A common frustration for home gardeners is discovering unexplained damage to their plants, often pointing to an unseen threat beneath the soil. Pocket gophers, small burrowing rodents, are frequent culprits, causing significant damage to lawns and cultivated beds. These herbivores create extensive tunnel systems that allow them to feed directly on plant roots without needing to surface, making their presence difficult to detect until the damage is done. Understanding the gopher’s diet and identifying the specific signs of their activity are the first steps toward protecting vulnerable garden plants like tomatoes.
Gophers’ Preferred Diet and Tomato Plant Vulnerabilities
Gophers are strict herbivores focused on plant material, particularly the roots, tubers, and bulbs they encounter while tunneling. Although opportunistic, they prefer roots that are fleshy and succulent. Tomato plants, with their deep, somewhat fibrous root systems and tender taproots in the early stages, fit this description, making them a common target.
The primary damage occurs underground as the gopher gnaws through the main roots, severing the plant’s connection to water and nutrients. This feeding habit means a healthy tomato plant may suddenly wilt and collapse overnight, indicating the root system has been destroyed below the surface. Gophers can also pull entire small plants down into their tunnels, leaving behind a clean, empty hole. Since gophers must consume about half their body weight daily, a single rodent can rapidly destroy multiple tomato plants.
Signs That Gophers Are the Culprit
Accurately identifying the pest is necessary for choosing the correct control method, as gopher damage is often mistaken for that of moles or voles. The most definitive sign of gopher activity is the presence of characteristic soil mounds. Gopher mounds are typically fan-shaped, horseshoe-shaped, or crescent-shaped, with the entrance hole plugged with soil and located off-center at the edge of the mound.
These mounds result from the gopher pushing excavated dirt to the surface as it digs its deeper tunnel systems, usually located six to twelve inches below ground. Mole tunnels are shallow surface runways, appearing as raised ridges, while gopher tunnels are not visible from the surface. In the garden, a direct sign is the sudden disappearance of a small tomato seedling or the complete wilting of a mature plant due to a severed root base. To confirm active tunnels, open a fresh mound plug; if a gopher is present, the tunnel opening will usually be sealed with fresh dirt within 24 to 48 hours.
Protecting Tomato Plants Through Physical Exclusion
The most reliable, non-lethal method for protecting tomato plants from gophers is physical exclusion using barriers. This involves creating an impenetrable shield around the vulnerable root zone using galvanized hardware cloth, a wire mesh with a small aperture. For effective exclusion, the mesh size should be no larger than one-half inch, with a one-quarter inch mesh offering the highest protection against both mature and young gophers.
Individual root cages, or gopher baskets, can be fashioned from this hardware cloth and installed around the root ball of each tomato transplant. These baskets should be large enough to allow for future root growth, typically 12 to 15 inches in diameter and depth, and extend a few inches above the soil line to prevent gophers from climbing over the top. For protecting an entire raised bed, a full barrier of hardware cloth should be laid underneath the soil before filling the bed. If installing a perimeter fence in an in-ground garden, the mesh must be buried at least 18 to 24 inches deep. Using durable 19-gauge or 20-gauge galvanized wire ensures the barrier resists corrosion and chewing, providing long-lasting protection for the tomato crop.