Gopher Damage???

Inflorescence

Inflorescence

Well-known member
So, I saw this today… Do you think it’s a gopher? I’ve never had a gopher get into my pots before. Not sure if other critters here do this type of damage too?

Glad I was going to cull this one anyhow. But it went after my Yolo Bypass too and seems to be working its way down the line. :s


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warpcore said:
It climbed into the pot from the top?  That is terrible.  Luckily it is one you were going to cull.
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Yeah, it climbed in and went top down… I’m thinking it’s gotta be a gopher, but am not sure if other critters do that too. Need to figure out how to trap it, haha.
 
Jtbuster said:
Were the pots in ground. I have seen them chew through the holes and come in and up. Trees were gone. No more pots in ground.
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They are set on the ground, but this critter went top down, no holes in the pot. So whatever it was climbed up the pot to the open top, and then dug down to the roots.
 
bushdoctor82 said:
I’d suspect gophers as well. You could try laying hardware cloth across the surface to prevent digging.
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That’s a good suggestion, I’ll have to check to see how much we have left.
 
That's bizarre! We get lots of beaver damage up at the lake but I'm guessing you don't have many of those. Not to mention it's not the classic pointed shape a beaver would leave. If I had to guess it's rodents. Likely looking for anything they can get their teeth into as food options dwindle at the end of the season. But it's heavy damage for sure. Rats? Voles?

Perhaps this tree was not too important but if you do have something that will eat fig bark I would do what you can to get it in check before food becomes even more scarce. Maybe a trail cam to identify the critter. Then decide on the appropriate remedy. 

Pino, up here years ago had loads of this sort of damage from voles. When they run low on supplies they'll eat about anything
 
@"Inflorescence"#181 
It's great to see you here. I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, so I missed your arrival.
Applause :)

Whether it's gophers, or voles that sure is a lot of violent activity. It almost looks like a bomb went off in that pot. As mentioned above by @"bushdoctor82"#14 hardware cloth with a slot cut into it should work to frustrate your mystery varmint. Normally we just place the slotted Hardware cloth on top of the pot. You might want to tape yours down in a couple places. Recommend you trap or kill one to see what you're dealing with. My son manages a farm in Massachusetts, and they would plant a winter cover crop to enrich the soil. This encouraged some voles to move in who devastated over 5% of the summer crop. 

So good to see you posting here.
 
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