At both the five and nineteen month monitorings, plant height was significantly taller in the soil amended plots, another indicator that N. pulchra matures more quickly with higher nutrient levels. The relation between planting success, treatments, and pocket gophers was also of interest. Their tunnels are 10-20 cm deep as they search for plant roots to feed on. Mean gopher mound coverage for all plots was 17 percent. In this experiment, however, this was not the case.
Results suggest the gophers targeted the soil amended plots.
The gophers did not occur more frequently in the high density plots. This suggests the gophers were targeting those plots where N. pulchra and other plants grew larger, greener and more tender and perhaps had increased nitrogen leaf content. After nineteen months, gophers could have been eating more exotic plants, with damage occurring to N. pulchra because they were nearby. There are still questions surrounding the growth and competition of native versus non-native plants in gopher areas. Based on this experiment, the recommendation for planting N. pulchra in disturbed areas is to scrape plots at least 1.2 x 1.2 m and spacing at about 0.2 x 0.2 m.