Nothing brightens a homeowner’s face more than gazing at a well-maintained, lush green garden or lawn. The fragrant blossoms of this sanctuary and the exciting blend of colors form an outstanding haven of serenity and peace. But this pleasure can quickly turn to frustration when gophers invade your lawn. Because of the damage they create, consider using our guide on killing gophers with bleach and ammonia, and other methods. Let’s dive in!
You first need to cut each gopher hole in your yard into two to eliminate gophers with ammonia and bleach. After that, insert a plastic tube into the hole and pour down a gallon of bleach, followed by ammonia. The bleach decomposes into hydrochloric acid, reacting with ammonia to produce toxic fumes. This poisonous vapor kills gophers instantly.
How to Kill Gophers with Bleach and Ammonia
One of the things that gophers hate the most is ammonia’s awful smell. The product possesses a heavy vapor, and its smell suffocates and repels these pests. If you mix bleach and ammonia, they produce chloramine, which is poisonous and kills gophers instantly.
Follow this step-by-step guide when using ammonia and bleach mixture to eradicate gophers:
1. Using a shovel, cut all gopher holes into halves. This step is not a must, but it maximizes the effectiveness of this technique.
2. Insert a funnel or a plastic tube into the holes. Use a much longer funnel if you didn’t cut the holes.
3. Pour down an entire gallon of bleach through the funnel. Sodium hypochlorite, an active ingredient in bleach, will weaken the gophers by damaging their body tissues.
4. After bleach, pour a gallon of ammonia. Once the two products mix, they react and produce fatal fumes. The bleach will decompose into hydrochloric acid, which reacts with ammonia to emit a lethal poison that kills the gophers instantly.
Word of Caution: Do not mix the chemicals in a container as this could harm you instead of gophers. Pour the products through the funnel one after another and let them mix down the hole for maximum effectiveness.
What Attracts Gophers to Your Yard?
Various things might be attracting gophers to your lawn. They include:
- Tree roots
- Tubers
- Grassroots
- Bulbs
- Vegetable roots
- Sandy, loose soil
- Bushes and fence lines for shelter
What Food Kills Gophers?
Gophers often damage gardens and lawns by burrowing tunnels and feeding on planted vegetation. Additionally, they ruin other valuable things like sprinklers and water pipes.
Most people recommend using certain foods to eliminate these pesky pests, but that’s a myth; most home remedies, especially foodstuffs, don’t usually work. Nothing happens to gophers, even if you feed them with food items like chocolate laxatives and chewing gums. These are the foodstuffs that are believed to kill them.
However, you can use repellant products like chilli powder, peppermint oil, and garlic stakes to keep them away.
What Do Gophers Hate the Most?
These annoying pests hate strong scents like pine, thyme, rosemary, coffee grounds, sage, eucalyptus, castor oil, geranium, lavender, and peppermint oil. They believe the fragrances mask their potential food sources, irritating their senses.
What is the Best Method for Killing Gophers?
The best and fastest way to get rid of gophers is by using a gopher trap (pictured above). The traps come in different types but function the same. Their main work is to bait these pests into the trap and kill them instantly. So, if you want something straightforward, try gopher traps.
Bottom Line
Gophers are talented in finding and destroying your vegetation within a few days. They also multiply rapidly and can cause a great mess in your home. That’s why the discussion about killing gophers with bleach and ammonia should interest you.
Luckily, you can quickly eliminate them by using ammonia and bleach, as explained above. You can also keep them away from your home using scents like rosemary, coffee grounds, castor oil, and peppermint oil, among others.
