Narcissus Bulbs Blooming Alongside Chicken Coop
If gophers are a problem in your garden or property I can recommend an organic green solution you might not have tried yet, the beautiful narcissus bulb. Any type of narcissus bulb, which includes jonquils, paperwhites, and daffodils will be a deterrent to gophers, rabbits, and deer in your garden and property. For simplicity sake, I am writing mainly about gophers and daffodils, but this solution works just as well for rabbits and deer, using all types of narcissus bulbs.
It is important to plant bulbs that are hardy for your climate. Check the packaging information included with your bulbs, or with the source you are purchasing your bulbs from. Generally speaking, these type of bulbs are planted in the fall time frame, and are cold hardy blooming in early winter, depending again on your specific climate zone.
Narcissus bulbs are such a wonderful green solution to deterring gophers for many reasons. Once you plant your bulbs, depth and spacing depends on variety, they bloom year and year. They are simply beautiful to look at, and often very fragrant. Bulbs planted in the ground send out a year round message to critters by actually “advertising” a toxicity odor or fragrance. Yes, that’s right. Even before a bulb is bitten into, it is sending a warning, that it has a natural toxicity ability to irritate (burn) the soft tissues of their mouth and cheeks. Gophers find it uncomfortable and stay clear of the bulbs, “taking a hike” out of the vicinity. To some extent by limiting their food source, you are limiting their population, and they have to go elsewhere. Once your bulbs are planted and in the ground, give it some time, and you will notice gophers staying clear of the area near your bulbs.
If you have ever had a gopher problem, you have probably tried trapping, poisoning, drowning, blasting, and a few other gopher terminator techniques. Gophers can be quite a menace taking out a rosebush, grapevine, shrub, or vegetable plant, usually by eating the root system. If you have chickens like I do, gophers can be especially persistent in trying to reach their “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow”, the chicken feed bucket and ensuing spillage around it. I even have a 1 1/2 foot wire fencing buried around the chicken coop to discourage gophers.
Try planting bulbs first in a few specific areas, such as along side your chicken coop or the perimeter of your vegetable garden. With time and budget permitting, you can expand your bulb planting as you see your success.
In vegetable gardens where you have a lot of rabbits on a regular basis, try planting bulbs among your vegetables, besides the perimeter. In flower beds, for instance where you have tulips, and a problem with deer, plant your narcissus bulbs mixed closely with your tulip bulbs. All types of iris and agapanthus are gopher, rabbit, and deer resistant, too.
One of my favorite sources for bulbs is the mail order business, www.easytogrowbulbs.com (tel) (866) 725-5361. They sell bulbs for all zones, but specialize in “warm climate” bulbs.
Featured in the above photo is their “Erlicheer” Daffodil.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Bonnie,
Thanks for the wonderful photo, this would work for Kristi’s chickens, too late for her to plant more bulbs. I hear it’s snowing at her vinyard. I love your site, keep posting.
XOXO
JULES
Wonder full picture of the narcissus bulbs and the article is very intreresting. Hugs Ma Belle
I love the look of your fence – simple yet looks fairly easy to build. Do you have a photo of your chicken coop? That’s one of my goals this spring and I’m trying to get ideas of how to build mine. Thanks! Glenn
How about anemone bulbs? Will gophers eat them? I have a 100 to plant and I was hoping they would be gopher proof but beginning to doubt it…..
Dianne, gophers like to eat anemone bulbs I hate to tell you. Any type of narcissus bulbs which includes jonquils, paperwhites, and daffodils work on deterring gophers. Good luck. Thanks for your great comment…VintageGardenGal
The gophers and the deer eat my agapanthus
Michele, my friends at Easy To Grow Bulbs, who are bulb experts gave me this information. Also, I have seen it quite a bit in information online. I’m sure there is always an exception, as in your case. Thanks for your great comment…VintageGardenGal
The suggestion that gophers will leave irises alone is not true. I had a gopher that would come out of the ground and chomp on my irises right in front of me! Ate the stems and the bulbs.
I will try the narcissus, but guess I will need to wait until Fall. I’m also thinking of trying wind spinners and also chili pepper flakes. Fox urine, peppermint oil, and the humming stakes have not worked for me. I have trapped a bunch, but I hate doing it.
I have been told by a few people that gopher eat iris. My friends at bulb specialist, http://www.easytogrowbulbs.com, said iris deter gophers. I have clumps of iris in my orchard, and side of potager, and gophers tend not to go in those areas. Try narcissus bulbs, too. Gophers can be very determined. Thanks for for your comment….VintageGardenGal
Never figured on having a gopher in New Mexico – who knew? I had read somewhere that iris deter gophers so I’m experimenting and find that I’ve been able to keep the annoying little critter confined. I’ll be planting more iris just in case this “rumor” is true! It seems to work for me! And I’m glad to have this justification because my husband thinks I’m nuts…
Edna, my friends at Easy To Grow Bulbs, said iris deter gopher, among a few other bulbs. Try, what have you got to lose…VintageGardenGal
How close do you need to plant bulbs to clear a 30 x 30 garden riddled with gophers
Bonnie, I started planting my bulbs about 4″ apart. You might want to start with your biggest problem area, and then expand it. I love the bulbs, they are up and blooming right now. They eventually will naturalize and spread, too. It take a while for the gophers to react, so it is not an immediate process. It does work though. Thanks for your comment….VintageGardenGal
I love the look of paperwhites but I’ve always hated the smell! To me it smells like some animal peed all over the house. Every day. For a month. Ugh.
I never thought of planting them outside till I read your post. Now I can enjoy their look AND deter the pests.
Some people love their fragrance, and others not. I love how they look in my pottage, and the fragrance that I smell when I walk close by. Thanks for sharing….VintageGardenGal
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