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gophers and grapevines

A question to all who grow there own grapes;

I live in Southern California and have pocket gophers on my property. I will be receiving my first grapevines in January sometime and would like to know how people handle gophers and if gophers are attracted to grapevine roots.

My thought is to encircle hardware cloth (small 1/4 inch fencing) around the roots and trunk as I plant the vines. I would probably sink the fence about

1.5 feet under ground and let it run about 1.5 feet above the ground. I am concerned that the underground portion might constrict the roots over the years as the plant gets larger.

Does anyone have an opinion on this. Do I even need to bother at all. I will post to a gardening group if I don't get an answer here. Thanks.

ps- I will not poison, kill, or trap the gophers. I have a barn owl nestbox up to control the population but I believe in living WITH nature, not dominating it.

Reply to
figaro
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I don't know about pocket gophers but my vines here in Maryland are not bothered by groundhogs. I don't know if they have the same diet.

Reply to
Paul E. Lehmann

This is a little off topic but approximately how many vines and linear feet are needed to produce enough grapes for a few 5 gallon batches?

David

Reply to
news-server.triad.rr.com

ground. I am

I've no idea if they can damage grapes, but they can dig deeper than

1.5'.

If you are into natural control you might introduce a couple of cats, but then they may not be able to co-exist with the owls. Also, if you live in coyote country they probably won't last long.

--arne

Reply to
arne thormodsen

Suggest you get the very inexpensive but excellent book "From Vines to Wine" by Jeff Cox. This will answer your question plus the many others that are likely to come up once you start.

Reply to
Paul E. Lehmann

You might consider planting geraniums. Gophers hate 'em.

Tom S

Reply to
Tom S

They don't like ammo either :)

Steve

Reply to
Steve Thompson

For larger pests the right pesticide is a lead based spray.

Reply to
J F

LOL! You betcha! - A cat can work wonders, too, though. The tomcat we have now came to us as an 8 or 9 month old half-wild, half-starved stray, apparently used to pretty much fending for himself. He's absolute terror on all burrowing varmints,...utterly devouring their wee bodies and leaving just the heads for us to discover as evidence of his preditory conquests. He's a darn good little hunter and you better believe we reward him well for keeping our garden and miniscule vineyard rodent-free. Just wish he wouldn't take-out the garter snakes, gopher snakes and humming birds ,...but hey, as long as it supplements his diet with kitty delacacies... ;-)

Reply to
Sasquatch

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