# Grasshoppers!!!!



## Pocboy (Aug 12, 2004)

OMG, they are destroying my garden and nothing seems to work. They have eaten the onions to the ground and have almost done the same with the green beans. Any suggestions? It does not help that there is a lot next to us, ten feet from the garden, that is overgrown and full of high grass and brush.


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## Farmer Jim (May 21, 2004)

Pocboy said:


> OMG, they are destroying my garden and nothing seems to work. They have eaten the onions to the ground and have almost done the same with the green beans. Any suggestions? It does not help that there is a lot next to us, ten feet from the garden, that is overgrown and full of high grass and brush.


LET THE PEOPLE GO!!

YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE WHAT IS NEXT!

:wink:


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

They are probably coming in from that adjoining lot. I always prefer organic solutions to chemicals, but may not work in this case...but here is something to try...

Catch a bunch of them and make a grasshopper puree...blender or grind them up or whatever but make a "juice" out of them. Add some water, strain, put in your tank sprayer and have at it....


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## Shellbank Island (Dec 26, 2009)

Or just get some chickens.


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## SV_DuckBuster (Sep 18, 2007)

Get you some frogs in your garden.

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef116.asp
*NATURAL CONTROLS*

Natural enemies (living organisms which use grasshoppers as a nutrient source) are the reason why we generally see only localized outbreaks of grasshoppers. Many natural enemies are specialists on orthopterans, while others are generalists, using grasshoppers as one of many hosts.

Fungi attack grasshoppers. A diseased grasshopper body may be soft, with fungal bodies evident to the naked eye.

The red locust mite, _Trombidium locustarum_Riley is an important natural enemy. This mite feeds on the egg stage, and will also attach itself on various parts of nymphs and adults. The red locust mite uses its mouthparts to suck up the fluid from its host. A mite-infested grasshopper drags itself around, eats little, and dies early.

Horsehair worms, a type of nematode, are a notable natural enemy also. Infested grasshoppers rarely produce young (see ENTfact 613, Horsehair Worms). Other types of nematodes are natural enemies too. Nematode eggs are laid on plants, and are eaten by grasshoppers. The young nematodes burrow through the wall of the stomach, and with high levels of infection/infestation they can cause death, primarily due to dessication.

There are several dipterous parasites of grasshoppers, including Tachinidae and Sarcophagidae fly species. Tachinidae flies oviposit eggs on the nymph or adult, and the emerging tachinid larvae eat their way into the body of the grasshopper. Parasitized grasshoppers have soft, flabby bodies, and are slow moving. Generally, parasitized grasshoppers die earlier and do not reproduce. _Sarcophaga _sp., flesh flies, attack in a manner similar to Tachinidae flies, although the maggots do not kill the host.

Egg predators such as bee flies, blister beetles (_Epicauta pennsylvanica_), and Scelionid wasps are important natural enemies, too. Ground beetle adults and larvae feed upon the eggs. Vertebrate predators such as skunks, shrews, moles, salamanders, toads, and snakes feed upon grasshopper eggs too.

*Predation of nymphs and adults by toads, snakes, and birds (hawks, blackbirds, crows, bluejays, prairie chicken, mockingbirds, and bluebirds), have an impact on the population too, although they feed primarily during the summer season.*


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## w_r_ranch (Jan 14, 2005)

Shellbank Island said:


> Or just get some chickens.


That was my first thought too...

Aerial spraying is too expensive unless your talking hundreds of acres.


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## 6.5 shooter dude (Jan 8, 2008)

Pocboy said:


> OMG, they are destroying my garden and nothing seems to work. They have eaten the onions to the ground and have almost done the same with the green beans. Any suggestions? It does not help that there is a lot next to us, ten feet from the garden, that is overgrown and full of high grass and brush.


It's a little late but use this next year.

Neem oil.

http://www.plant-care.com/pest-control-without-pesticides.html


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## Rubberback (Sep 9, 2008)

Shellbank Island said:


> Or just get some chickens.


 Thats what I did. Had to build a fence around the garden. I'm gonna build a run around my garden.


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## Nokillbill (Nov 27, 2006)

you will find the answers to your questions. but first you must snatch the pebbels from my hand young grass hopper.


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