How to Lay Gopher Netting

Crescent-shaped mounds dotting your yard are a sign that you could soon lose tender plants and even shrubs and trees to gophers feasting on their roots. Pocket gophers (Thomomys spp.) can do plenty of damage in a garden, despite their relatively small size of only 6 to 10 inches long. These herbivores tunnel, and eat roots and any fleshy plant parts they find. While protecting gardens from gopher damage is a thriving business, according to the University of California Integrated Pest Management Program, only trapping, poison and exclusion are effective. Planting time is the best time to lay protective wire gopher netting.

1

Unroll galvanized wire hardware cloth, which has 3/4-inch mesh squares, or a similar product sold specifically as gopher wire. The holes in chicken wire are too large and can allow the gophers to pass through or pull material through, and it deteriorates in the ground quickly.

2

Spread whole rolls out on areas cleared for sod or sowing a new lawn, cutting pieces to size as needed with wire cutters.

3

Overlap layers of gopher netting by 4 to 6 inches when you are covering a large area. Secure the netting to the ground along the edges and at overlaps with U-shaped galvanized wire landscape staples every 2 to 3 feet.

4

Spread 1 to 2 inches of topsoil over the gopher netting before laying sod or seeding to prevent the animals from immediately pulling roots down through the wire.

5

Staple gopher netting to the bottom of wooden raised garden beds with a staple gun loaded with galvanized staples before filling and planting the beds.

6

Dig a trench 18 inches deep and 6 inches wide around plants or planting beds that are already in place. Dig the trench about 2 feet from the plants or front edge of the bed to avoid damaging roots.

7

Measure the length or perimeter of the trench, and cut a piece of gopher netting that is at least 30 inches wide to the measurement with wire cutters.

8

Put on gloves to protect your hands from the sharp edges of the wire and bend a 90-degree angle along the length of the wire, 6 inches from the bottom.

9

Place the wire in the trench with the bent edge at the bottom of the trench, and facing away from the plants and toward any advancing gopher. You may need to make some cuts in the bent edge so it can curve neatly in a circular trench. About 6 inches should be extending above the soil to protect plants from stem damage. The rodents occasionally feed above ground, but no higher than a few inches and usually only as far as their bodies extend from a small hole in the ground.

10

Fill in around the wire with the removed soil.