Tom Ingram Master Gardener
When you talk to someone about animals that are damaging their lawn, they will often blame either moles or gophers. And most of the time, the damage is blamed on the wrong animal. So let's talk about how to identify the culprits for different types of damage and what you can do about it.
The easiest way to tell if the creatures that are wreaking havoc in your yard are moles or gophers is to look at the ground. If you have moles, you'll notice mounds of soil above their underground tunnels. As moles dig, they lift the soil up a bit, making it fairly easy to see where they've been and where they're going. Moles leave a trail, so to speak.
It's gophers that create dirt piles on the ground. When gophers dig their tunnels, they want to carry the dirt somewhere, so they push it up to the surface to create dirt piles. The shape of the dirt piles can vary from round to semicircular and can range from relatively small to as large as 2 feet in diameter. In all cases, the piles are about 6 inches high. Gophers can create as many as 200 dirt piles a year, so it's no surprise that they can wreak havoc on your yard.
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Moles, on the other hand, are not as destructive as they seem to be, but stepping on one of their burrows can easily result in a sprained ankle, so for those of us who live on land, these animals are all a real nuisance.
Moles are carnivores and are constantly searching for earthworms to fill their stomachs. On average, a mole can eat as many earthworms as its own body weight each day. That means a lot of earthworms and a lot of digging to find them. Imagine if we had to eat as many cheeseburgers as we weigh every day. That would be a lot of work.
Gophers are on the hunt for green foods. They like to eat roots, grasses, seeds, leaves, tubers and bulbs. Although we call them gophers, technically they are pocket gophers, so named because they have small pouches on either side of their mouths where they can store food and carry it back to their underground homes.
For the most part, I don't worry too much about either animal — I've had both in my garden and have never really had any major trouble with them other than the occasional pile of dirt — so I tend to just let live and let live.
That being said, gophers can be quite destructive at times, so you might try to temporarily remove them from your yard. I say “temporarily” because once you remove a gopher, there's a good chance another one will find its way into your yard soon after. If you feel the need to solve this problem, try these methods:
As for gophers, you can achieve this goal using poisoned grains or traps. In the case of poisoned grains, you simply pour a bit of grain into the gopher's tunnel and hope that he will eat the bait. However, if you have pets, this method is not recommended as they may accidentally fall prey to the poisoned grains. In that case, it is better to use traps.
There are many different styles of gopher traps, but I have had success with spring-loaded traps. From the looks of it, they seem to be a pretty strong mousetrap. The trick to catching a gopher is to find a mound of dirt. The mound will look dark because there is still moisture in the soil. Once you find the mound, feel around the mound of dirt looking for a tunnel. Once you find the tunnel, dig away the soil above it to reveal the tunnel. When handling this trap, wear good leather gloves to protect your hands, as the trap can accidentally become spring-loaded during this process. Springs are powerful. I may have learned this lesson the hard way.
If you are trying to trap gophers, it is a good idea to use two traps, one facing each direction in the tunnel, since you don't know which way the gopher will come from. It is also a good idea to tie the trap to a stake or concrete block, as once a gopher is caught, it will often run off down the tunnel, taking the trap with it, causing you to lose sight of the gopher and the trap.
Once your trap is set up, primed and secured, cover the hole with a rock or piece of wood to stop any light from reaching the tunnel. Then wait.
Once fresh air is circulating in the tunnel, the gopher will know there is a hole somewhere in the tunnel and will search and try to repair it. If after a few days there is no activity in the tunnel, the gopher has probably moved on and you will need to start searching again.
If you need to get rid of moles in your garden, you can use poisonous earthworms for this purpose. Once you have these poisonous earthworms (which look like boring gummy worms), you need to find an active mole tunnel. To do this, break down the bank of the tunnel and return later to see if the bank has risen again. If it has, it means that it is an active tunnel.
If you find an active tunnel, you can drill a hole in it, drop in a single poisonous insect, and then seal the hole. Be sure to wear gloves while you do this – they're poisonous so you don't want to touch them, and you don't want to pick up your human scent on them. Then, watch for any more active tunnels to see if your efforts have been successful.
So there you have it. Again, in most cases, there is no need to take any action unless the damage caused by pests exceeds your pain threshold. See you in the garden!
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To get answers to all your gardening questions, call the Tulsa Master Gardeners Helpline at 918-746-3701, stop by the Diagnostic Center at 4116 E. 15th St., or email mg@tulsamastergardeners.org.
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