Next Level Gardening did a video called "How To Keep Gophers and Groundhogs from Eating your Garden" and covers the methods he uses to stop these critters. You might find some helpful info there.
So did my grandpa! He also had some nasty and much bigger trigger traps than was in the video. I used to sit beside him in those old clam backed metal chairs and wait with him. Those chairs now proudly sit on my front porch full of old and new memories. Grandpas are the best!
When I was a kid, our yard was absolutely overrun by moles - we're talking western front level of cratering. We ended up getting a young indoor / outdoor cat. In under a year, our yard was basically mole free. Of course, during that year, and even after, said cat would bring home "presents" for us, some fully intact, some well, only bits and pieces, and leave them at the back door where he'd get let in / out.
I live in a mountain community which is extremely rocky, and I’ve always been jealous watching TH-camrs that have such nice dark soil. The subject of moles or voles is one advantage for having such rocky soil, I never have a problem with such critters lol.
I found some tunnels last year under my wood chips in the garden. I took my pitchfork and jabbed into the ground all along the tunnel and must have hit the occupant because no more new tunnels formed. Of course, fresh tunnels are back again this year. I have voles as I have seen them. Virginia
The noise ones didn’t work for me. I was told juicy fruit gum works, not for me. I got mole traps that kinda remind me of giant scissors. I’ve been lucky enough to of killed 2 of them buggers! Grrrrrrrrrr the trails keep coming
For voles use vole poison. Another name is Meadow mouse. You can also put mouse traps in their runways. For moles the the sonic things are totally worthless. The best way is to trap them with the out of sight mole trap. Go to WCS and get the out of sight PRO trap. The regular Victor out of sight mole trap is junk. The springs on this trap is extremely weak. The Pro’s work great. I’ve been trapping moles for 30 years as a business. I catch 100’s a year.
I have the same problem. I bought scissor traps and put them out and grub killer on the lawn. I saw a You Tube video where a guy swears that the little yard spinners worked for him when nothing else did. I just got 12 of them and the moles haven't pushed their tunnels back up after I smashed them down. Idk what is working but you might try the spinners. I'm out of ideas! Good luck! 😊
Thanks for sharing this update. Very informative. We are a few hours south of you. Our main problem is moles. This fall I will be adding apple trees from Century Farms Orchards. They carry old southern varieties. His site suggests adding rocks in the soil around your fruit trees when planting to discourage these critters. I just tried it with other fruit trees I added. Time will tell. This method would not be efficient for root crops though. 😔
We have Pocket Gophers here in Central FL and the solar sonic mole and gopher chasers seemed to chase them away for me, I used the ones at Harbor Freight that are under ten bucks, they sound the same as the one you have.
I’m am SO thankful I’ve never had them on my property, I had an armadillo once and he (Tex) caused a bit of trouble until I relocated him. Totally different subject. I noticed two things, 1) is that soakerhose or dip irrigation I’m seeing in your potato bed area? Is there a video on installation I’ve missed? I’m getting ready to do drip, I’m really don’t want to spend an hour each day watering, hopefully CenTex will get more rain this year. 2) Why do you have the wire hoops over the potatoes? What are you going to protect them from? As always, thank you for all you share and you also have a beautiful and blessed day!
Luckily my dog keeps away the armadillos. Yes, I did a video on the drip irrigation install here......th-cam.com/video/WufCW2c_glc/w-d-xo.html and here....th-cam.com/video/5-wc0NkP594/w-d-xo.html I had those wire hoops for a freeze that we had. I just have not had time to take them down. Blessings Katie!
@@CountryLivingExperience thank you for the link…my homework on this too cold too go outside Sunday. I appreciate you looking that up for me. My hoops are still up from the December freeze too, I thought I was the only one that hasn’t gotten around to taking them down. I thought you had some wonderful secret potato hack that I had missed. Your dog is amazing. I had been thinking about a border collie for a guardian dog to keep the foxes away but after I started following your channel and saw the incessant circles he runs I realized that this breed would wear me out simply because they are constantly running. Duh…herding dog 🤦🏼♀️ Still looking for the right breed for me but super glad you have the bandwidth to watch him circle all day long. 🤪 Again, thanks for the feedback, I know you’re a busy fella.
We have voles... and boy oh boy ae they frustrating... we bought some "Mole/vole/gophers windmill-ish thing from Lehmans... works great. The vinegar and oil did nothing... we are also planting lavender... nothing likes to eat them, and drives off all 3 of these pesky varmints Blessings
Check to see if your county has a barn cat program. We got two outside cats from the animal shelter and they solved the gopher/mole problem immediately.
I have put Juicy Fruit gum in the mole tunnels and it seemed to help a little. That was an experiment, I didn't do all the tunnels, so I still have a few. I have seen dead moles laying around a couple times, maybe from my cat? I had long-haired dachshunds and they were bread to burrow for vermin such as these, btw.
Flatten their tunnels, then sit back in the shade and watch for them to move and create another tunnel. When they create that new tunnel walk to the end of the tunnel and use a shotgun with bird shot at the end of the tunnel. You can thank me later!
Growing up int he 60's, my brother had a gopher trapping business. But he used the wooden box traps. Those metal ones were too dangerous for us kids to use. He would go around and get the business and he convinced a few of us to help check traps daily on our bikes. Suckers. But that did allow us to ride out further into the neighborhood (we did have limits set by major roads). Can't find those box ones anymore, but they used to make a round plastic version. The trick in setting them is to create a tunnel open to the sun with the trigger at the end. The gopher pushes dirt to close off that light. The dirt actually throws that trigger plate. Always stake down the trap with a stake and wire. If the trap doesn't kill them right away, they have been known to carry loose traps back down into their run. Many times, the gopher mounds are in sort of a U-shape. The gopher surfaces and pushes the dirt out around the hole, so to find his run, back up from the center of the U and cut with a shovel there. They may have plugged with 5-6" of dirt, so look for the evidence of a plugged hole. Set the trap in the run and cover with sod or a piece of wood, to make that tunnel. I have mainly gophers and voles. After a rain, my yard is an ankle twister from all the runs turning to squishy mud. I think I'll look into those vibrator stakes.
In my younger (and arguably stupider) days, I used to use leftover fireworks to try to drive out yard pests. Smoke bombs let us find some of the entrances that were hidden at the base of plants, etc. If the tunnels were short enough, it seemed to be enough to drive them out and keep them out, presumably because of the smell (sulpher). And of course firecrackers, especially larger ones, can scare them out and collapse the tunnels. Just a thought.
Stop in all the ends and leave 1 open. Put a propane hose in the hole a couple feet with a spark plug connector, like a BBQ igniter along with the hose. When you have it in far enough stomp it in so no gas leaks out. Run the gas for about a minute or two. Shut it off and then hit the igniter. You'll have to do that to all their tunnels. That's a sure way of eliminating them. Since you have so many there. Just have hearing protection on. This is not a joke, it really does work. My old boss's dad showed us how to deal with that same problem. Yes ,we had to clean up a bit but he didn't have any more problems with them. That also took care of those land dwelling crawdads.
Gophers are the worst, they will eat all your potato, carrots 😡😡 I wish I can rent my dog to you, he caught one before 😂 Also there is a different type of gopher trap, looks like a stick, put it down into the new hole. Brian from next level gardening talked about it too.
They sure are. My cats get them sometimes but they are lazy most of the time. I have one of those sticks now too. The vibrating ones that make a noise seem to be working.
Next Level Gardening did a video called "How To Keep Gophers and Groundhogs from Eating your Garden" and covers the methods he uses to stop these critters. You might find some helpful info there.
Thumbs up 👍 my dad would setup a lawn chair and a cold tea. With a spade ready to go 😊
So did my grandpa! He also had some nasty and much bigger trigger traps than was in the video. I used to sit beside him in those old clam backed metal chairs and wait with him. Those chairs now proudly sit on my front porch full of old and new memories. Grandpas are the best!
@@katiebradford9751 lol....ah, those clam shell back metal chairs!!
Memories.
Thx
@@katiebradford9751 I do have some good memories of grandpa saying it’s going to rain 🌧️ in 4 days from those chairs 🫶 and it would rain ☔️
When I was a kid, our yard was absolutely overrun by moles - we're talking western front level of cratering. We ended up getting a young indoor / outdoor cat. In under a year, our yard was basically mole free. Of course, during that year, and even after, said cat would bring home "presents" for us, some fully intact, some well, only bits and pieces, and leave them at the back door where he'd get let in / out.
Our cats have gotten lazy or they have lost their taste for mole....lol.
I live in a mountain community which is extremely rocky, and I’ve always been jealous watching TH-camrs that have such nice dark soil. The subject of moles or voles is one advantage for having such rocky soil, I never have a problem with such critters lol.
That is surely a positive part of rocky soil. They are destructive.
I found some tunnels last year under my wood chips in the garden. I took my pitchfork and jabbed into the ground all along the tunnel and must have hit the occupant because no more new tunnels formed. Of course, fresh tunnels are back again this year. I have voles as I have seen them. Virginia
It would take me a week to stab all of the tunnels around here. They are out of control. I may go the Caddyshack route.
The noise ones didn’t work for me. I was told juicy fruit gum works, not for me. I got mole traps that kinda remind me of giant scissors. I’ve been lucky enough to of killed 2 of them buggers! Grrrrrrrrrr the trails keep coming
Buggers for sure.
For voles use vole poison. Another name is Meadow mouse. You can also put mouse traps in their runways.
For moles the the sonic things are totally worthless. The best way is to trap them with the out of sight mole trap. Go to WCS and get the out of sight PRO trap. The regular Victor out of sight mole trap is junk. The springs on this trap is extremely weak. The Pro’s work great.
I’ve been trapping moles for 30 years as a business. I catch 100’s a year.
Thanks
I have the same problem. I bought scissor traps and put them out and grub killer on the lawn. I saw a You Tube video where a guy swears that the little yard spinners worked for him when nothing else did. I just got 12 of them and the moles haven't pushed their tunnels back up after I smashed them down. Idk what is working but you might try the spinners. I'm out of ideas! Good luck! 😊
Thank you. The little sound/vibration makers seem to be working. I will know for sure when I dig up my potatoes.
Thanks for sharing this update. Very informative. We are a few hours south of you. Our main problem is moles. This fall I will be adding apple trees from Century Farms Orchards. They carry old southern varieties. His site suggests adding rocks in the soil around your fruit trees when planting to discourage these critters. I just tried it with other fruit trees I added. Time will tell. This method would not be efficient for root crops though. 😔
I'm going to check out Century Farms Orchards, thank you. I'm in SE Texas.
Putting grub killer granules out in fall will get rid of food source for moles
We have Pocket Gophers here in Central FL and the solar sonic mole and gopher chasers seemed to chase them away for me, I used the ones at Harbor Freight that are under ten bucks, they sound the same as the one you have.
Cool. I’ll have to hit the harbor freight soon.
I’m am SO thankful I’ve never had them on my property, I had an armadillo once and he (Tex) caused a bit of trouble until I relocated him.
Totally different subject. I noticed two things, 1) is that soakerhose or dip irrigation I’m seeing in your potato bed area? Is there a video on installation I’ve missed? I’m getting ready to do drip, I’m really don’t want to spend an hour each day watering, hopefully CenTex will get more rain this year. 2) Why do you have the wire hoops over the potatoes? What are you going to protect them from?
As always, thank you for all you share and you also have a beautiful and blessed day!
Luckily my dog keeps away the armadillos.
Yes, I did a video on the drip irrigation install here......th-cam.com/video/WufCW2c_glc/w-d-xo.html and here....th-cam.com/video/5-wc0NkP594/w-d-xo.html
I had those wire hoops for a freeze that we had. I just have not had time to take them down.
Blessings Katie!
@@CountryLivingExperience thank you for the link…my homework on this too cold too go outside Sunday. I appreciate you looking that up for me.
My hoops are still up from the December freeze too, I thought I was the only one that hasn’t gotten around to taking them down. I thought you had some wonderful secret potato hack that I had missed.
Your dog is amazing. I had been thinking about a border collie for a guardian dog to keep the foxes away but after I started following your channel and saw the incessant circles he runs I realized that this breed would wear me out simply because they are constantly running. Duh…herding dog 🤦🏼♀️ Still looking for the right breed for me but super glad you have the bandwidth to watch him circle all day long. 🤪
Again, thanks for the feedback, I know you’re a busy fella.
@@katiebradford9751 Border Collies certainly weigh on your patience and energy. He is a good boy though.
It’s a never ending battle against various animals & bugs.
Very true
I have moles in my front yard. Your timing is always impeccable. I believe it's divine timing. 😂
You should try and promote vertical farming
We have voles... and boy oh boy ae they frustrating... we bought some "Mole/vole/gophers windmill-ish thing from Lehmans... works great.
The vinegar and oil did nothing... we are also planting lavender... nothing likes to eat them, and drives off all 3 of these pesky varmints
Blessings
Thanks for the heads up on the Lehmans item
Moles have invaded here at the NC coast. I'd pay good money for a mole-hunter, animal or otherwise! Tried everything else, the moles just laugh!
They are surely a pain
Check to see if your county has a barn cat program. We got two outside cats from the animal shelter and they solved the gopher/mole problem immediately.
I have 3 barn cats. They cannot keep up with the amount of moles/gophers we have. Even my dog will get a few of them.
I have put Juicy Fruit gum in the mole tunnels and it seemed to help a little. That was an experiment, I didn't do all the tunnels, so I still have a few. I have seen dead moles laying around a couple times, maybe from my cat? I had long-haired dachshunds and they were bread to burrow for vermin such as these, btw.
My cats get a few but there are so many here it is overwhelming.
Flatten their tunnels, then sit back in the shade and watch for them to move and create another tunnel. When they create that new tunnel walk to the end of the tunnel and use a shotgun with bird shot at the end of the tunnel. You can thank me later!
Growing up int he 60's, my brother had a gopher trapping business. But he used the wooden box traps. Those metal ones were too dangerous for us kids to use. He would go around and get the business and he convinced a few of us to help check traps daily on our bikes. Suckers. But that did allow us to ride out further into the neighborhood (we did have limits set by major roads). Can't find those box ones anymore, but they used to make a round plastic version. The trick in setting them is to create a tunnel open to the sun with the trigger at the end. The gopher pushes dirt to close off that light. The dirt actually throws that trigger plate. Always stake down the trap with a stake and wire. If the trap doesn't kill them right away, they have been known to carry loose traps back down into their run. Many times, the gopher mounds are in sort of a U-shape. The gopher surfaces and pushes the dirt out around the hole, so to find his run, back up from the center of the U and cut with a shovel there. They may have plugged with 5-6" of dirt, so look for the evidence of a plugged hole. Set the trap in the run and cover with sod or a piece of wood, to make that tunnel. I have mainly gophers and voles. After a rain, my yard is an ankle twister from all the runs turning to squishy mud. I think I'll look into those vibrator stakes.
I love your videos 😊
Thank you
Just started on homesteading and looking for tips
In my younger (and arguably stupider) days, I used to use leftover fireworks to try to drive out yard pests. Smoke bombs let us find some of the entrances that were hidden at the base of plants, etc. If the tunnels were short enough, it seemed to be enough to drive them out and keep them out, presumably because of the smell (sulpher). And of course firecrackers, especially larger ones, can scare them out and collapse the tunnels.
Just a thought.
That would be fun.
Stop in all the ends and leave 1 open. Put a propane hose in the hole a couple feet with a spark plug connector, like a BBQ igniter along with the hose. When you have it in far enough stomp it in so no gas leaks out. Run the gas for about a minute or two. Shut it off and then hit the igniter. You'll have to do that to all their tunnels. That's a sure way of eliminating them. Since you have so many there. Just have hearing protection on. This is not a joke, it really does work. My old boss's dad showed us how to deal with that same problem. Yes ,we had to clean up a bit but he didn't have any more problems with them. That also took care of those land dwelling crawdads.
I have seen that done before.
They make a propane device that puts propane in the ground and ignites it.
I have seen those. Might give it a shot.
I see a lot of gardeners having mole/ vole trouble.
Just hit us hard this year.
Terrible moles! My cats love hunting them, thankfully.
I wish my cats loved them more.
Gophers are the worst, they will eat all your potato, carrots 😡😡 I wish I can rent my dog to you, he caught one before 😂
Also there is a different type of gopher trap, looks like a stick, put it down into the new hole. Brian from next level gardening talked about it too.
They sure are. My cats get them sometimes but they are lazy most of the time. I have one of those sticks now too. The vibrating ones that make a noise seem to be working.
You have another weapon against them. It's called a cat. when I was young, we had a gopher in our back yard and our cat killed it.
I have 3 barn cats.
@@CountryLivingExperience I saw one behind you in the video. That's what made me think of it.