I don’t suppose there are HUMANE ways of getting rid of them without killing?

“Our yard has become a sanctuary for the buck-toothed rodents.  Neighbor’s construction projects have triggered apparent mass migration into our orchard trees and raised beds.  Bizarre ideas abound on the topic of gopher ““control;”” like the one about juicy fruit chewing gum and others which are more funny and less effective.  Here’s my contribution to the lore of gopher ““control”” aka killing.

Always wear gloves when handling traps to keep human scent to a minimum.  Observe what the gophers are eating and use this as bait for your traps.  We’ve discovered that the invasive weed FENNEL is an effective bait.  Crush this with your gloves and onto the trap as you set the trap and place it behind the trap in the gopher tunnel.  Carefully cover with a paver or rock and block out daylight with available material like gopher dirt leaves etc.  Your first shot with traps in an active tunnel is your best chance.  The gophers seem to learn about traps and how to avoid them…...TIM”

“The most effective non-violent method for dealing with gophers is exclusion. Here’s info about that from UC Davis: ““Exclusion
Underground fencing might be justified for valuable ornamental shrubs or landscape trees. To protect existing plantings bury hardware cloth or 3/4-inch mesh poultry wire at least 2 feet deep with an additional 6 inches of mesh or wire bent at a 90-degree angle away from the planting. This will help keep gophers from digging around the fencing boundary. Also extend the fencing at least 1 foot aboveground to deter gophers moving overland. This method is not perfect however because persistent gophers can burrow below the wire; also the wire can restrict and damage root growth of trees.

You can protect small areas such as flower beds by complete underground screening of the bed

Any solutions for squirrels? They strip our apricot tree each year and now have moved to our new little apple trees and peach trees!  They are completely unafraid of humans. We can almost walk right up to them. Throwing stones seems to be the only way to scare them off but we can’t sit there all day, throwing stones! Any suggestions?
Thanks

enclose your garden with chicken wire and conduit

Sarah,

Squirrels are tough. Chip’s suggestion is echoed by UC Davis (exclusion): “Squirrels can be discouraged from digging up newly seeded or established crops by covering the rows with cagelike freestanding covers made of one-inch hexagon chicken wire.”

Here’s the link to the full UC Davis discussion of squirrels as garden pests. http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74122.html

The only solution for squirrels I have found is a pellet gun or a good dog. I never had a problem when I had two outside dogs. When they died of old age, the peach trees were stripped overnight. I have tried coyote urine but that worked only for awhile. A good dog is the best bet.

Yvonne, Woof! Thanks for the tip!

No where do you have suggestion for deterring a cat who defecates in
my garden. I have tried cayenne and black pepper, lemon peels so far.
Any suggestions?

Rose, Farmer Fred Hoffman (Sacramento’s radio garden expert) runs through the usual suggestions on cat proofing and shows what does work in his garden http://farmerfredrant.blogspot.com/2010/11/cat-proofing-your-garden.html