gophers and deer
- To: "Siberian Robin"
- Subject: [sibrob] gophers and deer
- From: H* P*
- Date: Mon, 1 Nov 1999 09:27:26 -0800
From: "Harold Peters" <harold@directcon.net>
My mentor into the iris world said that gophers were another manifestation
of Murhpy's Law. If you have a $35 dollar rhizome planted next to a $3.00
rhizome, 9 out of 10 times the gopher will eat the $35 rhizome. The book I
first read about gophers and irises said the gophers do not particularly
like irises but can learn to eat them. I don't know about the first part but
have plenty of evidence about the second part.
I had a major bed of arilbreds. A gopher got into the bed that I was not
successful in trapping. 45 of the 57 clumps disappeared to the gopher. The
ones that didn't disappear I moved to save. The was one, REAL GOLD, that the
gopher refused to touch. The clump was greater than a foot in diameter and
totally untouched. I almost considered hybridizing with it to see if the
gopher aversion was genetic.
The Ortho book "Protecting Your Garden from Animal Damage" best summarizes
the situation with gophers, voles and moles. All three take patience and
persistence.
Deer are not an iris problem for me. I have a number of deer tracks in my
new iris beds. There has never been any evidence of deer eating the irises.
When a deer steps on a rhizome in a newly planted and rototilled bed, you
have to replant the rhizome.
Harold Peters
Beautiful View Iris Garden,
El Dorado Hills, CA USDA zone 9
harold@directcon.net http://www.beautiful-view-iris.com
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