A gopher has taken up residence in my garden, and I want it to go away. I’m not going to go all Carl Spackler on his ass - I prefer not to use poison, or explosives, and I’m really not crazy about the prospect of trapping it.
Electronic repellent, however, sounds ideal. No mess to clean up, no bodies to bury, it just makes life in my garden unbearable (for gophers, at least). Perfect. There’s plenty available on-line, and I think I can get one off the shelf at Home Depot for about $35 (I’ve found one on the net for $19, and another for $50).
Can anyone attest to the effectiveness of these things*?
Please let’s get some valid opinions before we hijack this in favor of Nazi Groundhogs from Hell.
I’ve had limited success with a simple cinamon water mix…roughly 80/20. Limited being, when I forget to spray my lettuce, it’s gone in a day or two. When I don’t forget, it’s untouched. How big is your garden? And don’t those sonic dohickies come with a moneyback guarantee
Are you talking about those things that are supposed to emit a high-pitched noise that will scare the buggers off? A few years back they got sued off the market for not working, but they seem to keep popping up in new incarnations.
Philosphr - it’s my uncle’s garden but it’s in my backyard (we have a sort of lord/serf thing going on here, and I provide the protection! )
I believe it’s uhm…let’s say 15’x10’
He bought some $30 bottle of spray. Not sure what it was - it reeked of garlic. I’m also not sure if he sprayed it on the plants themselves or just around the perimeter. I’m guessing NOT on the plants because they’d be stinky too.
(Years ago, Scylla started a thread about the “Evil Nazi Groundhogs” that were taking over his farm. I think that the original thread has been lost though.)
I’ve read up a bit, and I think I’ve settled flooding the burrow, and then smashing the gopher’s cute little brains in with a shovel when it tries to escape.
Flooding never works for me. Apparently, the groundhogs design their burroughs with drainage and flooding in mind (which makes them smarter than FEMA,)
Have a heart traps with corn are currently working well for me.
Yes, those electronic things work- a little. Gophers might just avoid your yard, given a free range choice.
It’s like playing certain music to keep the kids from hanging out in your parking lot. Can the kids still come in? Yes. Will they still come in? Yes. But if there is another lot just as nice a half-block over, they will likely move there. And those “ultra-sonic” deterrant are about that effective. :dubious:
Which is why they don’t work so well with mice as with mice the choice often is your house or death.
In fact, some really have no effect at all, as Johnny Hildo sez.
I used a gopher bomb with good effectiveness. You can buy them at the local feed store. They emit poison gas, they don’t really explode all that much.
One of my roomates in my old shitty college house had a squirrel infestation in the crawlspace between the ceiling of his room and the roof of the house. He got the ultrasonic device.
After he turned the device on, he would hear the squirrels come in, make angry chattering noises for about 10 mins and then leave. Repeat persistently every 1/2 hour. Finally, after about a week, they stopped coming in.
So, it certainly isn’t a rodent force sheild - but (at least in this case) it works.
