Ever since I planted sunflowers, back in April, I have been battling forces to let them grow and keep them alive. Our home is surrounded by fields, and because we live in farm country we have gophers. Not just one, or two. Stephen has been able to catch and kill 6. The first one Stephen get it stranded by filling its tunnels with water, and it was either drown or face instant, painless death by Stephens hands. Does that keep them away, or diminish their numbers? Never!
My first sunflower to survive through the first sprout fell prey to those pests. It was over 2 feet tall and I believed it was going to make it. Nope. One gopher ate right through the main root. We even tried transplanting it into a bucket, but that was a wasted effort. Out of complete frustration as more sprouts were shriveling up from heat and lack of water and we saw more and more dirt mounds piling up (a sign of more gophers) I bought more seeds. I planted the seed every 6 inches in hopes that with more sprouts there would be more that could survive all at once.
A week later I lost another 2 feet tall stalk to a different gopher, a smaller one that I don't believe we have been able to catch. Because I saw several new sprouts I wanted them to have a chance, as well as all of my existing plants that were still living, I went to war. We first purchased this funky stake thing that you put in a fuse, light it, and toss it in a gopher hole. Essentially it gasses them out, or kills them. We lit one, and for a day or two we didn't see any new mounds. That supposed victory was short lived. We tossed in 2 stakes in 2 holes that were 20 feet away from the other.
It was like that gopher that took down the second stalk was mocking us. 4 hours after lighting up a stake there was movement around it. It returned for the remaining roots and water. I was so angry! I was losing this battle, and at this rate I would never have a single bloom; not if the gophers kept eating through any stalk that was big enough to produce one.
So I got 2 of these babies.
And guess what!...
Of course seeing that many blooms on one stalk made me realize that planting seeds 6 inches apart from the next was far TOO close for these gigantic plants. However, now that I've purchased a 3rd gopher repelling device I'm going to extend my line of flowers all the way to the back fence, and maybe even around the corner a little.
I do have to report that though I've won the battle against the gophers, the war isn't over. The previous tenants were so kind as to dump oil in random places throughout the property. The biggest dumps sites are along the fence line. One reason why no weeds have been growing there, and another reason why my sprouts keep dying.
If you look in the picture of my bloomed flower, the stalk in the foreground is the one suffering from the oil. The rest of the sprouts (and seeds that never sprouted) have died. So on Saturday Stephen dug out 10 (5 gallon) buckets full of oil-tainted dirt from that spot, leaving the sad looking sprout. Today it is already perking up, and its newest leaves look stronger and fuller.
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