Exploring the Best Gopher Repellent Options

18 min read| Updated for October, 2019

DID YOU KNOW?

Gophers can cause significant damage to your yard with the holes they did can the tunnels underground leaving your yard with weakened integrity.
The best way to keep your yard looking best is to take preventative steps against gophers.

Exploring the Best Gopher Repellent Options

It is no secret that gophers can cause a lot of destruction to your plants and garden. Keeping them away from your plant life is imperative for protecting your property. This ensures that they are not eating your plants and tunneling through your yard which could lead to ground collapse in tunnel areas.

The best gopher repellent is an easy way to stop gophers from causing damage. We have researched extensively to find the best options for you. Here are four of the best gopher repellents.

How We Found the Gopher Repellent

11 Reviewers

29 Products Considered

4 Products Reviewed

3 Top Picks

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BEST

Ultrasonic

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BEST

Granules

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Sweeney’s Mole and Gopher Repellent

Pros

  • You can use this repellent on hillsides
  • This product is not a poison
  • You can use this repellent in your vegetable garden
  • This product is ideal for large properties
  • This repellent appears to reduce the gophers in an area

Cons

  • This product makes the ground smell awful
  • This repellent can take time to work
  • This product may also kill insects

OUR VERDICT

Sweeney’s Mole and Gopher Repellent is nontoxic and is easy to spread around your property.

Our Review

Sweeney’s Mole and Gopher Repellent is a nontoxic product to keep gophers away from your property. The ingredients include fuller’s earth and castor oil. This combination ensures that the product is safe to use on your property. You can use this product on properties where there are pets and children. You can also place it near your garden plants and other plant life without causing them harm or damage.

This repellent repels gophers by changing the smell and taste of the ground. The soil becomes unpleasant for gophers, so they feel no need to stick around. You can treat your property without having to touch the product. The repellent is in a shaker bag so that you only need to shake the bag per the instructions to place the repellent.

BEST

Liquid

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Sweeney’s RTS Mole and Gopher Repellent

Pros

  • You can use this product near your garden
  • You can use this on lawns where you just placed seeds
  • The bottle lasts for a long time
  • This repellent is ideal for large properties
  • You only need to apply it every few weeks

Cons

  • The ground develops a strong unpleasant odor
  • This product may take time to work

OUR VERDICT

Sweeney’s RTS Mole and Gopher Repellent is long-lasting, simple to spray, and is effective.

Our Review

Sweeney’s RTS Mole and Gopher Repellent is a liquid that you spray in areas where gophers are present. The bottle has a hose-end on it, and the nozzle is adjustable. This feature allows you to determine exactly how much of the product you dispense in a particular area.

Once you spray the product, add water to the treated area. You can do this on a rainy day and allow the rain to take care of this step. Or, you can choose to use a water hose to wet the treated area. This repellent uses castor oil as the primary ingredient. This ingredient is natural, so it will not cause harm to your pets or children. You can also safely use castor oil around your plants without damaging them.

BEST

Tubes

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Facts About Gophers

In the United States, there are more than 100 different types of gophers. They are brown, and their fur is fine and soft. They range from five to 10 inches tall when they are standing on their hind legs. This animal has a short, hairless tail, small ears, and their front teeth are hard and long. Gophers are relatively small, with adults usually weighing less than a pound.

Gophers are vegetarians. They only eat a variety of trees, grass, roots, shrubs, and other plants. Their habitat is underground. They create complex tunnel systems using their teeth and front legs to move the dirt to the surface. Gopher are loners, so when you find a tunnel system, there will almost always only be one gopher living inside.

Gopher Repellent Information

Gopher repellents come in different forms, including ultrasonic devices, liquids, tubes, and granules. One type is not necessarily more effective than the other. The best type for your property ultimately comes down to preference.

The ultrasonic devices tend to last the longest. They are also convenient since you can place them and let them go to work. The liquids allow you to soak the soil, but you may need to reapply frequently depending on your climate.

The granules tend to last for a while since gophers will not typically eat multiple at once. The tubes are very easy to place and require little exposure to the actual product during placement.

Read the product instructions thoroughly. This step is crucial to ensure both proper use and safety. You must be careful about the dosage and application schedule to ensure optimal efficacy. For example, liquid repellents can absorb into the soil. They may absorb faster in dry climates or times of drought. Because of this, you may need to apply the repellent more frequently.

When you are looking at gopher repellents, look for the primary ingredient and any additional ingredients that keep gophers away. Look for scents that offend gophers so that they leave. You want to ensure that your chosen repellent contains an ingredient that gophers dislike. These products usually include a smelly ingredient for this purpose. The following are smells that usually work to keep gophers at bay:

  • Predator urine
  • Castor oil
  • Hot peppers
  • Coffee grounds
  • Fish
  • Carbon monoxide

While not specifically an ingredient, sonic pulses help keep gophers away. They do not like these pulses, so when they notice them, they will leave the tunnel and not come back. Other loud noises, such as those from a wind chime or a radio, also help to repel these rodents.

To get the repellent where the gophers will see it, you have to find their tunnels. Walk around your property and look for mounds. These usually indicate that a tunnel is below. Once you locate the tunnels, poke a few holes above them to insert the repellent. If you are using ultrasonic devices, put them into this space instead of poking holes. For liquid and granules, you can use a funnel to pour them into the holes.

Additional Tips to Repel Gophers

Repellents are typically effective for stopping new gophers from inhabiting your space. However, there are some other tips that you can use to keep gophers away from your property:

  • Create physical barriers around your garden and plants, such as gravel, mulch, fencing or gopher baskets
  • Raise your plant beds so gophers cannot easily access them
  • Reduce any unnecessary vegetation on your property to limit their food sources
  • Pack the dirt in your yard so that gophers cannot easily tunnel through it
  • Bring natural gopher predators onto your property to scare them away

Summary

Use this information to solve the problem regarding how to keep gophers out of your yard. Always make sure to know the local wildlife laws in your area before using repellents to ensure you are following the law. Check out the product instructions and follow them.