is using smells or repellants to discourage gophers from entering your yard in the first place.
For a DIY home remedy, mix castor oil, dish soap, and water. While the mixture won’t kill gophers, it will make your yard less appealing and prevent them from making a home under your garden.
Gophers also dislike strong smells, so spread coffee grounds or peppermint oil around your yard to drive them away.
Set Up Barriers
Gophers eat vegetation, so an abundance of tasty plants and food sources will attract them to any yard.
A fence that extends underground will prevent gophers, moles, and other pests from tunneling into your yard and causing extensive damage. You can also buy or make barriers to plants, such as netted gopher baskets, to allow your plants to continue to grow while cutting off access from pests.
There are also certain plants that gophers don’t like the smell of, so you can create a barrier with these plants to deter them from your garden. Marigolds, daffodils, and other alliums are natural gopher deterrents you can plant on or around your lawn. You can also try growing plants in a raised flower bed for an added barrier.
Trapping or Poisoning
While calling a professional is the best way to ensure all the gophers in your yard are gone, there are some traps and baits you can buy and use yourself.
Trapping is the safest and most effective method to try at home. You can often find small, easy-to-use traps at any home or garden store.
While poisoning or baiting can help remove gophers from your yard, use these options with care to prevent any harm to kids or pets.
The Bottom Line
If you’re dealing with gopher damage to your property, calling in a professional gopher removal service is the safest, most effective way to deal with an infestation.
From traps to natural gopher-repellent plants, there are several steps you can take to avoid creating a welcoming, food-rich environment for gophers. But when you start seeing damage to your yard, it might be time to give a professional gopher control company a call.