Planting trees is one of the most rewarding and earth-friendly things you can do in your landscape. Trees offer beauty, shade, habitat for wildlife, sequester carbon, and depending on the type, may feed you as well! We’ve planted dozens of fruit trees in our garden. But you know who else loves trees just as much as we do? Gophers! Those frustrating little creatures LOVE to eat tree roots. Thankfully, it isn’t difficult to stop gophers from destroying trees. We simply have to plant trees in wire gopher baskets – and those are easy to make!
Follow along and learn how to make a homemade gopher basket to protect trees from gopher damage, along with tips on how to install the basket and plant a tree inside. The cages we make from hardware cloth are large, inexpensive, and durable. (To be honest, they’re far better than anything you could buy!) You can follow the same steps to create more petite baskets for shrubs or smaller plants too. To make things even easier, I’ve included a demonstration video at the end of this article. But first, let’s go over a few frequently asked questions about gophers and using gopher baskets.
What is a gopher basket?
A gopher basket is a protective wire mesh enclosure designed to prevent burrowing pests from accessing and eating plant roots. Also known as a gopher cage, these physical barriers offer protection against voles and moles as well. Gopher baskets can be used when planting new trees, vines, shrubs, or other susceptible plants. The basket or cage is buried in the soil with the plant’s root ball tucked safely inside, surrounded on the bottom and all sides.
Gardeners can either make a homemade gopher basket, or purchase pre-made gopher baskets – which come in a variety of sizes for shrubs and smaller plants, or larger options for trees. While it takes some added effort, it’s more cost-effective to make your own. A single roll of wire hardware cloth costs about the same as one large pre-made gopher cage, but is enough material to create dozens of them! Plus, we use handy hardware cloth for all sorts of homestead projects – including to block gophers from under raised garden beds and predator-proof our chicken coop.
What types of tree roots do gophers eat?
Gophers are herbivores and survive by eating vegetation. As subterranean dwellers, they primarily dine on the roots of herbaceous plants, including most common garden crops, trees, shrubs, flowers, and vines. Gophers will eat a wide variety of tree roots, but are particularly fond of fruit tree roots and the extra-tender roots of young trees. In our coastal California garden, our fig trees are especially irresistible to gophers! We’ve found that they’re not quite as drawn to citrus tree roots, though gophers will eat just about any type of fruit tree roots when food is scarce.
How Gophers Damage Trees
True to form as part of the Rodentia animal order, gophers have sharp, long, rat-like front teeth. They’re perfectly adapted for cutting and chewing on tough vegetation, or even to strip bark! Gophers eat tree roots and will also gnaw at the base of tree trunks (also known as the crown of the tree). Depending on the age of the tree and the extent of chewing done, gopher damage can range from a minor irritation to lethal. So yes: gophers can absolutely kill trees, shrubs, vines, and more. Especially if the feast is left unchecked!
Large, established plants and those with extensive fibrous root systems may suffer only minimal damage (e.g. minor stunting) – particularly if the gophers nibble on a small percentage of the most exterior roots. However, if gophers manage to eat a significant portion of the roots, the tree or plant will most certainly suffer. This leaves young trees with small root systems especially vulnerable. As an added bummer, gophers are most active during the spring and fall – the best time to plant new trees!
Signs of Gopher Damage on Trees
Gophers leave tell-tale dirt mounds around their shallow burrows and tunnel systems. So, if you see signs of gopher activity around your trees or yard, be on alert! Trees that are under attack by gophers may exhibit yellowing leaves, unseasonal leaf drop, or wilting. Less obvious symptoms include reduced vigor, especially for mature trees and plants. You may sometimes see chewing marks around the base of the tree trunk just above the soil. Or, if you gently dig down a few inches below the soil to reveal missing bark or evidence of gnawing, there is likely a gopher at work.
Do I need to use a gopher basket for my tree?
If gophers are prevalent in your yard, I highly recommend using gopher baskets for trees – especially when planting small fruit trees. If there’s only a mild gopher issue in your garden, you could experiment and skip using a basket if you’d like. See what happens! While it’s a bummer to potentially lose a tree in the process, you should be able to dig it up and salvage it (and add a basket) if issues arise. Plus, there are other ways to control gophers too. I will write an article all about that subject soon, but know that physical barriers (i.e. cages) are always our preferred method since we avoid using poisons on our homestead.
After a couple of years of trial and error, we’ve come to accept that we need to use gopher baskets on most trees to keep them safe. We use them for new fruit trees that come in 5 to 15 gallon pots, including apples, loquats, persimmon, avocado, guava, figs, and more. However, we have opted to NOT use gopher cages for larger, hardier trees – like when we planted our California pepper tree.
The pepper tree came in a huge 36” wood nursery box, and we planted it in an area where we hadn’t witnessed much gopher activity. We also knew: a) it would grow large quickly, and b) pepper trees aren’t a known gopher favorite. We took a risk and it has grown in beautifully, with no signs of gophers. By not using a gopher basket, we also avoided constricting its growth at all. Since we planted that particular tree as a privacy screen, unbridled growth was a priority! Which leads us to another common question about gopher baskets: root binding.
Do gopher baskets cause root binding or restrict tree growth?
Root binding is when plant roots wind tightly around themselves in a limited or confined space, such as a too-small pot. This can cause stress or stunted growth in many plants. Gopher baskets may or may not restrict growth or lead to root binding, depending on the type of tree, basket size, and wire material they’re made of.
Some types of wire gopher cages eventually break down (or break open) as the tree matures over time, including gopher baskets made from chicken wire, or certain pre-made baskets that are designed to slowly degrade. This allows the tree roots to escape, but also leaves the tree potentially vulnerable to pests in the future. The good news is that large mature trees are typically more resilient and less attractive to gophers, so they may not need the added protection of a gopher basket later in life.
Other gopher baskets are constructed of far more durable wire material like galvanized hardware cloth – which is what we use to make all of our homemade gopher baskets! Hardware cloth gopher baskets should not corrode, rust, or otherwise degrade. With that, some modest root-binding will occur over time. Small feeder roots will grow through the holes, but the vast majority of roots will be confined to (and protected in) the basket. To help combat stunting, we create extra-large gopher baskets that provide plenty of room to grow.
Note that it isn’t necessarily a bad thing to slightly constrict the growth of a tree! Especially if you live in an urban or suburban setting that doesn’t easily accommodate massive trees. Personally, we gladly accept the trade-off of potentially smaller trees than those destroyed by gophers. We also grow many dwarf or semi-dwarf tree varieties that take more kindly to small spaces anyways. Finally, a tree planted in the ground within a gopher basket will be happier than those in a pot – and tons of gardeners successfully grow trees in large pots and containers!
So, keeping all that in mind, let’s learn how to make a homemade gopher basket.
How to Make a Homemade Gopher Basket
- Wire mesh material of choice. Use galvanized hardware cloth with ¼” or ½” openings for durable, long-lasting protection. Gophers can fit through holes as small as one inch, potentially even ¾”. A two or three-foot tall roll of wire works perfectly. Stainless steel is another great option, though not as affordable. If you want the cage to break down as the tree matures (as discussed above) you can use chicken wire, though it isn’t recommended for areas with persistent and abundant gophers. Rumor has it that gophers may be able to chew through chicken wire. Also note that voles are smaller than gophers and can fit through the holes in chicken wire.
- Galvanized wire (16 to 20 gauge) and/or heavy-duty zip ties for securing the basket together
- Wire snips or aviation snips
- Work gloves – hardware cloth can be sharp and pokey to work with!
Create a wire cylinder
- Start by taking note of the tree pot size. The finished homemade gopher basket should be several inches larger than the tree root ball in all directions, about double the pot size. (Or more, if you’re starting with a petite 5 gallon tree pot). For trees, our average homemade gopher basket ends up being about 24 to 30” wide and just under 2 feet deep. Scale down as needed for smaller plants. The finished homemade gopher basket should stick up a few inches above the soil line for maximum protection.
- Use metal snips to cut the wire mesh into a cylinder of the desired size. Tip: I wrap the wire wide around the tree pot to get a good visual before I cut. Cut it a little larger than the final cage will be. Allow for a few inches of overlap where the two ends will meet.
- Because it can be difficult to dig a planting hole that has totally straight sides, overlap the ends of the cut wire in a manner that makes the basket wider at the top and a few inches more narrow at the bottom. That way, the basket will fit nicely in your planting hole.
- Secure the wire cylinder together using cut pieces of galvanized wire. Twist the wire “ties” so they won’t come undone. You could also use strong zip ties but they could eventually break, so I recommend adding at least a few pieces of wire too. If you don’t have extra wire on hand, see how I used the “pokey ends” of the hardware cloth to secure it to itself in a few places in the photo below.
Add or form a bottom
- If you’re working with 3-foot tall hardware cloth, bend and fold the bottom 12” to 16” towards the center of the basket. This will leave you with a basket just under 2 feet tall. I find it easiest to fold a 4-6” wide section over at a time, moving around the rim of the basket to repeat the process until it has several folds that overlap and completely cover the bottom. Pinch the folds together to make everything nice and tight.
If you started with 2-foot tall hardware cloth, follow the same process but only fold over about 3 or 4 inches of the bottom towards the center. Then, cut another piece of hardware cloth to cover the open hole that is left on the bottom. A square piece will do the trick, but you can get fancy and cut a circle if you prefer. Again, make this piece larger than needed so there will be overlap. Coming in from the top of the basket, push that piece down inside the basket to cover the open bottom. As it gets stuffed inside, the hardware cloth catches itself and locks in place nicely.
- Now pinch the bottom folds together, and make sure everything is nice and tight with no large gaps. I’ve found the best method is to GET IN! I stand inside the basket and use my weight and feet to push and squish everything into place. Then add a few zip ties or wire to hold the bottom together. Focus on areas that seem prone to gapping.
How to Plant a Tree in a Gopher Basket
- Dig a hole two to three times wider than the tree pot and root ball, and deep enough to fit the gopher basket
- Add your homemade gopher basket to the planting hole.
- Check the height. Remember, the goal is for the basket to extend a few inches above grade. Adjust the planting hole if needed.
- While pressing down, shimmy the gopher basket back and forth to get it settled in the bottom of the hole. Try to get it to sit as level as possible.
- Set the potted tree inside the basket. Note the depth compared to the surrounding soil level. Then, take the tree back out and add enough soil to the bottom of the basket so that once the tree is inside, the crown (base of the trunk) will be elevated to just above ground level. (Do not bury the trunk of the tree).
- Carefully remove the tree from its pot and place the root ball centered in the gopher basket.
- Backfill soil around the tree, taking care to keep it standing straight.
- If your homemade gopher basket is extra-tall, you can bend it inward slightly to create a dome over the top of the rootball.
- Thoroughly water the tree.
- Add 2-4″ of organic mulch around the base of the tree, but not directly against the tree trunk. Leave a few inches of clear space around the trunk.
- Stand back and admire your hard work!
For more detailed information on planting trees including soil, fertilizer, timing, planting location and more, please visit: “How to Plant a Tree: Best Practices for Success”
Here is the video I promised! Check out minutes 2-13 to watch me sizing and making the homemade gopher basket, then installing it in the planting hole. The second half of the video is more focused on planting trees, how we amend the soil, etc. At the very end, you can see it all planted, mulched, and the cage just above the soil.
And that is how to make a homemade gopher basket.
These things have been a lifesaver in our garden, literally! If you also live in an area where pesky gophers rule the subterranean land, you may want to seriously consider planting trees in gopher baskets too. After reading this article, I hope you feel empowered and prepared to do so! Please let me know if you have any questions. Also, please share or pin this article if you found it useful. Thank you so much for tuning in. May your trees be happy, healthy, and safe from gophers!
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- How to Plant a Tree: Best Practices for Success
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