Critter Fence Protection

The Agony of Losing your hard work to Gophers

It is not something I would wish on anyone, and yet in our area of California, it is a constant battle for most.

We quickly realized, after losing 85% of my first dahlia production bed, that dahlia tubers (and potato tubers) are like candy to the little suckers! The search was on!

First, we tried chicken wire; it lasts maybe 3 years, but by the 4th year, contact with the soil had disintegrated the wire. Hardware cloth lasts longer, but it is hard to work with and very expensive for how long it lasts. We were looking for a long-term solution; we wanted more than 5-6 years (too much work to replace, too).

A friend mentioned CritterFence.com. Very pricey; no one local sells it, BUT it has a 25-30-year lifespan. We decided to give it a try.

We played with several variations by First creating a basket out of the wire using 6 ‘ wide wire x 50’ long (basically a wire bed to protect the root systems). It was fairly easy to shape.

We tried a bed in the ground with a 4” raised border, an 18” high raised bed, and tubes in the ground (for trees and shrubs) with a raised border. The only caveat is that you must make sure the edge of the wire is at least 4-6” above the soil level so that desperate gophers do not climb over.

Every variation worked perfectly! So while the wire might sound expensive the longevity and protection for expensive plants, shrubs, trees was well worth it. We have now put in over 15 beds and more will go in this year.

Order

You can order online from CritterFence.com, and they will ship it within several weeks. We liked it so much that, to help reduce shipping costs, we ordered a pallet (16 rolls). We will probably use 8 rolls this year, and the other 8 are up for grabs for a small, small fee (HA!)

$400/for a 1/2” grid, 6 ft wide by 100 ft long. The 1/2” grid is tight enough to prevent gophers from getting into the bed. 1” openings are just too large and allow the smaller gophers to get through. $5/liniar foot (6ft wide), but we will only have one roll, so we will break it down into smaller lengths. (If you want a 3ft diameter tree/shrub protection tube you would need 10 ft of critter fencing wire. 10’ x $5 = $50); you could cut your tube in 1/2 (6ft/2=3ft height) and end up with $25/per tube protection.

Constrution

Because Jim creates his own compost soil, we now opt to do a raised bed that is slightly embedded into the ground about six inches, rising 18” high on top of the ground & 24-30” wide, filled with our own compost/soil.

He supports the sides about every 3 ft with stakes pounded into the ground (we have used rebar, but it has its own issues). I used old tennis balls to protect myself from getting hurt by the metal tops of rebar stakes. - I like the stakes better.

Whether used for flowers or veggies, the beds are awesome. Tree and shrub protection is excellent as well.

Tips

Remember, you are creating a basket so you must account for the ends in your calculations. Your length will need end walls of the same height as your sides.

I use Rice Straw (no weeds, unlike hay) to cover the sides and mulch the top for weed protection. We use wood chips in the paths (they break down in a year, creating wonderful humus I top off the beds with, the next year).

DO NOT mulch with woodchips! It ties up the nitrogen in the soil.

2-3 drip lines create irrigation for the raised beds.