gopher repellant?

Not a scientific study, but it appears that gophers stay away from the areas where I use liquid fish emulsion.    Anyone have thoughts on this?

I would agree with that, also human liquid gold has been noted in my area to be pretty effective. I suggest deposit in hole and cover.

Jeff

Not sure if this helps, I read a book a while back about moles, and moles are related at least in the damage they do and how they do it, with gophers.
The auther, a guy who made his livng for 25 years controling moles in the Willamette Valley Oregon, said that ALL the methods of mole control worked. Even the 'old wives tales' the trick is to get the mole to the method.
In other words it doesnt help to pee down the gopher hole unless the gopher uses that hole! And what's to stop the gopher from just digging a detour around the pee soaked ground?
The bottom line of the book on mole control I'm getting this from is that you'd better just learn to live with the little citters. Or be prepared to fight touth and nail to the death, never surrender, never give up. After all moles and gophers have a place in this world too.
and yes there are moles down in my veggie garden!, but they dont eat that much so I just let'em live.
Hank

I searched for mole diet and as I thought they mostly eat bugs and worms, not that their tunneling doesn't mess with garden plant roots, etc.  But as most searches go, also found this interesting tidbit.

All moles are classified as wild, nongame animals under North Carolina laws. No hunting or trapping seasons are set up for these animals, and they are subject to all applicable state laws and regulations. This means you can not kill a mole without requesting and receiving a permit from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. The reason is that several species of moles are becoming dangerously low in numbers, so the NCWRC moved to protect all mole species.

The gophers here this year are eating way too many things in my zone 3 garden and I have started trapping.

Another surprise, I was clueless about these laws

State targets landowner's gopher battle
Protected Species: Man accused of illegal trapping
JOHN DODGE; Staff writer | • Published March 04, 2010
COMMENTS (62)  RECOMMEND (14)
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ROCHESTER - A Rochester man is in hot water with authorities for setting traps on his undeveloped land to kill Mazama pocket gophers, a state-protected species, in an apparent attempt to make it easier to build on the property.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife forwarded the case Tuesday to the Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, asking that Christopher G. Weaver, 28, of Rochester, be charged with unlawful use of body traps and unlawful taking of a protected species, which are misdemeanors.
“This is definitely a unique case,” Fish and Wildlife officer Carl Klein said. “I don’t know how many gophers were killed — Weaver claimed it was only two.”
Neither Weaver nor the deputy prosecutor reviewing the case could be reached for comment Wednesday.
In an affidavit filed with Thurston County District Court, Klein said he responded to the 5.45-acre parcel at 18005 Seco Lane S.W. on Feb. 25 after receiving an e-mail tip that day of a possible trapping violation.
The officer found on the property four set traps under buckets, including one dead pocket gopher in a trap.
The Mazama pocket gopher, a small burrowing rodent, is native to South Sound prairies and is a state threatened species and candidate for federal protection. Its numbers have declined dramatically in the past several decades because of habitat loss, trapping and predation by dogs and cats.
In most cases, developers who find gophers on their property are required to hire a biologist and develop a mitigation plan, which often includes setting aside property for the gophers. But the protection measures don’t lead to a ban on building, Thurston County senior planner Cindy Wilson said.
In his affidavit, Klein said he was told by a concerned citizen that the previous owner of the property had run into difficulty developing the property because of the presence of pocket gophers, and sold the property to Weaver at a considerable loss. The officer said the tipster heard Weaver state his intentions to kill all the gophers in order to obtain building permits.
According to Thurston County Assessor records, Weaver purchased the property from Alan and Kathy Stromseth for $60,000 on Dec. 9, 2009. The Stromseths bought the property for $110,000 in April of 2009.
Wilson said Stromseth applied for a permit to build a single family home on the property on Sept. 17, 2009. A county planner visited the property, found evidence of pocket gophers and told Stormseth to hire a biologist to determine the whereabouts of gophers on the property.
“We never did see the biologist’s final report,” Wilson said, noting that Stromseth withdrew his permit request in October 2009.
Thurston County District Court Judge Samuel Meyer signed a search warrant Friday, allowing Klein to seize evidence from the property. On Tuesday, Klein placed into evidence six body-gripping traps.
John Dodge: 360-754-5444
jdodge@theolympian.com


Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/03/04/1159879/state-targets-landowners-gopher.html#ixzz0pF3j5xzo

Here in Oregon it's ok to trap moles, but up in Washington you cant use squeeze traps.
And the moles are taking over!!
Hank

Hey Hank, do you think this kind of trap would be legal in Washington State?:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007O24US

They are very, very effective.  A cable comes from below, pinning the gopher to the ceiling of the trap.

Hi Charlie (nice seeing you last week - I'd like to see a report from someone who's succeed with this trap. 

And I'd like to report what looks like success with a DETERRENT. 

I think i have moved my latest tunneler with.. peppermint!  A cotton ball saturated with peppermt oil, placed in the hole, worked for a friend, so I made a cheaper version.  I did the castor oil recipe (1/4 c @ c. oil and water, plus 2 T water - blenderize - put 2 T in watering can and apply) but added 2 oz culinary peppermint extract, hoping to emulsify it with the oil, to prolong the effect.

(Peppermt oil is pretty expensive, hence the extract, and I also think cooking oil might work just as well - or not -  I'll be doing this periodically for a long time, so need cheap.)

The fellow had set up in my husband's beloved small lawn this summer (13 hills, immediately rebuilt after every eradication attempt, for months), but after putting peppermt in each hole, plus sprinkling around, and stomping down, we finally awoke to a miraculous view... no new hills in the lawn!  They are still gone, and this has been a week plus now!  This is the best result I have ever had.

Moles have been here forever, and everywhere.... can barely step anywhere without a sinking feeling, and I have sandy soil already, so do not need more dehydrating aeration. .  I just want to be able to put a "No Tunneling Here" sign on the paths and lawn....this may be it!!!  Fingers-crossed

(BTW, I have tried everything.... buzzers, castor oil, prickly hole stuffers, cat box litter, ferret doodoo, chewing gum, mole plant, dry ice, flares, poison worms, car exhaust,  (desperation can turn anyone into a killer, after they have tried to be nice) and even burying plastic-wrapped transistor radios, turned to a country western station (scientifically show to increase suicide rates - knew there was a reason I hate it -  nothing worked - til now

I have heard of people hooking a hose to their car's exhaust, and sticking the other ind in the holes.  Fill the holes with CO, and say "Bye-Bye" to the buggers.

I think that often the lack of signs of activity after a 'gassing', or some such attempt, are construed as a successful 'eradication', when, actually, the original mound was just one of his many feeding runs, which he was not intending to return to anyway.  His major 'arterials,' that are used regularly, will be remade after being flattened.  Ditto for her nests, etc.

So is there any effective way to control gophers?! I've had 3 trees damaged in just the last few weeks. I've had to replace many trees that have already been killed. I set traps and kill as many as I can that way to try and control numbers but its only marginally successful. I've now taken to poisoning in addition to trapping which I hate but I just cannot keep up with these buck toothed devils and they are causing way to much damage for me to tolerate. They ruin my gardens, kill my fruit trees and even refill post holes if I leave them empty over night!

I use a basic formula for dealing with pests. Food, shelter and predators. If you have too much of a "pest" it means one of these is out of balance. I cannot remove the food since its what I am growing to eat. I cannot remove the shelter because its the ground under my feet. The only area I see open to me is predators. I've had to act the part by trapping but I am just not able to keep up. I'm wondering what could be encouraged to take up residence in my yard that would hunt and eat gophers? I was thinking maybe I could find somewhere to buy gopher snakes and just release them down the holes. Hell I'm about ready to send my ferret down after them! Any ideas would be great.

I am new to the gopher battle.  They have done some serious damage at the new place I just moved into.  Previous gardener here saw whole vegetables disappear down holes right in front of her eyes.  She put in one shallow bed with chicken wire underneath it.  We'll see how that goes.  I am considering doing a deep raised bed protected by chicken wire from the underground menace.  I don't mind giving up a few vegetables here or there, but there are limits to my patience. 

the best way to "control" gophers is diversity in plantings.

I wonder if anyone has had experience with a[i] hugelkultur bed [/i]being free of tunnelers, as they are full of wood - big and small, but packed.    Should be a good deterrent, for a few years, at least.

I deleted a post.

I would like to remind folks that you can state your position without bashing the crap out of other positions.

Also, I typically delete anything that suggests that anybody on permies is anything less than perfect.  And this includes suggesting that somebody on permies is an espouser of bullshit. 

And, finally, I want to remind folks to state their own position and not "the truth", because I want to see lots of positions presented here, and stating "the truth" makes it seem like alternative positions beg the controversial response "are you calling me a LIAR!"

cats, hawks, even have seen blue herons eat them

Ever since we moved into the house in the rural area, we’ve got a mole problem. To the say the truth, I’m not that much into traps, and I’ve always been looking into more humane ways of dealing with wildlife.
And  I used  Vekibee Solar Powered Mole and Gopher Repellent . The product doesn’t require the use of batteries, as it’s solar powered, which is obviously more environmentally-friendly. The device also vibrates and emits 400 HZ low-frequency sonic pulses every 20 seconds to repel burrowing animals. The vibration creates an uninhabitable environment for moles and drives them away. As with the previous device, it takes time for the product to work, it has to be working continuously for about 2 to 4 weeks.  
And it helped.  A good overview of the fight against moles is in this article: https://getting-rid-of-ground-moles.com/best-mole-repellents/

gary gregory wrote:Not a scientific study, but it appears that gophers stay away from the areas where I use liquid fish emulsion.     Anyone have thoughts on this?

Yeah, it keeps them, your neighbors, and you away too.