The growth of the plants roots are not affected by the baskets. Roots grow healthy and strong through the basket without harming the root system of the plants. The baskets are intended to last long and help the plants root system while its young when its most vulnerable against gophers and other rodent. When the root system gets bigger and stronger the baskets will dissolve over years.

 The way a gopher basket works is it wraps your plants in a protective mesh that will still allow the roots to grow past the mesh itself, but it’s not big enough for small critter’s paws to get through to the root ball. Our gopher mesh is densely threaded so tiny paws and claws won’t be able to press through to the hearts of your plants or the veggies you’re carefully growing either. 

  If you’re more concerned about the critters above ground who are trying to take a chunk out of your plants, there’s no reason you couldn’t use the gopher basket, unraveled as a cloche. We recommend using long earth staples to keep the gopher basket secure over the top of the plant. This method should easily protect against squirrels and rabbits if those are more of a problem than underground critter are. 

 Western Planting Solutions produces a huge variety access. Some of our sizes include our mini gopher basket that measures at 4”x6” through to our quart basket (6”x8”) and up to include five-gallon gopher baskets meant for sapling tree. If you need a custom size, please reach out to us. We’re always happy to fill a request. 

 Depending on whether you place it below ground or above as a cloche, it can work for nearly every critter. We’ve collected a list of the critters you have to be concerned about depending on your region and what gopher basket you need for each different species of critter.  The baskets work great against voles, moles, prairie dogs, ground hogs, rabbits, squirrels, wild hogs, armadillos, muskrats, and of course gophers, away from the roots, stems, and trunks of your plants. Installation is easy and, unlike other similar products, doesn’t beat up your hands with rough material. 

 When you place a fish in a bowl, it can only grow to be as big as the bowl permits it to. That works similarly with plants. Much in the same way trees and other plants can get root-bound within pots, a plant can get root bound within a gopher basket if it’s too small. For small sprouts we recommend starting off with our mini and then bringing it up to the quart sized gopher basket, potentially mid-growing season, just to ensure that your plant gets up to be the size you intended it to be.