Gophers are strict herbivores that feed primarily on roots, tubers, bulbs, and the fleshy underground parts of plants. They eat a surprisingly large amount: one study from the University of Nebraska tracked a pocket gopher consuming an average of 52 grams of food per day, and during a particularly active 17-day stretch, it ate roughly its own body weight in food daily.
Roots Are the Year-Round Staple
Roots make up the bulk of a gopher’s diet across every season. As gophers tunnel through soil, they encounter and feed on the roots of whatever plants grow above. Plants with large taproots are the most vulnerable, while plants with thin, fibrous root systems often escape with minimal damage. Alfalfa and dandelion roots rank among their most preferred foods.
Beyond roots, gophers regularly eat tubers (like potatoes and sweet potatoes), bulbs, seeds, grasses, and succulent green vegetation. They’re drawn to clovers, legumes, and other herbaceous cover crops. When those green food sources dry up in summer or become scarce in winter, gophers shift to feeding on tree bark and woody roots instead.
How Gophers Actually Forage
Most of a gopher’s feeding happens underground, which is why the damage can be hard to spot at first. But gophers also surface briefly to clip small plants growing within a few inches of their tunnel openings, then pull the vegetation underground to eat in safety. If you’ve ever watched a plant seemingly vanish into the ground overnight, that’s classic gopher behavior.
Gophers don’t just eat on the go. They build dedicated food storage chambers branching off their main tunnels, stocking them with roots and plant material. These food caches, along with nesting chambers, have been found as deep as 5 to 6 feet below the surface, where temperatures stay stable enough to keep food usable through winter.
Garden Plants Gophers Target Most
In a garden setting, gophers will eat almost anything plant-based, but they have clear favorites. Alfalfa, dandelions, and clover top the list. Root vegetables and tubers are major targets since they’re essentially underground meals waiting to be found. Flower bulbs, berry plants, and ornamental shrubs are all fair game too.
The damage isn’t always limited to what they eat. Gophers can destroy whole plants by severing root systems during tunneling, even if they only consume part of the plant. Flowering plants, vegetable gardens, and any lush, well-watered area with dense vegetation will attract gophers because it signals abundant food and soft, easy-to-dig soil.
Damage to Trees and Shrubs
Gophers pose a serious threat to trees, especially young fruit trees and vines. They feed directly on taproots, which can weaken or kill a tree outright. They also gnaw on the bark and the thin growth layer just beneath it, a behavior called girdling. This girdling typically happens below the soil line, so you won’t see it unless you pull dirt away from the base of the trunk.
A girdled tree loses vigor slowly. It may take weeks or months before the canopy shows visible decline, by which point the underground damage is already severe. Orchards, vineyards, and landscapes with young trees are particularly vulnerable because the root systems are still small enough for a single gopher to compromise.
Gophers vs. Moles: A Common Mix-Up
Many people blame moles for plant damage that gophers actually caused. The distinction is simple: gophers eat plants, moles do not. Moles are insectivores that tunnel through soil hunting earthworms, grubs, and insects. Their tunnels can disrupt roots incidentally, but they’re not feeding on your garden.
The telltale sign of a gopher is a plant that disappears. Mole damage looks like raised ridges of soil with plants still intact above them. If your carrots, bulbs, or young shrubs are vanishing from below, a gopher is almost certainly responsible.
What Attracts Gophers to a Yard
Gophers move into areas that offer their preferred foods in abundance. Dense weed growth, especially nutsedge, clover, and other legumes, creates ideal habitat. Well-irrigated gardens with soft soil and plenty of root crops are essentially a buffet. Even a healthy lawn with deep grass roots can sustain a gopher population.
Reducing vegetative cover and removing preferred food sources like clover and legumes from the area around orchards or garden beds makes the space less attractive. Gophers are pragmatic foragers. They settle where digging is easy and food is plentiful, and they’ll move on when conditions aren’t worth the effort.