What Do Gophers Eat? Understanding Gopher Food Sources in Southern California

Pocket gophers are herbivores that spend the vast majority of their lives underground, feeding on plant material they encounter in their tunnel systems. Understanding what gophers eat explains the specific damage patterns they cause, which plants are most at risk, and why certain landscapes have more severe gopher problems than others.

Roots: The Primary Food Source

Roots are the staple of a pocket gopher's diet. As a gopher expands its tunnel system through soil, it encounters the roots of whatever plants grow above. Fine feeder roots — the small, hair-like roots responsible for water and nutrient uptake — are consumed first. As the gopher continues feeding in an area, it works toward larger structural roots. Gophers also pull plants down from below, gripping roots and drawing the entire above-ground portion of smaller plants underground to feed on.

In Southern California's irrigated residential landscapes, virtually every plant's root system is accessible to a gopher. Lawn grass roots, ornamental shrub roots, rose roots, vegetable garden roots, and the fine feeder roots of established trees are all consumed regularly.

Bulbs and Tubers: High-Value Targets

Bulbs, corms, and tubers are particularly attractive to gophers because they are calorie-dense underground storage organs. Tulip bulbs, iris rhizomes, agapanthus tubers, and similar ornamental bulb crops are frequently devastated by gopher feeding. A gopher that discovers a planted bulb bed can clear it entirely in a short time. Dahlia tubers, gladiolus corms, and similar summer bulbs are especially vulnerable. Gardeners who repeatedly lose bulb plantings without visible above-ground damage often eventually find that gophers were pulling bulbs down from below.

Fleshy Roots and Root Vegetables

Vegetable gardens with root crops are prime gopher territory. Carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, turnips, and similar root vegetables are exactly the food gophers seek. An untreated gopher in a vegetable garden can destroy an entire season's root crop. Even non-root vegetables suffer because gophers consume the root systems that support above-ground crops, causing plants to wilt and die without visible gopher activity above ground.

Fruit Tree and Ornamental Tree Roots

The root systems of established citrus, avocado, stone fruit, and ornamental trees are a significant gopher food source in Southern California landscapes. Gophers feed on the fine feeder roots of trees extensively, and sustained feeding on larger structural roots can kill or seriously damage established trees. This is why gopher activity near fruit trees and ornamental specimens warrants immediate treatment — the feeding that happens underground may not be visible above ground until significant root damage has already occurred.

Irrigation Lines: Not Food, But Still Damaged

Gophers do not eat plastic drip lines, but they do chew through them — apparently drawn to the moisture they carry. The resulting irrigation damage is extensive and expensive in drip-irrigated landscapes. While not a food source, irrigation line damage is one of the most costly consequences of gopher activity in Southern California's heavily irrigated residential gardens.

What Attracts Gophers to Your Yard Specifically

Properties with the most severe gopher problems typically have consistent irrigation creating year-round soil moisture, well-amended soils that are easy to tunnel through, a diversity of root crops and fleshy-rooted ornamentals, and proximity to adjacent gopher reservoirs. Reducing any of these factors reduces gopher attractiveness, though the most effective control is always removing the animals through professional trapping and CO treatment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do gophers eat grass?

Yes — grass roots are a primary food source. Gophers also pull grass stems and crowns down into tunnels. Lawn areas with gopher activity often develop dead patches where root systems have been consumed.

Will gophers eat my vegetable garden?

Actively, yes. Root vegetables are prime targets, and the roots of all vegetable crops are vulnerable. Vegetable gardens require prompt treatment when gopher activity is detected.

Are there plants gophers won't eat?

Gophers avoid some strongly scented plants like lavender, rosemary, and catmint, but these are not reliable deterrents and do not protect adjacent plants. Removal through professional control is the only reliable solution.

Call 909-599-4711 to protect your plants and root systems from gopher damage.