I am building a couple of raised gardening beds, and I want to keep the gophers out. I have a 4’ x 8’ frame, and on the bottom I am stapling 1/2" metal mesh made of 19-gauge wire. Between that and the ground we will put the usual anti-weed ground cloth. The total depth between the mesh at the bottom and the top of the frame will be at least 12".
So I have two concerns, really: can gophers chew through 19-gauge wire mesh; or can they squeeze through a 1/2" opening?
If the gophers are tunneling underneath, will they even know there are plants up there through the ground cloth?
Can they or would they climb over the top and into the raised bed? Although I think our outdoor cat would love that, she does catch a gopher every once in a while. She’s very patient waiting beside a hole for one to pop up its head.
I am also considering spraying the cloth and the frame with some of that anti-critter spray that I see advertised. Any experience with that?
Roddy
Gophers can’t chew through wire. But wire in moist ground eventually rusts, and they will get through then. A 3/4" maximum opening will keep out even the infants.
Gophers know, not just that plants are growing above them (remember that plants have a much larger fan of micro-rootlets than their larger roots suggest), but when they are flowering and fruiting, and will choose their victims at a maximal nutritional stage. No cite, just seen it in action too many times. Could be confirmation bias though.
Enterprising gophers have been known to climb up a low retained bed with a wire bottom and pop over to the goodies side. But they are easily trapped when they do that, as they won’t figure out how to leave.
Good luck with your project. Gophers so ruined my ability to grow vegetables and cut flowers that I completely gave up. I grow landscaping plants that gophers don’t like, and a few things like roses I plant in gopher-mesh-lined holes.
Thanks for the feedback, Ulfreida.
So now I’m wondering if there is something I can coat the mesh with to make it last longer. I so don’t want to ever have to dig out these raised beds and re-do them.
Roddy
A lot of sites I Googled insist on a thick gauge, 1/2 inch hardware cloth (not the gopher nor chicken wire), and to secure the cloth to the wood with screws and have 6 inch overlap if you need several sheets to cover the area, and to secure those overlaps with interlaced wire or crimp ties.