It’s been a while since I last shared my thoughts on this blog. So much has happened around here. Mother’s day has come and gone and the weather is getting hotter here in the High Desert of California.
Things have been looking up around my gardens until last week when I started finding damaged plants around my property. I read a while back that one of the main reasons why Squirrels and other rodents are damaging the Shrubs and Trees is because they are looking for water. In this case they are targeting the moisture found in the sap of Trees. Most damages occur during drought conditions.
Squirrel damage on Pendula Yucca.
I am very thankful that the plant wasn’t completely destroyed and I can still save it. I may not find the idea of wrapping every single plant with chicken wire, but for my sanity and my plants health, it just might be the right thing to do until I have a permanent solution. Click here to learn about other Problems associated with Yucca Plants.
Full Moon over Mountains.
We enjoyed spending time outdoors today building garden Planters, conversing, transplanting seedlings, watching the Sunset and the full Moon rise over our beautiful High Desert Mountains.
Since the rain passed more critters are coming out from their hidings.
I am not sure how the little Cottontail Rabbit got into my backyard and I was surprised to see it. I guessed it came from the neighbors, making its way through an opening between the wooden fence panels and ended up in our backyard. It was fun watching it run around in search for a way out when it realized I wasn’t going anywhere. I saw it a few minutes later on the empty property lot behind our Home.
Seeing that Rabbit explained the damages on my Pretty Woman Daylilies as well as the Siloam David Kirchhoff Daylilies in the front garden. I wrapped some chicken wire around the plants to prevent further damages.
Cottontail Rabbit in the Backyard.
My husband set a Macabee Gopher Trap yesterday after finding a couple of freshly dug holes in the backyard. Sure enough we found a trapped Pocket Gopher the following day, making it the second in less than a month.
Gopher Trapped.
It is impossible to completely rid the garden of pests and animals. Placing Chicken wire at the base of plants and around them help minimize damages and give the gardener some peace of mind. Though there are pests and animals repellents out there, we must never forget that a hungry animal will risk anything to feed.
We are rejoicing today as the trap we set in place finally caught the Pocket Gopher, which has been digging holes on a daily basis around my Photinia Fraseri (Red Robin) shrubs. Last week, I covered a hole it dug at the base of one of the huge barrels in the front yard and it kept returning to the same hole. Yesterday, we finally had enough and my husband decided to set a Macabee Gopher Trap in the freshly dug hole.
Gopher Trap.
Materials/Tools Needed:
Macabee Gopher Trap
Shovel, Garden Trowel
Wire chain (to secure the trap in place)
Stake (to hold, support and secure the wire chain in place)
Gloves or your bare hands
Fabric, cardboard, leaves, mulch or anything light to cover the hole.
Step by Step:
Using a shovel, open the tunnel wide enough to set the trap
Use a stake to secure the wire chain (attached to the trap) to prevent the injured Gopher from running away with the trap. Otherwise you will have to dig further to pull out the dead rodent and recover your trap.
Cover the hole with plastic, fabric, cardboard, plywood, leaves, mulch or stones (to help create the illusion that the hole has been closed from the outside).
As the weather gets warmer (hotter, for those of us living in the High Desert), every one scrambles to the stores to stock up on cool drinks, snacks and others items to stay at home. The same scenario applies to animals as they search for their stores of stashed seeds, nuts and whatever they can find. I have seen Squirrels running in my neighbors backyard and just a couple ran across ours to get to the other side. There are just too many of them this year and they are starting to dig around. From the single squirrel I’ve seen on our property, they are now two.
Ground Squirrels digging and playing.
This morning, I found a bunch of holes in my children’s raised garden beds. I was saddened to see some of the Gladiolus bulbs pulled out, lying on the ground, partially eaten and the stems cut off. We had stunning Gladiolus blooms (Fiorentina, Pears, Star, Yellow and Orange) the last couple of years and I can’t say the same for this year. We have two more larger raised garden beds (not pictured) next to the ones below. One of which has Pink Tulips bulbs and the other Onions; both sustained damages as well.
Chicken Wire on Garden Bed.
To give me some peace of mind and to prevent further damages until we find a permanent solution, my husband decided to wrap some chicken wire around the top of the garden beds.
How Can You Fight Back?
Build Raised Garden Bed Fencing
Use Chicken Wire on your Garden Beds
Mulch with dried out Pine Needle
Sprinkle Coffee Ground around bulbs/base of your plants
The first two options are the best as a hungry squirrel will take high risks to get to its food source.
Have you awaken in the morning to find dead plants around your home (plants which are leaning on their side). When we look around without seeing any evidence of burrowing rodents (such as the appearance of tunnels and exit holes with mounds of dirt around it), we simply put the blame on White Curl Grubs, which are known to eat plants roots and kill the whole plant in the process.
Pocket Gophers, Groundhogs, Badgers, Voles, Prairie Dogs, Muskrats, Moles, Ground Squirrel, just to name a few are to blame. These animals are highly active during Spring and live underground using tunnels to get to their food source. They damage lawns, plants, vegetable gardens, foundation walls and give an ugly appearance to landscaped areas. Muskrats can be found around swamps, lakes and streams with vegetation at close proximity. They feed on plant roots, stems, bulbs, grass, tender bark of young trees, nuts, seeds and fruits. Some feed on mussels, crustaceans, insects, fish, earthworms, snails and slugs.
For the past six years, we’ve only had to deal with Gophers mostly and Ground squirrels.
Ground Squirrel.
Ground squirrels are highly active during the day and thanks to sunny days and warm weather, we are constantly having uninvited guests. Fortunately for us and unfortunately for them, we wrapped chicken wire around our plants last years, protecting the plants we know for sure they love. Every now and then, I will catch a glimpse of a squirrel searching for food in the empty lot behind our Home.
Just like Yersinia Pseudotuberculosis in Rabbits which is transferable to Humans, Ground squirrels can harbor diseases harmful to humans such as bubonic plague which is transmitted to humans by fleas that the squirrels carry (killing about two-thirds of infected humans within 4 days without treatment). It is highly advised to use extreme caution when disposing a dead squirrel or notify public health officials.
Dead Pocket Gophers (2008-2010).
We spent our first three years in the High Desert hunting Pocket Gophers after they nearly destroyed all of our plants. We’ve seen a couple of holes in the backyard with mounds of dirt around them. This afternoon I found a hole around our Agapanthus plants and I used a shovel to destroy the hole. These vertebrates will destroy anything on their path while creating holes leading them to their desirable food source. They are also capable of destroying irrigation lines and buried utility cables which are not properly protected.
Click here and here to learn about trapping Gophers.
How Can You Control Rodents?
They are so many options available out there. We’ve tried Gopher Gassers, Gopher Probe and poisons, none of which worked. The best and only method which has worked for us is traps with snapping latch placed near an opening (the latch is triggered when the animal steps on the trap) as you can see on the picture above. Some of these traps can be purchased at your local hardware stores and they can be hand made as well.
How Can You Protect Your Plants?
Use Raised Garden Beds
Raise your Planters/Pots (using pedestals or whatever you can think of)
Use Chicken Wire around your most cherished plants
Use Chicken Wire to protect the base of your plants (the roots) before planting them
Regardless of which rodents you are dealing with, always remember to be cautious around them.
By JM Perez
