Groundhogs or Gophers

Hello Folks,

Does anyone have any experience and advice for ridding a garden of groundhogs or gophers? They look alike to me I don't really know the difference. Last year, the first year I planted coneflowers, black eye susans, and veggies, groundhog or gophers ate all of them as soon as they were planted - tomatoes for some reason were the last thing they ate. To make matters worse they took residence under my porch soon after. The garden is just at the perfect exit and entrance perfect for them. Two weeks ago here they were, like clockwork eating breakfast, snack, lunch and dinner. It pains me to watch them destroy my garden. They did not give me time to enjoy my garden last year. I can't even throw a rock because as soon as I open the kitchen window out they went.

My perennials are now coming up I would like to know before I plant my annuals and also before they start on their annual feast

HELP HELP HELP

I am desperate...KIKKI

Groundhogs are much bigger and wander around above ground munching on things, and if your pic that you attached is the pest in question then that's what it looks like to me. Gophers have tunnels underground, you'll see little mounds where they've been tunneling and their mode of action is generally to eat plants from underneath. Sometimes they'll leave the plant for you and just eat the roots, or sometimes they eat the whole thing. So if that's what you're seeing then it's gophers, but I don't think they're very common in your part of the country, so if you've got underground burrowers I suspect voles are more likely.

The picture above is exactly what it is. From afar they look like a squirrel (color) but they are fat and flat and dash faster than the squirrels. The hole they come in/out is invisible. When they dash you just see them disappear. Yes, they munch on things (everything) holding their tomatoes, eating plants leaving just the base root. I am wandering if my perennials they ate will come back this year because they didn't even get time to take root properly. It is soooooo frustrating.

Thank you for the quick reply

Unfortunately since it's not gophers I don't have any good tips--I don't have the groundhog problem here. Plenty of gophers though! You rarely see the gophers above ground, on occasion I'll see them peeking out when they're making a new tunnel and pushing dirt out of it, but otherwise I only know they're there by the trail of missing plants or plants that are mysteriously wilting (then I look at them and they're missing their roots). At least if the groundhog is only eating the tops off, maybe some of your things will sprout back from the roots. With the gophers since they eat the roots there's not much hope of recovery!

OK - thanks ... I still have hope someone will help me with this problem.

Still weeping....

I recently bumped this thread... http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/507469/ It is all about trapping groundhogs. Down here in PA the groundhogs are so thick, wood-chuck crowd surfing has overtaken cow-tipping as the rural entertainment of choice. So I'm firing the trap up, and I'm loaded for rodent.

I read the thread too .... I bought the Havahart trap last night and set it up with apple slices as bait ... so far nothing. I'm still hopeful. I hope you got lucky.

Update ... I set the havarart trap ... I watched the groundhog got inside of the trap and ate everything...the latch was too tight. I fixed it, two hours later he got on top of the trap to see if there was an other opening -- then he body slammed the trap until the latch came down but he sat there for a good while to see what would happen sniffing all around it. This morning he kept pushing it, putting his paws inside to grab the apple. It is not going to work. I hope someone on this thread has a solution for me. Thanks

Try wrapping the trap with a carpet or something heavy so that it can only see the food from the end and can't pull it from the side.

Thank you so much ... I will try that when I get home.

We flooded out a gopher this morning and relocated him to a park. We didn't have the heart to do him in. I think he was a teenager. Normally I leave them alone buit this one was over the top! Eating everything even poisonous plants. Anyway, I'm looking for a liquid repelent reciepe that I can pour down the burrow to keep in from being reinhabited. I've heard that if you put a dead gopher in the hole it will repel others thinking of moving in because they are very territorial. Anybody have any ideas. I'm going to go get one of those noise emitters but they don't seem to work that well.

From my own experience none of the repellent sprays work, I have a horrible gopher problem here and I've tried everything under the sun. The vibrator things don't work either, if anything it serves to aggravate them, I can't count the number of times I found a new gopher mound right up next to the vibrating thing. I now have an exterminator come out and take care of them whenever I spot activity, I don't like the idea of killing them but if I wouldn't have a garden left if I didn't do something.

Normally I use wire under my beds but we're renting right now and I don't want to invest that much. Oh well. What repellents have you tried?

"From afar they look like a squirrel."
Kikki

Helping my son with a school project, I discovered they were ground squirrels. They sure don't look like chipmunks.

I once had a February 2 party and served ground hog on hamburger buns. A Jewish lawyer said they tasted like pork.

It is a groundhog ... I found its hole under my deck today ... I tried something new but it will always find an other place - the trap just does not work. The Havahart does not do the job. I don't know what I will do. They start eating already.

Thanks
Kikki

wonderearth--I've tried castor oil, predator urine, garlic stuff, shoving onions down their holes, planting castor bean plants, the vibrating thingy, flooding their tunnels, and probably a few other things I'm forgetting. Now I plant anything new in wire baskets, but when I originally planted my garden 6-8 months after I moved in I hadn't seen any signs of gophers and didn't know what a huge problem they were here so I didn't do the baskets (my old house in Martinez I'd get one wandering in every once in a while and eat a plant or two, but nothing that was ever worth doing anything about). I guess they didn't like the grass and iceplant that were covering my yard the first summer I was here, but as soon as I planted yummy perennials all of a sudden they moved in! There are two lengthy threads on the California forum about dealing with gophers, you might read through those and see if you get any tips. If my memory serves me, traps and exterminators are the most reliable methods, but some people have had luck here and there with other things, although there doesn't seem to be one thing that works for everyone.

Moth Balls good for 6 weeks.

I'm a member of the groundhog club, too. I've been tolerant of one living under our bridge, but now I see 5 young ones, too! The worse part is that they're driving my dog crazy and he spends the day watching for and chasing them. Now we've decided that we must get rid of them before they cause real damage -- but I haven't heard of any successful way of doing that. HELP!

I think the traps are the way to go, but I'm sure there are tricks to setting them, baiting them, and disguising them appropriately so it may take some trial and error before you get it right. sarazen posted a link a little while ago to a thread with lots of info on trapping them, here's the post so you don't have to go back and look for it http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=4926998

My groundhogs are a nuisance also.
I haven't figured out how to get rid of them either.
In my yard, they may disfigure a mature planting of perennials, but rarely kill them outright.
The main threat is to my new plantings which aren't yet established.
I use 'gopher cages' in an upside-down version to protect my newly planted treasures.
Gopher cages are wire cages which are meant to be planted in the ground surrounding a newly planted perennial to protect the roots from gophers.
I use them instead to cover the top of new plants (secured in place w/ a couple sod staples).
My wife thinks it looks ridiculous, but it's effective to protect new plants from not only my groundhogs,
but also the rabbits and deer brousing.
After a season or two, I take off the wire cage and they're on their own.
I have much higher survival rate doing it this way.

It is a good idea Weerobin because I lost a bunch of newly planted coneflowers I ordered - 5 varieties all gone, you are right, they did not come back this year.

Here are a couple pictures of the ones I use.
In this picture, the gopher cages are around a couple small plants in the left background.
As you can see, I take them off the plants once they become established.
It may not be the most ornamental look, but it works for me.

And here they are from the other side, closer up.
I used to make my own out of hardware cloth, but now I just buy them on-line.

Very good idea. I think I have some areas where I can do that. Thanks

Kikki, In southwestern Michigan we have a lot of the ground hogs, and tey can be a real pest. I have horses and the holes they dig can cause a horse to break a leg if they step in one. Along with the plant distruction they cause. The only real solution we have is to shoot them. Catching and moving them doesn't work, they come right back,(one we trapped and moved , we marked him with dye, came back over 5 miles). I'm sorry to say the only for sure answer is to shot or poison them, I know it sounds heartless but...................... Our local DNR will loan you the traps but they say just to "get rid of them".

What kind of poison will work for these pests. I don't see anything that will work on them.

I seemingly have a community in my garden shed, this is a small one we caught last year. I got lucky, a friend of mine had a trap at the time. She brought it over and after he was caught, came and took it away. Well, that's not the end of this story.
They or it, has completely escavated the entire garden shel, it is an old garage, with a dirt floor. I have piles of dirt along the back walls as high as 3 ft.
They are driving me NUTS, they don't seem to be destroying much, not yet, but I'm sure I'll break an ankle in a hole out there. Hubby doesn't seem to motivated to help with the situation. I have gone in there with a pistol because I don't want to run into one, they are mean!

Oh yes, that's them, so ugly ... they are soooo mean....I found a big tunnel under my deck which I quickly closed ... they left a distinct smell...I hate them so, when they are eating your plants they make sure you can see them doing it... they enjoy every moment ... I can't stand them.