The Landscape Design Site Landscaping Blog

POCKET GOPHER CONTROL

Article By Woods Houghton

Do you have mysterious mounds showing up in your yard? Are you trees looking bad, and grass turning brown nearby. Are the holes in the mound plugged or open? If the holes are plugged you may have pocket gophers. Pocket gophers are burrowing rodents, which live almost entirely underground. They are well adapted to their underground existence, with stout forelegs and strong curved claws for digging. They have prominent, yellow teeth and large fur lined external cheek pouches in which food is carried.

A single gopher may have a burrow system 800 feet or longer and can cover an acre of land. The tunnels are 2 to 5 inches in diameter and 4 to 15 inches below surface. However when I replaced the irrigation pipe line in my field I found tunnels there were 10 feet or more deep. The gopher pushes soil from the burrow to the surface with it forefeet and chest, this forms a characteristic horseshoe shaped mound 8 to 24 inches in diameter and 6 inches high or so. The mounds are at short lateral tunnel which branches off the main runway and the surface opening is plugged by pushing dirt into it, resulting in a depression on one side of the mound. For gophers this is real important, the plug keeps out predators such as snakes. If the hole is open, you could have prairie dogs or ground squirrels and control methods are different. The gophers diet mainly consists of fleshy roots of various plants, including trees, but prefer potatoes, peanuts. They are known to pull green tops and seeds down into their burrows.

In some places and some conditions gophers are beneficial to the soil. One gopher can in one year move 2 1/2 tons of soil in a year. This process is damaging to cultivated farming and landscapes however..

Controlling pocket gophers should be conducted in the spring or the fall when gophers are most active near the surface. In the summer they are deeper due to the heat. There are two methods of control, Mechanical, or Chemical. The most common type of mechanical control is trapping. There are a number of different traps but the two most common are the Macabee, and DK-1 trap. I prefer the DK-1 trap. Both types are available at local feed stores and come with instructions. Success depends upon proper placement! Here are some suggestions:

Locate the newest mound or series of mounds.
Locate the main runway by probing the soil with a bluntly pointed probe, (Philips screw driver), 6-8 inches from the mound, on the side of the horseshoe depression. When the probe hits the runway the release of ground friction will be felt. Dig down with a trowel or shovel to locate the runway and place the traps. With a DK-1 trap leave the hole open and place the trap in the lateral. With the Macabee two traps must be placed facing both directions. The hole needs to be covered with this trap. Traps should be checked every hour or so.

Chemical control includes baits and fumigants.
If baiting with poison grain locate the main burrow as under mechanical control. Pre-bait with un-poisoned grain for a two-days or so then put in the poison grain. Care needs to be applied to make sure bait does not affect non-target animals such as pets, and other wildlife. Also I would avoid use of baits if Children are around. Fumigants include carbon monoxide gas cartridges if labeled for gophers. A number of manufactures have dropped their gopher label due to impact to endangered species. Other fumigants include Aluminum phosphide, which require a pesticide license.

Ultra sonic device are not legal for sale in New Mexico due to the lack of third party scientific evidence that they work. It is not illegal to use them in New Mexico, but it is illegal for them to be sold, or shipped into New Mexico. These products are considered pesticide under the New Mexico pest control act and as such are regulated by New Mexico Department of Agriculture. If the manufactures could produce scientific data for effectiveness they would be allowed.

I prefer DK-1 traps for gofer control it is safer and effective. I also like knowing for sure that I have this little underground terrorist.

For more information Contact your Local County Extension office. This and all programs are available to everyone regardless of age, color, disability, gender, national origin, race, religion, or veteran status. New Mexico State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Eddy County Government Cooperating “to put knowledge to work”.

WHAT ARE THOSE WOOLY THINGS?

It’s interesting that this article came out when it did as yesterday I was noticing and thinking “why are there so many of these fuzzy caterpillars everywhere?”. Maybe they’ve always been this many this time of year but I’ve never noticed. Anyway, as Woods Houghton points out in the following article, this is just part of the natural life cycle of the tiger moth.

Article By Woods Houghton

I have been getting lots of calls wanting to know what is with the black fury caterpillars. Most of the ones I have seen are tiger moth larva; there are 63 species in New Mexico and 260 in the United States. Many species have ‘hairy’ caterpillars which are popularly known as woolly bears. Tiger moths get their name from their bold, contrasting coloration of the adult moth, which often includes gold and black strips much like those of the jungle cat. In various geometric patterns, red, white, and gray round out the colors of the tiger moth rainbow. You can usually identify adult tiger moths by color patterns alone; but, in general, these insects are also heavy bodied, slow, and deliberate fliers. When at rest, they fold their wings roof like over their bodies.

Many of the caterpillars and adults are active during the daytime. If disturbed, woolly bear caterpillars will roll into a tight spiral. Common folklore has it that the forthcoming severity of a winter can be predicted by the amount of black on the Isabella tiger moth’s caterpillar, the most familiar woolly bear in North America; however the relative width of the black band varies among instars, not according to weather. Isabella tiger moths (Pyrrharctia isabella) overwinter in the caterpillar stage. They can survive freezing at moderate subzero temperatures by producing a cryo-protectant chemical or insect antifreeze.

The life of a tiger moth begins when an adult moth lays an egg on the surface of a food plant. A few days later, the egg hatches and the larva begin feeding on plant food. Tiger moth larvae are distinctively hairy, which is a common characteristic of the family. Have you ever seen caterpillars covered by a dense coat of prickly hairs or by a sparser coat with long, hairy tufts concentrated at the head and posterior regions? They are almost always tiger moth larvae. Some people are very allergic to a chemical secreted onto the hairs or spines for self defense so you need to be careful when handling them. These caterpillars are really cool in that when bat ultrasonic locating sound waves hit them they emit a counter sound to confuse the bats.

Behaviorally, tiger moth larvae are of two types: they either enjoy company or live as hermits. Larvae of most species are solitary and rarely occur in large groups. For example, the banded woolly bear is often seen scurrying alone across roads in late summer and early autumn. The fall web worm is one of the more social of tiger moths. Large aggregations of fall web worm larvae live in web nests on their food plants–trees such as black walnut and elm. For the fall web worm, there is safety in numbers. If you find a fall web worm nest, gently tap the surface with a stick or your finger and watch what happens. The larvae immediately begin jerking their bodies back and forth in unison, presumably to dislodge predators or parasites. If you’re patient, you may see this show repeated when a real parasite lands on the nest.

Eddy County Extension Service, New Mexico State University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and educator. All programs are available to everyone regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, handicap, or national origin. New Mexico State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Eddy County Government Cooperating.

Among all the other Fall and Winter gardening tasks we’ve been discussing here in the blog, we can include treating and eliminating Winter weeds from our lawns and gardens. While it may require you to drag the lawn mower out one more time, you can also add pre-emergents, and post-emergents to your weeding plan. In the following article, Woods Houghton goes more into detail regarding post and pre-emergent herbicides to treat and eliminate Winter weed problems.

The fall season brings winter weeds. They germinate in the fall, grow through the winter and spring, and then die in the late spring. Most people think that when the grass slows it’s growth that there is no more to do to the lawn, however, fall is the second best time to control weeds using the pre-emergent method described later. The only drawback is that you cannot seed and apply a pre-emergent weed control at the same time.

These weeds can be controlled with proper methods. The two methods used are pre-emergent, and post-emergent. The pre-emergent method is the most effective because the weeds are controlled before they emerge this way the lawn looks cleaner because you never see the weeds.

A pre-emergent herbicide is used to prevent weeds such as; Crabgrass, Goosegrass, Quackgrass, Henbit, Chickweed, Plantain, and some 30 to 40 other weeds. The timing is critical on applying pre-emergent herbicides. If you put it down to early, you miss the late summer weeds, if you wait to long to apply, you’ll miss the crabgrass. Usually the weather in your area will dictate the proper timing. When Forsythia starts to bloom in your area is a good clue as to when to apply.

Using chemicals to control weeds is a tricky matter. Used correctly, they pose no problem.(Contrary to many beliefs)More harm is done to the environment each year by homeowners trying to do something that they don’t understand than by all of the professional applicators put together. Just be careful, read the label, AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS.

The second method of weed control is Post-Emergent control. This involves spraying the weeds after they are already up and showing. Commonly this is called broadleaf weed control because usually the weeds controlled are broadleaved. Dandelion, plantain, chickweed, oxalis, wood sorrel, wild onion and garlic, purslane, and clover are all examples of broadleaves. These have to be controlled by applying the herbicide to the leaves or to the soil as to reach the root zone of the plant.

There are many sprays available and granulated products also. The granules may be easier to apply if you’re not good with a sprayer. Sprays work much faster because you don’t have to wait for a rain or irrigate to activate the chemical. Check at your garden center or discount store for available broadleaf herbicides. Just be careful around your shrubs and flowers, they are also broadleaves and it is not hard to kill them inadvertently. I see this every year.

Eddy County Extension Service, New Mexico State University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and educator. All programs are available to everyone regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, handicap, or national origin. New Mexico State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Eddy County Government Cooperating.