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Pocket Gophers

Pocket Gophers

Family Geomyidae

Mammalalso: Gopher, Pocket gopher

Stout burrowing rodents that live almost entirely underground and feed on roots, tubers, and whole plants pulled down into their tunnels from below. Pocket gophers, common in the western and central states, can destroy vegetables and young trees fast, and their crescent-shaped soil mounds are the sign of an active animal in the bed.

🔎 How to spot it

Gophers are rarely seen, but their mounds give them away: fan- or crescent-shaped piles of loose soil with the hole plugged off to one side, unlike the volcano-shaped, centered mounds of moles. Look for plants that wilt or vanish, pulled down into the soil, roots gnawed and exposed, and clipped stems near tunnel openings. Fresh, soft mounds mean a gopher is active.

🥀 Damage it causes

Pocket gophers feed on roots, tubers, bulbs, and whole plants, often pulling a plant down into the burrow from below, and a single gopher can work down a garden row quickly. Plants with large taproots and fleshy roots are most vulnerable, and gophers also girdle and clip young trees and shrubs, gnaw irrigation lines, and undermine beds with their tunnels.

🛡️ Prevent it

Protect beds and individual plants with buried wire-mesh barriers, a quarter- to half-inch mesh fence buried about 18 inches deep, or line planting holes and raised beds with hardware cloth and wire baskets around the roots of valued plants. Keep an eye out for fresh mounds so you can act before a gopher works through a row. Reduce dense weedy cover that supports them.

🧯 If it is already here

Trapping is the most effective and immediate control: place gopher traps in the main runway, found by probing near a fresh mound, and check and reset them. Burrow baits are also used where legal and appropriate. Because a new gopher can move into vacated tunnels, stay watchful for fresh mounds and protect prized plants with wire baskets.

💡 Good to know

The crescent-shaped, plugged mound is the easy way to tell a pocket gopher from a mole, whose mounds are round and centered, and the difference matters because gophers truly eat plants while moles do not. Gophers move into open tunnels readily, so ongoing watchfulness for fresh mounds, plus wire baskets around favorite plants, is the lasting defense.

🌱 Plants it attacks

714 plants in the library can be attacked by this pest

Acorn SquashAdirondack Blue PotatoAdzuki BeanAfrican Blue BasilAfrican MarigoldAgapanthusAgeratumAgrimonyAji Amarillo Pepper🍓Albion StrawberryAlice du Pont Mandevilla🥔All Blue PotatoAlmondAloe VeraAmbrosia CornAmerican BasswoodAmerican Beauty Dragon FruitAmerican BeechAmerican PersimmonAmethyst Falls WisteriaAmish Paste TomatoAnaheim PepperAnemoneAngelique TulipAngeloniaAniseAnise HyssopAnjou PearAnnabelle Smooth HydrangeaAnnual VincaApeldoorn TulipApple MintApril Tryst CamelliaArbequina OliveArizona Sun Blanket FlowerArkin CarambolaArmenian CucumberAroniaArp RosemaryArugulaAshwagandhaAsian PearAsian PersimmonAtemoyaAtlantic Giant Pumpkin🥕Atomic Red CarrotAucubaAugust Beauty GardeniaAunt Molly's Ground CherryAutumn Joy SedumAvocadoBachelor's ButtonBalsam FirBalsam PoplarBanana PepperBarbara Karst BougainvilleaBartlett PearBay LaurelBayberryBeach PlumBeauregard Sweet PotatoBecky Shasta DaisyBee Balm🍅Beefmaster TomatoBenarys Giant ZinniaBengal Tiger CannaBetter Boy Tomato🥬Bibb Lettuce🍅Big Beef TomatoBig Boy TomatoBilberryBing CherryBitter MelonBlack BeanBlack Beauty EggplantBlack Beauty ZucchiniBlack Beluga LentilBlack Cherry TomatoBlack CrowberryBlack Currant🍉Black Diamond WatermelonBlack Kabouli ChickpeaBlack Krim TomatoBlack RaspberryBlack Sapote🥬Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce🥕Black Spanish RadishBlack Tartarian CherryBlack WalnutBlack-Eyed PeaBlack-eyed Susan VineBlood OrangeBloomsdale SpinachBlue Bird DelphiniumBlue Bird Rose of SharonBlue FescueBlue Lake Green BeanBluecrop BlueberryBocking 14 ComfreyBok Choy

For educational and informational purposes only. Pest control advice is general guidance drawn from university cooperative extension sources; always identify a pest positively and read and follow the label on any product before use, especially around food crops, children, and pets.