Question for grape growers living in areas where pocket gophers are a problem…
I’m about to plant several grape vines. I’m trying to decide whether I should plant them in gopher baskets. I know grapes get a pretty extensive root system, and I don’t want to stunt it with a gopher basket, but neither do I want the gophers to eat the roots off my grapevines and kill them.
How tasty do gophers find grapevines to be? What do you do?
The grapes are rooted cuttings, currently in 1 gallon pots.
I’ve watched “Caddyshack” a bunch of times and those gophers can drive people crazy. I say stick things in the ground and do your best to bring in a harvest. That’s all I ever do and all I’ve got for you right now. I have spider mites, glassy winged sharpshooters, squirrels, opossums, feral cats and every local kind of bird to deal with myself. I would never plant anything if I focused on the negatives. Plant the plants and fight the good fight. Nature wants to eat your garden (don’t take it personal).
I do not have a gopher problem but if I did have a gopher problem I would not have a gopher problem for long.
@MrClint I’m familiar dealing with other types of pests, but gophers are in a whole different category. When they went after my agapanthus, they would kill multiple plants in a day. These were plants that, if potted, would have been in a 5-gallon pot. They would be there one day, and the next day the entire plant would be gone–roots, tops, everything. I was losing $50-$100 worth of plants a day. I don’t focus on the negatives, but I can’t afford to ignore them either.
@don1357 With all due respect, if your lot was surrounded by properties where the gophers run rampant like I am, you would have a problem. Because no matter how many I kill, more keep coming in from the surrounding lots. It’s a matter of control more than eradication.
This same argument can be used referring to every single pest you could imagine. Why spray at all? The bugs will just come from the neighborhood.
Just like with any other bug/pest you have to take a constant seasonal approach. “feed” them in the spring when they are looking for new grounds. Plant deterrents. Spray things they hate in the soil. Keep more “feeding” stations throughout the grow season. Do cage your plants. And get a powerful pellet gun capable of putting a pellet in an inch at 25 yards.
Trust me, by the time I’m done my immediate neighbors would not have a gopher problem.
OK, you won me over. Lots of grapes at the market, really good ones too!