Gophers and Moles be Trippin’ in Yo’ Outdoor Weed Spot

Gophers and Moles be trippin' in your outdoor weed spot

Yo, what’s good my fellow cannabis growers? It’s your boy Dan, here to drop some knowledge on how to deal with those pesky pests that can mess with your outdoor weed garden. You know the ones: moles and gophers! These furry little guys can cause some serious damage to your crop, so let me break it down for you on how to tell the difference between the two, and how to get rid of one of them before they eat your weed right under your nose.

First things first, let’s talk about the difference between moles and gophers. Gophers look like toothy rats and can be anywhere from 12-46cm long. Moles, on the other hand, are odder-looking with shovel-like paws, tiny pig-snouts, and eyes screwed shut; they’re only 12-18cm long. But the most important difference for us weed growers is their diet – moles burrow through earth hunting for insects, while gophers eat plants.

Now don’t get it twisted, moles aren’t really a risk to your crop. They might even be helpful by keeping the soil loose and nutrient-rich. But gophers? They love nothing more than chowing down on your plants’ roots and may even suck them down whole. These guys are the stoners of the rodent world! So if you’ve got gophers in your garden, you need to do something about it.

The first step is to figure out if you’ve got gophers or moles. If you see one of these critters, you’ll be able to tell them apart pretty easily based on their descriptions above. But even if you don’t spot one, you can still tell based on how they affect your plants. Molehills and gopher mounds have a distinct look – a molehill will have a “cone-like” shape like a volcano with a hole right at the apex. A gopher mound will be more rounded, perhaps even flat at the top, with the hole coming out the side at an angle. And if your plants’ roots are chewed up to the quick or disappear altogether, that’s a sign that a gopher is likely causing the damage.

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So how do we get rid of these furry foes? We’ve got a few strategies that we can use to deal with unwanted mammalian pests. First up is castor oil and garlic water – pour this mixture into the opening of the gopher mound and spray a layer over your garden soil. This should repel the gophers and force them to migrate to a different area. Another option is lining your garden with hardware cloth – wire mesh where the holes are much smaller than chicken wire. If you line the bottom and sides of your raised garden with it, gophers will have a very hard time digging in.

You could also try repelling gophers with alliums – from a gopher’s perspective, garlic and onions aren’t nearly as delicious as weed. Plant chives, garlic, and other low-maintenance alliums around your cannabis plants to repel these rodents.

If you’re feeling extra ethical and want to catch and release these critters instead of killing them, you could use catch-and-release traps set at each gopher opening. Check periodically to see if you’ve caught anything and then release them far away from your garden area.

Alternatively, why not use a cat? Letting your feline roam free in your weed garden sends a clear message to those gophers that it’s time to find new stomping grounds. Whether this option is lethal or not rests entirely in your cat’s capable (or not-so-capable) paws – it may scare off these rodents or end up being successful at catching them.

Now we’re onto some more hardcore options for dealing with these pests: plant some toxic oleanders into your garden beds to poison those gopher foes. Be careful not to ingest any yourself or let pets or small children near those plants.

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So there you have it folks – some tips on how to deal with pests in your outdoor cannabis garden. Don’t let those furry foes ruin your hard work! Stay vigilant and keep those stoners of the rodent world at bay. Peace out!

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