permaculture

[Keith Johnson <keithdj@mindspring.com>]

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
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