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  • From: Keith Johnson <keithdj@mindspring.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Moles, Voles and Gophers and deers
  • Date: Mon, 01 Nov 2010 20:29:42 -0400

To repel voles, moles and gophers, plant lots of daffodils and narcissus, especially as part of a fruit tree guild. This will not get rid of them but will help prevent the voles in particular from munching roots of favored trees / shrubs. If you are in Ca and dealing with pocket gophers, the bulbs will help but planting in buried wire "cages" was the standard way landscapers dealt with the problem. Hardware stores out there carried them in a variety of sizes. Moles do not generally eat roots but rather grubs and worms. They stir the soil quite effectively. For example I just harvested about 6 buckets of beautiful mole (or gopher) diggings from the edge of my compost heap. A.P. Thompson, a Virginia orchardist, developed the practice of back-filling fruit tree plantings with a gravel and soil mix as a way to discourage rodents. I've tried it and it seems to work. You'll want to use sharp gravel rather than a rounded pea gravel. You can also trap them with various devices. I've heard of folks putting a hose on their muffler and gassing them with CO (carbon monoxide). I encountered folks in CA who were using a VERY high-powered vacuum cleaner to suck them out of the ground. Some people swear that leaving juicy fruit gum in their tunnels screws up their intestines but I have not confirmed this.

See this link for a trick I haven't tried using "castor bean oil granules".
http://www.hgtv.com/landscaping/no-more-gophers-or-moles/index.html

I also grow castor beans and a plant called gopher spurge (Eurphobiaceae) which may or may not repel them, but are fun to grow anyway. I've even had deer EAT castor bean plants (which are quite toxic, especially the seed).

Fencing for the deer is my best choice as I don't have a dog.

On 10/31/2010 3:32 PM, Cuauhtemoc Landeros wrote:
Does anyone know about how to get rid, remove or deter voles, moles, gophers
or deers.
Thanks for the help.

--

Keith Johnson
"Be fruitful and mulch apply."
Permaculture Activist Magazine
PO Box 5516, Bloomington, IN 47407
(812) 335-0383
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