Can gophers and voles get under artificial turf?

Turf covers the ground, not the tunnels

Artificial turf and its base sit on top of the soil. Gophers live in the soil. Colorado State University Extension puts a pocket gopher’s main tunnel 4 to 18 inches below the surface, in burrows 2 to 3½ inches wide. One burrow system can hold up to 200 yards of tunnel. UC IPM says the nest can sit as deep as 6 feet, depending on the soil.

In Colorado this is a common question. Colorado Parks and Wildlife says every part of the state has some kind of pocket gopher. PlantTalk Colorado counts voles and pocket gophers among the most common burrowing animals here.

Turf does take away two things gophers like. UC IPM says irrigated lawns keep digging conditions good all year, and that cutting food sources makes a yard less attractive. A turf area needs no sprinklers and has no grass roots to eat. The trees, shrubs and beds around it still do, and so does the lawn next door. So if you are planning turf for your yard, plan for the animals too.

Gopher, vole or mole: read the signs first

The signs all show up on the surface, and turf covers the surface. Look before anything is dug. PlantTalk Colorado sorts them like this:

• Pocket gophers. Fan-shaped or round mounds with no open hole. Solid tubes of soil, called eskers, that appear as snow melts. Plants that suddenly wilt because their roots are damaged.
• Voles. Runways 1 to 2 inches wide through matted grass, open holes 1 to 2 inches across, and spongy soil.
• Moles. Rarely found in Colorado, and only on the far eastern plains. Anywhere else in the state, the digger is a different animal.

UC IPM adds that one gopher can push up several mounds a day. Fresh mounds mean an active gopher.

What turf changes for voles

Voles live closer to the surface than gophers. UC IPM’s vole notes describe many short, shallow burrows and runways hidden under grass or other cover. Voles also eat turfgrass. CSU Extension says they often build runways in lawns, and that most damage happens in winter under snow.

What voles want is cover. UC lists vegetation, mulch and weed cloth as the ground cover they use near homes. PlantTalk Colorado calls shrub and flower beds covered with landscape fabric especially attractive, and says Front Range junipers often suffer vole damage. It also says voles are more common where yards border natural areas or greenbelts with tall grass. Its advice:

• Avoid landscape fabric in beds.
• Pull mulch away from the bases of trees and shrubs.
• Mow tall grass next to lawn areas in the fall, once it stops growing.

So with voles, plan the edges. A yard that trades grass for turf but keeps fabric-and-mulch beds on every side still gives voles a home.

Deal with the animals before you build

Bring the numbers down before the ground is covered. UC IPM says the sooner you act, the better, and warns that gophers move back in from wildlands, vacant lots and other nearby land. Its quick tips:

1. Set traps in active burrows, near fresh mounds.
2. Keep trapping until no new mounds appear.
3. Level old mounds so new ones are easy to spot.

CSU says gopher trapping is usually most successful in spring and fall, when gophers are building tunnels. For voles, it suggests mouse snap traps placed across runways, set in the fall. PlantTalk warns that voles can carry the bacterium that causes tularemia, so handle them with care.

Some things to skip. UC IPM says smoke and gas cartridges don’t work on gophers, because gophers seal off their burrows quickly. Toxic baits can harm pets, children and wildlife. If you use one, read and follow the label, or hire a pest control professional.

Should wire mesh go in the base?

Consider it if you see fresh gopher mounds, or your yard backs onto open land. These fact sheets were written for gardens, trees and lawns, not turf. The closest match is a garden bed: CSU says to line beds with ¼-inch hardware cloth, and UC IPM says small areas can be protected by screening the sides and bottom completely.

Mesh sizes in the sources:

• Gophers: ¼- to ½-inch hardware cloth (CSU), or ½- to ¾-inch mesh (UC IPM).
• Voles: ¼ inch or smaller (UC IPM), and ¼-inch hardware cloth around trees (CSU).

Quarter-inch is the size that covers both. Three cautions come from the same sources:

• Edges. CSU’s buried gopher fence goes at least 18 inches down, with a 6-inch apron bent outward toward the gopher. UC’s goes at least 2 feet. UC notes a determined gopher can still tunnel under the wire.
• Rust. UC recommends galvanized or stainless steel for a longer life. Utah State University Extension says galvanized mesh is not a permanent solution, because it will eventually rust away.
• Tree roots. UC warns that wire can restrict and damage tree roots. Keep mesh out of root zones, and read artificial turf around trees before you plan near one.

Mesh goes down before the base. Adding it later means lifting the turf. Our article on what goes under artificial turf covers the other layers.

Protect the irrigation lines that stay

A turf area needs no sprinklers. Lines to beds and trees often still cross or border it, and both animals chew them. UC IPM says gophers gnaw flexible plastic water lines, drip lines in particular, and their tunnels can carry off water and erode soil. Voles can puncture irrigation lines too.

The fixes in the sources:

• Conduit. CSU says to enclose buried cables and irrigation lines in conduit more than 2.9 inches across. Below that size, gophers can damage even cables armored with soft metal.
• Gravel. UC IPM suggests 6 to 8 inches of coarse gravel, 1 inch or larger, around buried flexible sprinkler lines. CSU says rock larger than 1 inch around cables may protect them.

Decide which lines stay, which are capped and where each one runs before the base is built.

Before you install: a checklist

1. Walk the yard for fresh mounds, eskers after snowmelt, runways, open holes and wilting plants.
2. Name the animal. Outside Colorado, ask your county extension office which burrowing animals are local.
3. Control the animals first, and wait until no new mounds appear.
4. Decide on mesh: size, metal, and how the edges are closed.
5. Keep mesh out of tree root zones.
6. Map every irrigation line that stays, and plan conduit or gravel around it.
7. Rethink the beds beside the turf. Fabric and heavy mulch give voles cover.
8. Tell us what you’ve seen on the free visit, when we measure and check the ground, so any mesh is part of the custom layout you approve.