# do gophers like tall fescue grass?



## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

Gophers mostly eat the roots of plants or grass. By the grass being long, I am assuming it has a good root base. They HIDE in tall grasses and probably love the cover your grass is giving.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

@pman626

My observation is that gophers aren’t interested in grass roots but thicker heavier roots.

All they usually do is just dig annoyingly 

Where yat?

I suspect in the San Gabriel valley


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## pman626 (Jun 28, 2016)

yeah . san gabriel valley.

this gopher has dug 6 holes already.

I've done a good job preventing weeds this year with preemergent weed killers. 

very few of those juicy weeds. So gophers shouldn't have much to eat.


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

..........


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Gophers prefer roots, rhizomes etc. and don't care to spend much time above the surface. I saw one above the surface once for about 10 seconds before our cat soptted it and they are no match for a cat. 

Which grass etc. they prefer I haven't a clue but golf course managers have a fairly good idea gophers like those grass roots. If we see mounds of dirt in a area we can pretty much assume they like that grass. A good hair triggered trap took care of this one in the flower bed.


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## stick\shift (Mar 23, 2015)

My backyard butts up against thousands of acres of farm and woodlands so I know I'm never going to be rid of these things. I have come to enjoy sticking the garden hose down an occupied hole and standing over the top with a shovel waiting for it to come up for air. The shovel is dual purpose because I then use it to transport the carcass and dump it on a neighbor's lawn (you know, to prove I'm doing my part ).


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

pman626 said:


> yeah . san gabriel valley.
> 
> this gopher has dug 6 holes already.
> 
> ...


Hmm.

I think the real question is "how do I get rid of it?" True? And stay rid of them?

If so, a little background will be useful. 

Sounds like you're in a tract of houses, and hardly get any gophers. If that's true, lucky [expletive] you! 

I, like stick/shift, used to live on the edge of Gopheropolis, a vast field filled with gophers which would re-invade my little San Berdoo yard. In a place like that, you'll have to deal with them never-endingly. 

My present place is in the middle of a tract, and I get a gopher here, and a gopher there. Gophers usually just dig and dig and dig mindlessly (or so it seems) and head off to new territory, and the one(s) you have appear to have just fallen to earth so to speak.

There's a number of ways to get rid of gophers or at least reduce their numbers, all of which work. One is to gas them in their tunnels. "Gopher gasser" things work, but safety flares at least used to be cheaper and work better because they burn longer. Downside is they can burn plant roots or underground structures.

Another method is the "macabee" gopher trap that senior citizen describes works too, as do "box" traps though the latter don't kill the gophers. Those can be a pain to use, because it takes a while to get the knack to set them properly so the gopher won't bury them and avoid them. 

Cats and dogs will learn to wait for and kill gophers; back in San Bernardino, in the 1980s, I had cats and a dog that did that. They'd sit and wait at the tunnel when they heard the gopher burrowing in there, then pounce-snap-squeak! :vs_laugh: :vs_laugh: Downside is that the cats and dogs only catch so many, and they can get fleas etc. from the gophers.

You can do the same thing yourself. Right about dawn or dusk sit and wait at the tunnel with recent activity and if the [expletive] pops up, plug it with a BB gun, or throttle it with a heavy boot, followed by braining with a rock. 

Finally, there's anti-coagulant poisons. They do work, but, they also suck in a number of ways. The old style strychnine treated grain would kill birds if they ate it, which could happen if the gopher pushed it out into the open along with some dirt. Another problem is that rodents get resistant and animals like bobcats and mountain lions get poisoned down the line. The second most common cause of death for mountain lions is internal bleeding from anti-coagulants from the animals they kill.

Hope this helps. If not, ask away, neighbor!

And, if you have any other gardening questions, we're here to help!


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

@pman626 kill your gophers yet?


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