Is anyone else having problems with grasshoppers this year?? They seem to be everywhere. I want to get rid of them, but I dont want to use insecticide. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Grasshoppers
We don't have enough (so far) to be a problem, but I have been noticing just lately a bunch of those giant ones.
I dunno, seagulls? Chickens?
I think some of them are eating my hibiscus buds, and leaving them deformed, it just never ends, does it?
I have seen a few, but nothing major. I am concerned for the butterfly caterpillars, so I squish the ones I do find.
I have an orchard and they came in and ate a few Apple trees. They literally ate the leaves, bark and living cambium layer under the bark. It appears that Apples and Apricots are their favorites. They also focus on newly planted trees while they pass up trees of the same variety that have been established a few years.
I cant really bait them since the nearby fields also have them too. I have been cutting the grass down really low and that has helped. Before cutting the surrounding area, I had plague numbers. I mean hundreds of thousands. I also sprayed some of the foliage with concentrated garlic. I plan on adding hot chile peppers to that mix.
The best treatment is NoLo. It is a organic approved bacteria applied to bran flakes that specifically targets grasshoppers. The bacteria makes them stop eating and when they die, the other grasshoppers eat them since they are cannibalistic. You can only treat early in the season and it is too late as it effects young grasshoppers. I plan on treating next year as I forgot this year.
I bet that would be good on crickets also. In warehouses etc they really have a problem with crickets because they come in then die and become food for the next ones that find a way in. Not to mention the stink.
I've heard that in a years with a rainy winter, the number of grasshoppers is low because a fungus of some sort kills them in large numbers, but someone forgot to tell that to the grasshoppers this year. Although not as bad as last year, they are around in large numbers this year as well.
Last year, after they had eaten most of my ornamentals down to nubs, they kept the grass mowed through most of the summer. We had hundreds of thousands as I'm surrounded by miles of pastures and fields with no practical way to kill them. I was told by our AgriLife agent that the only way to effectively control grasshoppers is to kill the eggs by plowing everything under down 2" to 3" in September or October and everyone in the area would have to do it. No sane rancher is going to be willing to plow his pastures under. Anything one person does works only for a short period of time. Then grasshoppers from surrounding areas will move back in. As Lee stated, once you miss the nymph stage, it is too late for NOLO. In fact, my local nurseryman refused to sell it to me last year. There are downsides to NOLO. It melts in rain and must be re-applied and it is very expensive.
Grasshoppers do have preferences. They love apples, citrus, Brugmansias and roses, but they will take almost any vegetation that's alive. Last year, I lost all my young apple trees, all but one of my citrus regardless of age, most of my Brugmansia collection and many of my roses. With all those grasshoppers around, I didn't have to mow my lawn from April through part of September. The drought took care of our pasture grasses.
I was desperate. Toward the end of July I tried Ortho Max Flower, Fruit & Vegetable Insect spray on my plants. It's a contact killer, safe on fruits and vegetables as well as on ornamentals and imparts a surprising amount of protection against grasshopper damage for a few weeks. The bad part is that it only comes pre-mixed.
http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?partNumber=304871-446-0331210&langId=-1&storeId=10151&productId=3199869&catalogId=10051&cmRelshp=sim&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1
Comes in a smaller 32-oz container as well. So far, this is the best grasshopper killer I have found. It does kill other insects as well so you have to be careful not to spray beneficials. Nothing else I tried last year, and I tried a number including home remedies, worked as well as this.
Here is all that remains of a young apple.
I didn't bother totaling up my losses last year. It would have been even more depressing.
If I get chickens will they eat the grasshoppers? I'm trying not to use any insecticides because of the butterflies, bees, and birds.
How large of an area?
Sometimes chickens are more destructive than grasshoppers.
My brother and his wife are in a little subdivision plonked down in the middle of acres and acres of agricultural land. They've had good luck using the chickens. They borrow the chickens from I guess one of the farmers, and just take them back when they're done, so they're not dealing with whatever other poultry issues one might have. There's a thing called a chicken tractor, which is really a cage with no bottom. You move the chickens around the yard, near to grasshopper-magnet plants, but don't let them loose to peck their own destructive way through your beds.
The grasshoppers aren't going to hang around while you place the chicken tractor over the area you want cleaned. If you are going to use chickens or guinea hens, they need to be allowed to wander around on their own. You may be buying more trouble with chickens.
I only spray the plants I want to protect and leave the wildlife plants alone. Once the spray dries, I don't think bees, butterflies and birds are in danger unless they chew the leave. Even then, I believe the spray makes the leaves unpalatable because I don't see grasshopper bodies lying around the plants I spray except for the ones I hit directly with the spray.
Used responsibly, there is a place for insecticides.
Went to check out a tall Manihot Hibiscus that was due to bloom soon. the top had been broken off and was dangling. Then I saw the culprit. I squished his head and put him in the bird feeder tray. I am sure some cardinal is happy.
My brugs are pitiful, whole leaves gone...expect it is grasshoppers. After attempting to be 100% organic for the last 6 years, I gave up. Because of the harsh winter bermuda grass invaded the st. augustine.....haven for chiggers. I looked like I had the big red measles and was almost ill. Then the ants moved into my bathroom area and all over the yard. Called the exterminator and they have been out 5 times in less than 3 months. And then there are the mosquitos. Surprisingly doesn't seem to have bothered the butterflies or birds. I felt really guilty but it had become so bad I could not even tend my garden. Apparently, the rules and regulations have taken the teeth out of many of the chemicals as it took so many times to even begin to get it under control. He sprays a different chemical for different bugs. No one thing for all anymore. Still yesterday every pot plant I moved had an ant nest in it. Been using diatomaceous earth but the ants are unaffected.
Have lots to do outside but today and tomorrow is to be 105. It will just have to wait.
You made a valiant effort I know.
Almost everything in my garden is under attack. Some of the plants are doing fine, but my veggies are not. I'm hoping to be ready for them next year since I have given up this one.
I have been seeing a few leaves on my hercules club tree being eaten. Then I saw a Giant Swallowtail laying eggs on it and decided to trim back some other things around it to give it room to grow. The whole tree is eat up, looks really bad. Then this afternoon I saw big grasshopper on it!! It was his last meal.
I know that they need to eat too, and I am willing to plant food just for them, unfortunately I don't think that will stop them from eating everything else. lol Oh well next year will be grasshopper murder for me.
I read somewhere that grasshoppers are attracted to the color yellow and also canola oil. You can hang something yellow (such as a yellow coffee can lid) over a bucket of water. The grasshoppers will try to land on the lure (slick yellow
plastic is best) and they then fall in the water and drown.) I have not tried this yet, but intend to do it soon since we are also having a problem with grasshoppers now.
Let us know the results.
Yes, do. They are taking my place apart bit by bit.
I know I have those huge yellow and black grasshoppers here but my chickens and turkeys will not touch them with a ten foot pole.. I picked up a few and threw them down for the chickens to peck on them..they hit their brakes and turn the other way.I will post a pic of the ones I have here..So when I see them, I have to really step on them hard to kill them.
As kids we always used those yellow and black ones, or any we could catch as fish bait. Daddy would give us a penny a head for live ones, and we'd go get a soda and bag of peanuts at the store later. Fish liked em, guess they were hungry and those things were making noises...
Only good use for grasshoppers that I have heard of. LOL!
We did have them at a venue that I worked for which had a lot of lights and in the fall they would cling to the building because of the warm brick. If you went out at lunch they would be on your car and somebody had one go into her purse. But the grackles would be searching for them as soon as daylight hit. (only thing a grackle is good for). Crickets were a pest there too.
This message was edited Aug 14, 2010 10:08 AM
chuckl, cricket swarms under the street lights at nite, yup