A creature so evil.........

I stood in utter shock, in front of my beautiful Navel Orange tree that had grown double in size since we put up the walled garden. It thrived from the reflected warmth and wind protection the wall afford it. This spring it was covered with hundreds of flowers, enveloping the garden with the of sweet fragrance of orange blossoms. Hundreds of fruits followed with a promise of sweet delight but it was not to be. My beautiful tree was brought down an evil creature that cut it off at its knees; it ate my tree from underneath. It ate the roots of the tree :(

Young navel oranges hanging on the dead tree....

Who is this creature you ask? None other than the vile gopher. I have not seen the gopher myself but here are some pictures I found on the internet. They are burrowing rodents about 5-6 inches in size.

See the ugly long front teeth that they use both for digging as well as for stripping bark off trees as they did to my orange tree! Generally they feed on roots and fleshy part of plants. They ate the roots of my orange tree too. They use both the teeth and those large claw front paws to dig tunnels and push dirt to the surface forming mounds. They have been known to pull entire plants down the tunnel from below!! I dare not think about the vegetables I have planted. My planter boxes are open bottom!! Here, I was worried about the rabbits eating my vegetables and was so proud of my raised planting boxes.

Here is a picture of a pocket gopher so called because of the fur line pocket outside their mouth on each side of their face. These pockets are used to carry food.

Needless to say I will be looking for ways to rid myself of these vile creatures. Even as I look around at the mounds of dirt the evidence of gopher activities, I realized I also have mole activities. Apparently, gophers mound are more crescent in shape and hole is off on the side and plugged. The mole mound are more circular and have a plug in the center. It looks more like a volcano in profile. Alas, I have both.

I will have to find a non poisonous eco friendly way to deal with this pest. I hear castor oil granules are effective sometimes. I am thinking if I were to see a gopher I might be incline to whack it with the spade if I had it handy or would I be too squeamish? Maybe it would depend on how angry I am. They took down a fig tree too....

For now, I am putting my fruit trees inside my walled garden.