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Gopher Barriers Under Raised Beds

Question fromTeri:
You recommend lining the bottom of raised bed veggie gardens with hardware cloth, but that degrades in a couple of years, and is a huge ordeal to replace.

So I am wondering whether 6″ or more of 3/4 or 1″ rock in the bottom of the bed would work against burrowing creatures like rabbits and gophers. My beds are 20″ high and I would add 14″ of compost and weed-free soil on top of the rocks.

Answer from Pat:
Gopher problems are severe this year. They are even showing up in large numbers in my garden where I’ve never before had an on-going problem. Cracked rock won’t keep them out. They are very good at moving it and getting through the rock to the plant roots and white grubs on the other side. A tile patio or reinforced concrete slab will keep out gophers, but then you would need to make much taller boxes and provide drainage out the bottom and sides. I suppose if you dug out the area where you are planning to put the boxes one foot deep with paths around 2 or 3 feet wide and then filled the whole area with a foot-deep layer of rock and put the boxes on top maybe it would keep them out, but I don’t know that for sure. I have seen gophers go through rock barriers often.

When I first came to California in 1945 the recommended barrier against rabbits, gophers, skunks, and rats was chicken wire or sometimes aviary wire to be nailed on the bottom of raised beds and also used for rabbit fences with the bottom of the fence buried in the ground. Later the recommendation changed to hardware cloth. You are the first gardener I have heard bring up the problem of degradation of the wire in the soil which will eventually happen, of course, but not in a couple of years as you fear. In all the years I have been advocating nailing wire on the bottom of raised beds so far no one has reported back to me that the wire rusted through and gophers were now invading, and I have been in this business of helping folks with their gardens for 35 years. Perhaps our population keeps moving but I have some friends who have lived and gardened in the same house for thirty years and the wire hasn’t stopped working for them. Also I have recommended using chicken wire under lawns to keep out gophers. The gophers will still get under the lawn but they can’t and don’t make mounds. One of my sons-in- law followed this advice about twenty years ago. He enjoyed a gopher-proof Santa Ana bermudagrass lawn for over ten years. He eventually sold that house but so far as I know to this day there are no gopher mounds on that lawn. (See the Quick Tip on page 358 of my book.) I suppose the type of soil one is dealing with might influence how long the wire lasts.

Bill Nelson of Pacific Tree Farms used to advocate putting sharp pieces of cracked glass in holes when he planted trees such as avocados even though he used chicken-wire baskets also as root-protecting barriers. I always felt that burying sharp glass was not a good practice due to the fact that it is cruel and also we cannot look centuries into the future and see how the land will be used then. It might become the location for a school or a family home with children or gardeners. So we would be leaving a cruel booby trap in the soil for a future generation. That sounds like bad Karma. I could see, however, laying down 2 layers of water-permeable, weed-preventing, landscape cloth with broken glass between them and leaving a record of exactly where this was so that it could be easily and safely removed in future. (Though I wouldn’t ever do this myself.)

If you want chicken wire or hardware cloth to last longer, the most logical idea would be to paint it with long-lasting rust preventative paint prior to installation. Since I know of wire lasting in the ground for twenty or thirty years, painted wire should last that much longer. Plastic-dipped fencing is also available, but I have no idea if it would last better underground than regular fencing or hardware cloth.

Comments

  1. Chicken wire doesn’t work out here in the Cuyamaca Mountains. I planted roses with chicken wire baskets that went 6 – 9 inches up the rose plant and the gophers found their way in. I have had gophers build RAMPS up and over the chicken wire. This past summer was the worst in my 8 years living in Descanso and I just pulled out two roses that have been growing in my garden since I planted them the year I moved in. They were protected by chicken wire. I’m going to move on to flower pots and raised beds. But…

    • It sounds as if you have highly ingenious gophers or maybe some of them are ground squirrels or rats in disguise. Gophers cannot climb but ground squirrels and rats can and do. Raised beds need to have smooth sides and be high enough to foil both. 1/2-inch-guage hardware cloth is more durable than chicken wire. Install it underneath your raised bed to keep out gophers more successfully than chicken wire. An additional reinforcement is a flat ledge or cap that juts outward by 4 inches on the top of the wall of the raised bed. There is no way they can climb past this barrier. Trapping or good hunting cats and dogs are the best solutions to animal pests. Gophers are solitary animals, so if you or your cat can catch a gopher the minute it moves in you have stopped the invasion at least until the next one discovers your garden. I find the Black Hole trap is the best trap made. There is real satisfaction in using this trap correctly since it’s possible to catch your prey in twenty minutes time.

      Regarding roses, flower pots might be a problem since in the Cuyamaca Mountains you have freezing weather in winter. A few years ago one of my daughters had a large garden in Rancho Santa Fe that was home to every kind of animal pest imaginable: Gophers, rats, ground squirrels, coyotes, mice, and voles. She had them all, but she fixed the soil by spreading on a layer of homemade compost she made by layering horse manure with alfalfa. She planted succulents and wildflowers and so many roses the animals were overwhelmed. Fran specialized in All-America-Award winners and climbing roses—great big ones on trellises and arbors. The animals chewed up a few plants but they simply couldn’t keep up. I don’t know why more people don’t grow climbing roses. You get so much more bang for the buck.

  2. I am planting an in ground garden and I am putting in a gopher barrier. How deep should i dig down?

  3. We started a vegetable garden for the first time last summer. Just before building our raised bed, we noticed a gopher invasion around the perimeter of the lawn, so we stapled 1/2 inch hardware cloth to the bottom of our 4′ x10′ bed. We’ve been trying to get this gopher for months with traps, but he just pushes dirt in them and gets away. We’ve also tried double mint gum. No luck. Today, I noticed this gopher has entered the raised bed (in spite of the hardware cloth) and really made a mess. What can I do? I haven’t wanted to use poison in our yard because we have a few neighborhood cats that come around (I keep hoping one of them will catch the scoundrel).

    • I cannot understand how a gopher entered your raised bed if you stapled 1/2 inch hardware cloth on the bottom, unless the staples came loose or there was a knothole in the wood that fell out. Never in my entire career have I heard of this happening. No, do not use poisons and do not use gas. It does not work. I wish we could blow them up as is possible on agricultural land. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgztUzqaL3E Looking at videos online of this process is very satisfying but unfortunately it’s against the law in residential areas. Do you have the Black Hole trap? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-osEATs2TP8(Not the Black Box trap, which is a gyp.) The Black Hole trap works for me—buy it online— and I have caught many gophers with it. It is very important to follow the directions exactly with this trap and allow the air to come through the round hole in the end of it but put a little earth on the bottom of the inside to prime it and also make sure no light enters except through that small hole in the end. Once I had a wily gopher who shoved earth in the trap, but the next day, I stuck a carrot in the hole on the end as the directions said to do if I had a tough gopher to catch. That time I caught him or her. However, now that I am in my eighties I have had more trouble catching gophers because I can no longer get down on my knees to do the job. Finally I have given up on this job. This week I got a man called “The Gopher Getter Guy” to come to my property and trap the gophers. I had heard he is very good at catching gophers and only charges $25.00 for each gopher he gets. I asked him to shove their dead bodies back into the holes. I believe this helps keep them away. And, as I said before, do not use poisons and don’t get one of these fellows who thinks he can gas the gophers. That’s really a crock! if you hire a trapper make sure he traps and does not show up with poisons and gas. I have had many trappers who cannot catch these critters worth a dime, but the Gopher Getter Guy is good. If you live in North San Diego County, get him (760-419-5133) Otherwise, look for someone similar. I have heard of other talented trappers in other areas

    • Here is another idea, called the Molecat.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWNufym2qtE&feature=endscreen Never heard of this one.

  4. I have a raised planter bed that has become a popular nibbling ground for gophers. I’m removing the purple fountain grass that has succumbed and thinking about planting bird of paradise. I live in San Diego about 2 miles inland from the ocean.

    • You mention “nibbling”. Gophers do not nibble the tops of plants. Rabbits nibble. Rabbits can be kept out of raised beds by surrounding the bed with chicken wire or green plastic flexible fencing available at hardware stores. Rabbits seldom if ever damage Bird of Paradise.

      Gophers eat the roots of plants underground. In some cases they pull plants down into their burrows. They leave the tell-tale sign of fresh mounds of loose earth on top of the ground. The way to keep gophers out of raised beds is to nail one-half-inch hardware cloth on the bottom of the bed prior to filling it with soil. You can also trap gophers by using the “Black Hole Trap.” Purchase two traps online and follow instructions carefully which are also provided online. Do not buy the Black Box trap since it does not work.

  5. I have about 575 ‘ of raised beds. I have lived in this house for 35 years and filled those beds with year round vegetable gardens. Gopher problems seem to be cyclical. They come visit me then visit the neighbors for a few years. About 8 years ago I had my raised beds dug out and put chicken wire down and the soil replaced.
    Three days ago I noticed a gopher mound outside the perimeter of the raised beds. In 3 days the gopher has traveled into 3 of my beds and eaten my entire arugula, cilantro , tomato, and dill crop. The chicken wire has obviously rusted out.
    Today I am researching methods, and products because I have to have the beds redug and relaid with product. I have about $50 worth of tomatoes and peppers doubling in size over night in their little pots waiting to go in the ground. I like the idea of laying down tiles, assuming the roots will all find their way under at the intersections. I space my tomatoes at least 5’ apart and they grow huge. Then I think I would lay hardware cloth over the tiles. I am almost 70 and hope this will be my last redo!!!!
    Gardening is getting very difficult in my area, used to be carefree. We now have squirrels, and possums that dig up everything.

    • Tiles have no drainage and gophers are sure to find a way around them. They are very sneaky and persistent. Believe me, tiles don’t work against gophers and also they stop drainage. You are correct that chicken wire was the wrong thing to use. Chicken wire will work on lawns if you lay it on top of the ground and then put sod on top. Yes that will keep a gopher out of a lawn 20 years at least. But the way you put the wire on the ground and then the box on top was your real problem. The gophers found an uneven spot and snuck through between the wire and the wood. Gophers are very bad this year due to soft soil and lots of growth.

      For raised beds you need one-or two-inch hardware cloth. This works and so does a product called “Gopher Wire.” Also it is absolutely no good laying it on the ground and putting the boxes on top. Please do not do that again since the gophers will find a way around it. You must turn the boxes upside down or build new ones and then firmly nail the wire to the bottom allowing for no gaps. After that put the boxes upright again and fill them with top soil. You will need help to do this. After that I promise you, you will have no gophers. Please, since you are seventy do it right this time! My raised bed has no gophers though I am fighting them elsewhere. My tomatoes are in and my Sugar Snap peas are over head height and I have masses to pick every couple of days, also fave beans are huge this year. I had the men who built the box for me, nail hardware cloth on the bottom. It will outlast me.

      You are a spring chicken, so enjoy! I am eighty-eight, still planting, still traveling, still painting, still eating healthy food, exercising, sleeping well, drinking my one glass of red wine with dinner, and still having fun with friends and family. The garden has never been better than this year. I told my younger daughter today over the phone it is better than it’s ever been and she said, “Mama, you always say that, but sometimes its been even better!” I laughed.

  6. Pat Welsh, you are my garden hero, but I must mention two things. First, it is important to use gopher wire because gophers can and will get through the bigger holes of chicken wire. Secondly, after losing many plants to gophers during my learning process, I resorted to just putting out potted plants in a small garden area, kept losing plants. One day when I went out to garden, I witnessed a gopher repeatedly go up into the shorter 10″ pots, uproot the whole plant and take it back to it’s hole. Now that is playing dirty if you ask me. Gophers breaking the rules.

    • I agree regarding chicken wire but for a different reason. I never have recommended chicken wire for putting under raised beds since it soon rusts. Gopher wire or hardware cloth with 2-inch-square holes lasts many years and keeps out gophers.

      For a gopher-free lawn: Lay chicken wire flat on top of prepared and rolled area. Then lay sod on top or seeds and topping. I have seen gopher-free lawns made this way. I told one of my son’s-in- law 30 years ago and he did it and over-lapped the chicken wire. In a neighborhood full of gophers, his Santa Ana bermuda lawn was never invaded by gophers. All his neighbors lawns looked like war zones.

  7. Marie Steckmest

    You might have ground squirrels. They eat most everything. They don’t like arugula, onions, geraniums and California native plants. We have surrounded our raised beds with chicken wire. They eat through plastic netting. Good luck!

    • Gophers invade under ground and eat the roots of plants and sometimes pull whole veggies down into their holes. Ground squirrels attack from above and eat things down to the ground. They also devour things like ripe tomatoes. I personally have no problem with gophers in my raised bed due to hardware cloth on the bottom. I plan to try the “Mr. McGregor’s Electric Fence” this year against ground squirrels, rabbits and raccoons. The best thing of all is to build a wire house over head and wire buried under ground.

      Thanks for you comment.

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