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What's
eating my plants - gopher or mole? A neighbor recently asked me what to do about a mole that was eating his plants. My first response was, if plants were disappearing, a gopher was probably the culprit, not a mole. MOLES: Moles are insectivores eating insects, earthworms, grubs and other larvae. They live underground and seldom venture out of their burrows; if they do, it's usually at night. They are most active in the early morning and late evening hours. A single mole constructs a maze of haphazard, crisscrossing runways just below the soil surface, leaving a raised ridge to mark its path. Some runways are used frequently; others are seldom used again. Mole mounds appear circular and have a plug in the middle, resembling mini-volcanoes. Damage to bulbs, flowers and vegetables, while often blamed on moles, usually is caused by mice using mole runways or by injury caused by the moles while digging for food. GOPHERS: Gophers are herbivores and feed on a wide variety of plants, including roots, bulbs, and tubers they find while digging. They sometimes feed above ground, venturing only a few inches from their tunnel openings. These "feed holes" are identified by the absence of the typical dirt mound and by the circular band of clipped vegetation around the hole. Gophers are active year-round at all hours of the day. They usually live alone within the burrow system, except for females with young. Mounds of fresh soil are the best sign of gopher presence. One gopher may create several mounds in a day. Gopher mounds are crescent or horseshoe-shaped and the hole is off to one side. Gophers often pull entire plants into their tunnels from below. A single gopher moving down a garden row can inflict considerable damage in a short period of time. They also gnaw and damage plastic water lines and lawn sprinkler systems. Their tunnels can divert and carry off irrigation water and lead to soil erosion. TRAPPING AND BAITING: Moles and gophers are classified as non-game mammals by the California Fish and Game Code, which means that they may be controlled at any time and in any legal manner by the owner or tenant of the property where they are found. To successfully eliminate gophers and moles, take action as soon as you notice their presence. Since moles are eating insects, they often move through a yard and onto the next one. It may be helpful to control the insect population, so the mole runs out of nourishment. They travel so close to the surface it is relatively easy to trap them or scoop them out with a shovel. Gophers live deep in their tunnels for a long time, and when they die a new gopher moves in and uses the established tunnel system. Most people control gophers by trapping or by using poison baits. Strychnine baits are available for homeowner use and are effective in controlling gophers. Probe around fresh mounds or between two fresh mounds since they indicate the most recent activity. When the runway is located, the probe will give way and drop about two inches. Deposit bait into the runway and cover the probe hole with a clod or rock to keep out light and prevent dirt from falling on the bait. The most effective method of trapping is to locate the runway 8-12 inches from the plug side of a gopher mound (usually 6-12 inches deep), use a shovel or garden trowel to open it both ways, set traps in each of the openings and cover them to completely block out light. Gophers don't like light and will block the runway and spring the traps with dirt. Traps should be checked often and reset when necessary. If, after three days, trapping has not been successful, move the traps to a different location. The most commonly used trap is a two-pronged pincher trap, such as the Macabee, which is triggered when the gopher pushes against a flat vertical metal plate. I always had good success using Macabee traps to control gophers until recently when I noticed that gophers completely avoided the traps. Their mounds became fewer, but, boy, were they still busy! My back lawn was undermined and became sunken in several places. I have now resorted to having a professional pesticide applicator treat for gophers. He places registered bait directly into the runways and it works. No longer do I have to dig huge caverns to set traps, wait several days, only to find out that the gopher got away. June 12, 2003 |