the never ending quest to elimnate gophers from the world

Controlling pests of bamboo

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ghmerrill
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the never ending quest to elimnate gophers from the world

Post by ghmerrill »

Or at least MY corner of it!

so, in the never ending quest, I have thus far tried most of the chain store types of gopher traps. out of dozens of times of setting them, i did catch one gopher in one of the victor gopher traps. not sure what that would equate to as a batting average, but pretty sure it would not even qualify me for the minor leagues!

I tried castor oil.... which could work, and lots of people claim it works for them, however, i eather need to use it full strenght, or more often, or figure a way to get it deeper in to the soil, as so far it has not helped.

I tried castor bean plants... that seemed to work OK.... except the plants only got about a foot tall- I see all these beautifull pics of peoples plants, and wonder what the heck is wrong with mine!

Cats dont work.... LOTS of strays around here... as well as foxes, skunks, racoons.....

I had someone tell me that they got some great gopher traps on ebay, so i spent $40 and ordered YET ANOTHER gopher trap.... they have worked slightly better, in several dozen settings, I caught two gophers with this type! that means my success rate improved by 100%! maybe I qualify for a T ball league now....


so, after going out yesterday and mowing, and finding fresh mounds in the areas I just mowed a couple hours before, I decided to dig pits, and plant buckets with plywood over the holes to see if i can catch any that way! 3 pits, 3 buckets, and I'm hoping for at least 3 gophers! if I catch any, I will post the pics here, and start taking bids for natures #1 self replicating, maintenenace free, organinc, biological bamboo control device......
:twisted:
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foxd
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Re: the never ending quest to elimnate gophers from the world

Post by foxd »

Not sure what happened with your castor plants, if you want to try a different genetic line of them I have seeds I could send you.

The worst I've heard of a cat doing to a gopher is sinking its claws into the gophers back and riding it around the yard.
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Re: the never ending quest to elimnate gophers from the world

Post by Iowaboo »

When all else fails, sometimes poisoning them is the final solution.
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Re: the never ending quest to elimnate gophers from the world

Post by moriphen »

Try growing Nerium oleander in and around your bamboo :D perhaps you will get lucky and the gophers will chew into it and die.

M
M
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foxd
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Re: the never ending quest to elimnate gophers from the world

Post by foxd »

Would you like some Gopherbane seeds? Admitedly they seem to work better against weregophers.
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Re: the never ending quest to elimnate gophers from the world

Post by ghmerrill »

Thanks for the offer, I think I'm going to get some more of those gopher gas bombs and try that again......

Or maybe what I have are weregophers, and that's why they are so hard to kill!
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Re: the never ending quest to elimnate gophers from the world

Post by bambootony »

My dad just drowns them!!!
but he has a well pump and unlimited water.
Its fun when they pop up and you smash them with a shovel.
But mostly they just drown in the ground. The only way I know is that they never dig up the yard again.
40 miles N.E of st louis
ghmerrill
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Re: the never ending quest to elimnate gophers from the world

Post by ghmerrill »

I tried the drowning thing, but the water just kept dissapearing down the holes, and no gophers ever popped up... I have done that with squirrels though, so It can work!

went out and pulled out all the bucket traps, and placed the metal gopher traps in the holes, after re-diging them open... didnt catch a single critter, so I used some of the gopher gas bombs... we will see how that goes......
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Re: the never ending quest to elimnate gophers from the world

Post by foxd »

http://www.rodentblaster.com/

I haven't tried one, but many people enjoy blowing up things.
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Re: the never ending quest to elimnate gophers from the world

Post by Jerry Hamilton »

Sure looked like fun to me. :mrgreen:
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ghmerrill
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Re: the never ending quest to elimnate gophers from the world

Post by ghmerrill »

I would love to own one of those, I have seen a couple for sale, but I'm not YET $ 1500 desperate to get rid of the gophers!
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Re: the never ending quest to elimnate gophers from the world

Post by benboo »

poor gophers.... too bad for your bamboo.... bad karma??
ghmerrill
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Re: the never ending quest to elimnate gophers from the world

Post by ghmerrill »

I hope they have bad karma!

Here, its a case of exterminate with extreme prejudice........

Then I bury the carcasses near the bamboo so that in death, they can provide back some of what they took in life! :twisted:
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Re: the never ending quest to elimnate gophers from the world

Post by benboo »

HAAAAAA!!!! but animal cruelty is bad... :albino:
ghmerrill
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Re: the never ending quest to elimnate gophers from the world

Post by ghmerrill »

nothing is to bad for a gopher to suffer :blackeye:
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