News Managing Pocket Gophers and Voles in Blueberry Pocket gophers can cause damage to blueberry plantings. These animals dig extensive tunnels or runways which may extend as far as 800 feet and cover an acre of land. Since they feed on plant root systems, extensive damage can occur before symptoms are evident above the ground. Gophers are seldom seen since almost their entire lives are spent underground.
Pocket gophers are active throughout the year.
Breeding generally begins in the early spring. After the young have grown they are forced from the burrow where they migrate, sometimes above the ground, to new uninhabited areas. Pocket gopher activity is more evident in the spring and fall when new burrow systems are excavated and the loose soil pushed above the ground. During the remainder of the year some new mounds may appear but the majority of the animal activity goes unnoticed. Most people have found that direct control strategies are easier and more effective in the fall, when the gophers are the most active, less effective in the spring, and practically useless in the winter and summer when their burrow systems are harder to find.