POCKET GOPHER PATCH
Once the tunnel is located, take a shovel and dig out a small patch of dirt down to the main tunnel.Īlthough this requires digging a small hole in your lawn, there's really no way to avoid it. Keep probing until you find a soft area that "gives" as you probe into it. To find the main tunnel, use your rebar probe to probe the ground approximately 12-18 inches away from the gopher mound plug. The most productive place is to set two traps in opposite directions in the main tunnel. When trapping pocket gophers there are two different places to effectively set your trap. I recommend purchasing at least two traps, preferably three.īy using two traps you can place them back to back, making sure you catch a gopher coming from either direction in the main tunnel.īy using a third trap, you can place a trap in another nearby lateral tunnel for extra coverage. The Black Box Gopher trap is easy to set, easy to use and most works! Pocket gophers can create several mounds in one day, with more occurring in the spring or fall when the soil is moist and easy to dig. The main tunnel is about 1.75 - 3.5 inches in diameter and will be about 4-16 inches below the surface. To find the main tunnel, probe the ground approximately 12-18 inches back from the lateral tunnel or plug. You should feel an area that has very little resistance as you probe into the ground. To find the lateral tunnel, kneel down on the side of the mound that contains the most dirt, then with a probe such as a 12 inch screwdriver or piece of metal rebar, probe into the plug on a 45 degree angle away from your body. The soil plug is then used to seal off the tunnel. Once at the surface, the gopher pushes dirt off to one side or the other of the mound, making the fan shaped mound of dirt. This lateral tunnel branches off from a nearby main tunnel and it's used for dirt removal. Gophers use an underground lateral tunnel that runs on a 45 degree angle towards the surface. In order to find the main tunnel, it's important to understand how a gopher makes the mound. Typically, you can see a small round plug of disturbed soil near the inside edge of the fan with the majority of the dirt behind the plug. You can tell the difference between a gopher mound and a mole hill by simply looking at the hill of dirt left behind by the animal.Ī pocket gopher mound is an oval, kidney or fan shaped mound of dirt. To begin, lets look at the difference between the damage caused by moles as opposed to the damage caused by gophers. Trapping pocket gophers is one of the easiest and most effective ways to get rid of gophers without the use of harmful poisons or chemicals.Īre you confused whether or not you have moles or pocket gophers destroying your lawn? The underground tunnels can divert irrigation, and a gophers gnawing or feeding can quickly wipe out a garden or destroy underground tubing such as irrigation lines or wiring. These mounds can easily ruin a manicured lawn and interfere with mowing equipment. As they burrow beneath the surface searching for food such as roots, grasses, dandelions or alfalfa, they leave behind distinct large mounds of dirt called gopher mounds.
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