Stainless Steel Gopher Baskets: Which is the Best?
If you love and maintain a garden but have gophers, you know how those cheeky little creatures can wreak havoc on some of your most appreciated plants. They eat 60% of their body weight daily, so they have an appetite for destruction! As gardeners on this steep hillside, protecting our valued plants from these underground pests is not just economical, but crucial to our mental health! Gopher baskets are a welcome deterrent.
In this post, we compare stainless steel materials across gopher baskets in particular as they do not degrade in the soil like DIY alternatives such as chicken wire and other galvanized steel products. We try flexible, flexible-rigid and rigid construction to compare versatility between products. Our cost range considers the "cheap and cheerful" as well as a premium product on the market to deter those unwelcome bothers in the garden. We highlight their pros and cons to ultimately recommend the best solution for gardeners.
Svepndic's Gopher Proof Wire Basket, 10-gallon (4-pack at $15.99 on Amazon)
This gopher-deterring product is more of a pouch. It does not come with instructions. It is crafted from closely knitted fine stainless-steel wires, creating a barrier that gophers find difficult to penetrate, and it opens like a padded envelope, allowing you to push at its creased sides to slide or pot your plant within. This gopher basket has a heat-welded seam along its base. Its lightweight design makes it easy to handle. However, there are some drawbacks to consider:
Unshapely Bottom: Shaped like a padded envelope, as you fill or bulk out the creased sides of the basket/pouch, the seam at the bottom develops awkward triangular pockets of overlapping material that prevent soil from compacting well in those areas. This can be a problem if roots are searching for soil or moisture when there are none in that area of the basket underground.
Limited reusability: Due to the fine wire mesh, cleaning out the pouch for reuse is a challenge. This is not an ideal situation for yearly changing out of annuals. Spraying the mesh with a hard shot of the garden hose does not work, causing limp roots to tangle into the weave and cling even harder.
Restricted root growth: The closely knitted wires on this particular gopher basket only allow small roots to pass through. The woven wires have some flexibility, but do not stretch significantly. Over time, as a root increases in diameter, this can be a problem. The wire will simply dig into the root, cutting off nutrient flow back to the main stem of the plant.
Size limitations: The pouch design may not be suitable for larger plants or shrubs, limiting its versatility and overall long-term value in the garden.
Weak top: Wire threads along the top came free like an unravelling knitted sweater. This was the case for all the products in the pack. We pushed the top 4 inches of the product around the base of the plant to minimize unravelling.
Digger's Root Guard Speed Basket, 5-Gallon (2-pack at $18.99 on Amazon)
Digger's semi-rigid gopher basket is constructed from similar material to the pouch. It came with clear instructions and a helpful "optional" suggestion of how to fold the top four inches of the basket material towards the plant stem to keep gophers from entering into the basket from the soil surface. This flexible basket is made from closely knitted fine wires. It has a pot-like shape, which allows for easy placement and insertion of plants. The rigid hoop inside the base is clamped to the wire mesh, creating a flat, circular bottom. In the center of the hoop, the wire mesh is gathered and clamped securely like a tie-off balloon. While this basket has all the positives of Svepndic's Gopher Proof Wire Basket, it shares some drawbacks with the pouch design:
Limited reusability: Cleaning out the basket for reuse can be cumbersome, as fine roots get entangled in the closely woven wire mesh.
Restricted root growth: The knitted wires restrict the passage of larger roots, potentially impacting the overall health and vigour of plants, just as is the case with Svepndic's basket.
Rolled top Effectiveness: Digger's Root Guard Speed Basket's instructions suggest that you leave a portion of the rolled top above ground like a small fence barrier. However, with the knowledge that gophers are known to come above ground at night, a flimsy 4-inches of partially rolled mesh didn't seem enough of a deterrent for our plant.
Weak Top: This product also came unraveled at the top when you completely unrolled it in the way Svepndic's product unraveled.
Gophers Limited Inc. Stainless Steel Gopher Basket, 5-gallon ($23.14-$25.99/basket, shipped in bulk through Gophers Limited website, or bought individually at Yumagami's Garden Center) Gophers Limited's basket came with clear instructions via the website. This completely rigid wire basket stands out as strong gopher deterrent. Constructed from 18-gauge 304 stainless steel wire and fabricated with welded seams and crosswires, it is advertised as having lifetime durability. It has 3/4 inch square mesh openings, and rigid reinforced rims and base. Its rigid construction makes for easy lifting and planting and requires no shaping. The drawbacks:
Cost: On the pricey side.
Shipping Costs: Depending on where you live and how large or heavy your order is (or isn't), you may be put off from completing an order due to the shipping costs.
Bulk Buy Only?: It appears as though there are only bulk-buying options online, however this is not the case.
Something to consider:
We contacted Gophers Limited Inc. owner, Thomas Wittman, to ask him about shipping costs and bulk-buying alternatives to his gopher baskets. He promptly returned our call and states that the company has tried various delivery providers and currently uses UPS as it gives the most value to customers at present.
While Amazon and the Gophers Limited product pages show only bulk buying options, we found that you can buy individual gopher baskets online. Gophers Limited's owner, Thomas, recommends that any customer wishing to purchase a single basket, or a selection of required sizes, contact Gophers Limited Inc. direct through their website GophersLimited.com as these can be readily shipped or collected in person. Single baskets are not an option on Amazon due to a limitation in order shipping consolidation.
Gophers Limited's owner stated that the company's Stainless Steel Gopher Baskets can also be purchased in person at select gardening supply retailers such as Yamagami's Garden Center in Cupertino in California. A 5-gallon basket currently sells for $25.99 at that location. To find other locations to visit nearest you, contact GophersLimited.com directly.
Out of interest, we compared a single basket price from Yamagami's to the bulk buy between the Gophers Limited website and Amazon, delivered from the Santa Cruz warehouse in California to our address in the San Francisco Bay Area:
Yamagami's in-person purchase: $25.99/ 5-gallon basket
Amazon bulk buy for 12: $304.29 ($240 + $36.00 shipping + $28.29 CA Sales Tax), or $25.36/5-gallon basket
Gophers Limited website bulk buy for 12: $277.62 ($240.00 + $20.22 UPS Ground, + $17.40 CA Sales Tax), or $23.14/5-gallon basket
Gophers Limited website bulk buy for 6: $147.72 ($120.00 + $19.02 UPS Ground + $8.70 CA Sales Tax ), or $24.62/5-gallon basket
You can save a significant amount by purchasing and collecting in-person from the company.
Here's what we think:
Determined gophers have been known to get through fine mesh gopher basket material, galvanized wire products and landscaping membranes. These products help to a degree, but the best approach, in parallel to having nice plants protected with a quality gopher basket product, is to have an effective trapping schedule to remove your gopher problem for good. (Check your state's local trapping laws and license requirements before removing wildlife pests to be sure you are compliant. California's can be reviewed here.) But until that welcome day comes, in terms of the best gopher basket:
Svepndic's Gopher Proof Wire Basket:
With all the drawbacks we noted above for this gopher basket, your money is better spent on something stronger, towards a nice plant pot, or on a trapping system to get rid of the gophers for good.
Digger's 5-gallon Root Guard Speed Basket:
At approximately $9.50, Digger's semi-rigid gopher basket is made of the same material that we know some gophers might get through. It is a deterrent however and not guaranteed to keep every gopher out. With this in mind, it is a functional, affordable choice, though may not give you the peace of mind you're looking for. It is flimsy and unravels, but you can roll the top to minimize that. If it's used for smaller rooted plants that might be changed out annually, the gopher breach might not seem so significant. If you decide you don't want to clean it at those times and clear old roots away, that too is a downside that can be overlooked. But again, if you are looking for a gopher basket to protect your plants, this basket it may deter some, or even most gophers, but possibly not all.
Gophers Limited Inc. Stainless Steel Gopher Basket:
A superior product without a doubt. It has thicker wire, is rigid with wide enough holes to keep gophers away but roots can spread and grow freely. When comparing the design, quality and effectiveness of the three gopher basket products, Gophers Limited's gets our vote hands down. And we appreciated that our concerns about shipping, and in particular, bulk-buying alternatives, were addressed by Gophers Limited Inc.'s owner directly. So, is it worth it?
We leave that up to you! For us, it was. Especially when we considered the resources it took to get this gopher-pocked hillside in a state to sustain those few particular plants we wanted to protect and see to maturity. As keen gardeners, we see protecting such plants as an investment. The Gophers Limited Inc. Stainless Steel Gopher Basket gave us quality, peace-of-mind, and was a genuine time-saving solution.
Should you be considering plants that gophers aren't that keen to eat, you may find our blog post on gopher-resistant plants helpful.
