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Malibu surfside news | June 7, 2018 | 13
Don’t Panic, It’s Organic
Methods for controlling
gophers in Malibu
Andy Lopez
Contributing Columnist
Invisible Gardener
I
recently heard from
Aya, a neighbor in
Corral Canyon, who is
having a tough time with
rodents in the yard.
“Your articles are the
reason that I open Malibu
Surfside News!” Aya wrote.
“Thank you for your
continued enthusiasm to
educate us to lay, people,
who aspire to become
invisible gardeners in our
spare time.
“For the first time after a
dozen years in Malibu (and
new landscaping!), we are
finding what seems to be
gopher mounds and ground
squirrel holes. Our neighbor’s
Dewey guy kindly
investigated these pockets
of holes and mounds and
offered monthly gopher
deterrent granules plus pesticides
sprays for bugs. We
said that we’d have to think
about the monthly service
commitment because it
was a bit pricey and I was
concerned about if I can
continue to eat my citrus
and new figs growing in our
yard. What’s your advice
on getting these rodents out
of our yard?”
It’s a great question, especially
in gopher/ground
squirrel country!
Many problems with
using those deterrent granules
depend on the ingredients.
Different companies
use different products. One
is OK because it releases
a natural gas. Some are
bad because it is a poison
which will kill other
animals that eat the dead
gopher or squirrel.
I always like to talk
about short-term solutions
and long-term solutions.
The long-term solution is
to make a barrier around
the property that will keep
them away. There are many
types of obstacles you can
use depending on what
area(s) you wish to protect.
You really can never protect
your whole property, so
it’s best to decide what you
want to protect.
One of the barriers you
can use is natural barriers.
There are many plants that
you can plant around the
edge of the property which
will kill the gophers that
decide to eat it.
One of these is paperwhite
narcissus. You can
buy them in the fall when
most bulb companies have
a sale. One customer paid
around $1,000 for 10,000
bulbs! They were delivered
and planted around the
lawn, around the borders
of fruit trees, and around
the boundaries of the garden.
As they grow and get
bigger, they become more
effective. This will take a
few years, but eventually,
you will not have gophers.
Another plant option is
society garlic. This plant
won’t kill them, but will
upset their systems and
some will get sick from it.
I personally prefer not
to kill these little folks and
would instead show them
that I don’t want them on
my property.
One of the easiest ways
to let them know you are
on to them is to use hair.
Animal hair like dog hair is
best, but human hair works
just as well. Go to a barber
shop and get a bag full of
hair. Shove the hair down
into the tunnels. Do this to
every tunnel you see. Place
a rock on top. This works
best during the summer
when it is the hottest since
the heat will start to break
down the hair and it will
smell up their tunnels,
causing them to flee.
Another trick is using
coffee. Yep, coffee beans.
Buy the French vanilla
since vanilla is a toxin to
them. Pour a cup of beans
into each tunnel and place
a heavy rock on top. The
gophers will try to remove
the beans or hair first. Coffee
beans work great for
most animals which have
an acute sense of smell,
and that is most of them.
This works on rabbits
and deer as well. I would
sprinkle the coffee beans
around the edge of your
property. Do this once a
month for best results.
You can build physical
barriers like gopher netting,
which is designed to be
buried around the base of
Please see lopez, 15
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