12 QTY Digger's RootGuardTM 3-Gallon Heavy Duty Gopher Wire Baskets

It took me a bit to figure out how to use these. Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy:1) Fold edge flanges back so they touch the netting on one side.2) Open basket and form it to a circle.3) With a pair of pliers, bend the flanges inward at the depth of the bottom of the basketHaven't had any incursions through the mesh in about a month. For one of them, gopher appears to have gone over the top and back in. I leave the green edge out of the ground about 25-30 mm.

I bought and installed a dozen of these, thinking it would save me time and money over the 1/2 inch hardware cloth I'd been constructing square baskets of. A couple days ago I saw that a gopher had burrowed up to the basket from one side and apparently bit the main stem of a developing tomato plant through the basket (above ground). I had had two plants in that basket that were sizing up and figured the other was on the opposite side, so appeared safer. I transplanted a young replacement seeding into that basket– weeks behind the original plant (I grow from seed), and put a hardware cage around the top of the gopher basket.But yesterday I found what you see in those photos. In the second photo you can see the depression at upper right where the critter had burrowed up to the edge of the basket then bit the stem right through it the previous day.But the biggest issue is that at least one got into the middle of the basket right through it! Perhaps they sent in their baby, but clearly a critter burrowed into the basket from one side. I dug the basket out – to protect what's left, though close inspection reveals the critters got both maturing plants down to below growing points. In the dug up basket you can trace the burrow from near the bottom, up into the center of the basket, where it decapitated the remaining developing plant there. Zoom in and you can see the burrow in the photos. I could stick my fingers down through the burrow,Now I feel I must dig up most of the baskets I installed and replace them with hardware cages. Clearly the gophers know they can get past the baskets, so I already dug up two nearby baskets and I'm digging up the last basket a few yards away today. Tomorrow I plan to get at least some hardware cloth locally since I need to replace those I dug up immediately! Some plants in baskets have developed too far to dig up so I can only armor most of those spots with hardware cloth and hope that will be enough to deter the gophers. I've done extensive armoring of larger beds with hardware cloth.This is why I've given this product a 1 star rating for "ease of use:. They were easy enough to install, but since I now have to dig up all those I can, this is far from easy and a wasted expenditure. Now I must put in far more time than I thought I would save by using these baskets.I may order some hardware cloth on Amazon. I used 1/4 in. hardware cloth to keep mice out of my cold frame, but have thus far used 1/2 in. on the garden. Sadly, I've learned that where the cloth extends above the ground (necessary against the gophers), lizards are likely to get trapped in it – they squeeze the front of their body through then get stuck. I've seen 3 western fence lizards succumb that way in the past couple months. So now I'm thinking of using 1/4 in/ cloth to retrofit likely lizard entry points, as well as for the subsequent cages and general armoring.Note: I live and garden at about 3500 feet elevation in western Sierras, so gardening is already challenging enough here. The failure of this product is a major disappointment and inconvenience!

One would think a 3 gallon basket fits a 3 gallon plant, or at least I did. Actually, they fit substantially less, which is fine if you know that going into it. It is important to protect the roots of the plant and give them room to expand which is what a 3 gallon basket does, but perhaps it would make sense to relabel the names or make it more clear as to what they fit. The diagram is extremely confusing. A better diagram would say: x nursery pot for y basket. Yes trees grow larger roots than a perennial but nonetheless a refined simple diagram would help.

I've learned that without caging the roots, trees in my restoration area will be dead within a short period of time. These cages make it easy to protect root growth while the young trees grow.

Pricier than other mesh gopher baskets, but heavy duty and very sturdy. The steel rims around the top and bottom of the basket help it keep its shape and make it easier to use. I have seen lighter weight mesh baskets chewed through. These are much stronger, with chicken wire instead of fine mesh. I expect these will be more effective than other brands at keeping gophers away from plants and will last longer as well.

ARRIVED ON TIME. WORK GREAT! I USED TO MAKE MY OWN ,BUT WOULD END UP LOOKING LIKE I WAS IN A CAT FIGHT AND THE CAT WON! SIMPLY OPEN WIRE MESH AND PLANT AWAY! MY ACRE IS INFESTED WITH GOPHERS AS I AM SURROUNDED BY ALMOND TREES. THE FARMERS CHASE THE GOPHERS OUT OF THEIR FIELDS INTO MY GARDEN! HAVE ALL 12 IN GROUND ALREADY AND HAVEN'T LOST A PLANT YET! WILL BE BUYING MORE AND LARGER SIZES! HIGHLY RECOMMEND THESE TO ANYONE THAT HAS GOPHER PROBLEMS AND LIKES TO GARDEN.

These little "planting cages" are the only way I can get bushes to survive because I have so many gophers. These cages will eventually rot away underground, but in the meantime, they allow the roots to develop enough to withstand gopher attack by the time that happens.Worth it! Just be sure to leave some of the cage above-ground and fold in over toward the stem of the bush/plant because sometimes the gophers go above ground and actually dive into the cage to get down to the roots that way - lesson learned.

Let me be clear, these gopher baskets have, far as I know, worked fine. The only reason for my low rating is the hardness of getting them open right. I don't blame the company since that's the best way to ship them I guess. But I'm picturing some little old lady trying to open one of these.Later Revision: I've since bought gopher baskets at the nursery that are sold already open. By the look of it, it was sold to them that way. If so, it's possible to sell them open.