Gophers can turn a peaceful Colorado yard into a maze of mounds before you know it. One day the lawn looks picture perfect, and the next it seems like something has been tunneling under your feet. These sneaky diggers work fast and stay out of sight, but a few smart moves can stop them in their tracks.
With the right approach, you can keep your yard from becoming a gopher playground and protect your plants from disappearing overnight. A little know-how goes a long way when those underground troublemakers start stirring.
1. Plant Gopher-Repelling Flowers And Herbs
Certain plants naturally keep gophers away because of their strong scents and bitter tastes. Marigolds, lavender, rosemary, and daffodils are excellent choices that gophers avoid like the plague.
Planting these around your garden borders creates a natural barrier that smells great to you but awful to gophers. Plus, you’ll add beautiful colors and wonderful aromas to your Colorado yard while protecting your other plants.
Consider mixing several of these plants together for maximum effectiveness and visual appeal.
2. Install Underground Wire Barriers
Wire mesh barriers work like underground fences that gophers can’t chew through or dig past. Hardware cloth with half-inch openings works best for this purpose.
Bury the mesh at least two feet deep around garden beds, trees, or your entire yard perimeter. Bend the bottom of the wire outward at a 90-degree angle to stop gophers from digging underneath it.
While this method requires some initial effort, it provides long-lasting protection that keeps gophers out for years to come.
3. Use Castor Oil-Based Repellents
Castor oil creates an unpleasant taste and smell that drives gophers away from treated areas without harming them or your plants. Mix castor oil with water and a bit of dish soap, then spray it throughout your yard.
Focus on areas where you’ve noticed gopher activity or want to prevent future invasions. Reapply after heavy rain or every few weeks for consistent results.
Many garden stores in Colorado sell ready-made castor oil sprays if you prefer convenience over mixing your own solution.
4. Encourage Natural Predators
Owls, hawks, snakes, and even cats are nature’s gopher control team, hunting these rodents as part of their regular diet. Installing owl boxes or hawk perches invites these helpful hunters to patrol your property.
Keeping some areas of your yard a bit wild provides habitat for beneficial predators. Avoid using rodent poisons, which can harm the very animals you want to attract.
With predators around, gophers become much more cautious and often relocate to safer territories away from your property.
5. Set Up Sonic Vibration Stakes
Gophers have sensitive hearing and hate constant vibrations traveling through the soil where they live. Battery or solar-powered stakes emit vibrations and sounds that irritate gophers enough to make them leave.
Place these stakes every 15 to 20 feet throughout your yard for complete coverage. The vibrations won’t bother you, your family, or most pets, but gophers find them incredibly annoying.
Many Colorado homeowners report seeing results within just a few weeks of installing these devices around their properties.
6. Eliminate Food Sources And Shelter
Gophers stick around when they find plenty of food and good places to hide and build tunnels. Removing weeds, keeping grass trimmed short, and clearing brush piles makes your yard less attractive to them.
Store compost in sealed bins and pick up fallen fruit from trees regularly. Consider using raised garden beds with wire bottoms to protect vegetable roots.
When gophers can’t find easy meals or safe shelter, they’ll search elsewhere for better living conditions and food supplies.
7. Try Coffee Grounds And Strong Scents
Used coffee grounds, peppermint oil, and fish scraps all produce strong odors that gophers absolutely despise. Sprinkle coffee grounds around tunnel entrances and throughout garden beds where gophers have been active.
Soak cotton balls in peppermint oil and stuff them into visible gopher holes for extra effectiveness. Replace these scent deterrents weekly or after rainfall to maintain their strength.
Bonus: coffee grounds also add nutrients to your soil as they break down, feeding your plants while protecting them from damage.