Grasshoppers invading....again

[montanamato]

I had been feeling guilty with our 70's and 80's....88 tommorrow and 90 Wed. I have container tomatoes doing great and the rest hardened off and waiting another 10 days or so to plant out.
Then today I saw all the grasshoppers that are hatching...
I don't know what my strategy should be if they get as bad as they can. 3 years ago they were so bad, they ate my garden, our lawns, evergreen trees and were like the plague. You literally could not run from the car to the house with groceries and not bring about 20 into the house....I am talking major hopper like the mail delivery ladies car was overheating from all of them on the roads. We used some poison on the perimeter of the garden and there were so many dead hoppers in the garden they served as a mulch...
Does anyone ever have a grasshopper problem on a large scale and how do you deal with it...
I free range about 40-50 chickens around the garden too, and they must each eat a hundred daily..
Luckily they don't like tomato foilage real well, but I really like to have a garden....

Jeanne

[kimpossible]

Wow, - we have grasshoppers when the weather is really hot & dry for an extended period - but nothing like that. What you describe reminds me of specials I have seen on TV done by National Geographic about grasshopper plagues on the Canadian prairies ...

[montanamato]

I couldn't believe it either...I had hoped it was a freak happening, but the neighbors seem to think it happens fairly regularily...
I would lay awake at night with the window open and could actually hear them eating. It was like a sci fi flick.
I was hoping someone had a sort of similar problem and some solutions.
I do have row covers for the cole crops , and I guess I should be glad for the rainy cold springs in the past that kept them to manageable numbers...I guess we could still get a cold , wet snap later this spring.
Jeanne

[Tania]

Jeanne - OMG!

I can't even picture that - it must be devastating!
We have grasshoppers here, but I only see about a dozen per day, hopping around the garden - nothing close to what you might get... Is there still a hope that you won't get too many of these?

[montanamato]

Tania...yes I am hoping I overecated. The past few days I have not seen a big increase. I have started planting in the main garden now, so I must leave the chickens locked up...however if the hoppers start to significantly multiply I will let the chickens out again...
The past 2 years have been bearable in terms of bugs, but I still have good memories of the invasion...
My tomatoes have really gone wild with the past 10 days of 80's and 90's, so I hope I get to reap the benefits...
Japanese Dwarf is a great plant, I should have fruit soon, thanks again.

Jeanne

[coronabarb]

"I would lay awake at night with the window open and could actually hear them eating. It was like a sci fi flick."

That is absolutely CREEPY!!! You see, I was tramatized as a kid by that Giant Grasshopper movie shown on the Chiller series. (keith, don't you go posting a pic)

I get a lot of grasshoppers here but NOTHING like what you are describing. I think chickens or ducks are probably the best you can do.

[JabulaZa]

Of course you could always eat them, strange as it might sound the Ugandans and some other nations do eat them.
Grashopper Eating
They are a very good source of protein and can be tasty when cooked with tomatoes and onions.

Just watch out for the poisoness ones, (usually brightly colored).

[montanamato]

How encouraging....I am sure my toddlers ingeat a few as well as the barn cats, but I don't think I know which are poisonous?
I counted 7 or 8 different types last attack, and so far I just see plain brown guys and lime green ones. Cold and rainy the next 3 days, I hope it poors and freezes, as that seems to be the best solution once they have hatc hed. I can cover the tomatoes in the garden and would gladly sacrifice them for enough cold and damp to squelch the hoppers!

[peppereater]

Here ya go, check out this product:
http://www.hydro-gardens.com/grasshop.htm
Nosema locustae, a grasshopper disease spore...it is wonderful. We had that same plague you had a few years ago. This stuff knocked it down within about a month...you really have to get it applied early to save your garden, but it persists in the environment and gives great control for several years.

[matermama]

I would suggest Prayamantids but i don't think you could get enough to eat all the grasshopers.
In Ohio our first yr here and the Cicadas hatched from there under bottom world, yes they only come out ever 18 yrs !!!!!! lucky us we picked that yr. ahahhha yuk, yik and yak it was gross!!! i can feel your pain . But atleast the cicadas are back in there slumber for another 17 yrs for me . Good luck
sue

[montanamato]

My husband applied Demlin(sp?) last year around some of the hay pivots and hopefully will get some perimeters around our house done soon. I am not sure what demlin is, but it is "supposedly" safe, as it somehow prevents grasshoppers from molting to the next stage. I know it needs applied soon after hatching.
We just recieved about 2.3 in rain and another day forecast for cold and rain...I am hoping that makes a major difference, as I really like it when the weather and chickens can keep them checked up...
I already have quite a bit of pepper damage...
The disease spores sound interesting..how is it applied?
Jeanne

[peppereater]

I believe I applied the spore directly with a broadcast spreader. I may have mixed it with some inert ingredient first to make application easier, I don't recall for sure.
We live on 20 acres of land, and I applied the spore to about 2 acres. It takes a few weeks to have a significant effect, and is most effective the second year, and perhaps the third. Once the disease is established, it will always be present and will affect grasshopper populations, but not to the degree as in those first years. We have never had many grasshoppers since I first applied. They actually carry the disease around to other grasshoppers. There is simply no way we could have gotten control of the grasshoppers that year without it, even crop dusting would only have killed the grasshoppers that were hit, and others would simply have moved in to take their place.

[montanamato]

Thanks Dave for the info...sounds interesting.
We have to identify the worst areas to treat early each year, if an outbreak is starting.
The ranch here is 85,000 + and only the few areas of irrigation generally get treated.
Unfortunately our house and barns sit in the worst zone, and even when we treat around our buildings, you can see large eaten paths over the hills where they just keep marching through, an aerial view is really interesting.
I do like the idea of disease spreading among the survivors!
Jeanne

[peppereater]

With that much acreage, you could try crop dusting. The great part about the disease is that it won't harm livestock or anything, and the disease spreads with the grasshopper migration, so in theory a much greater area of control is acheived than just the treated areas. I treated 2 acres and the area around our house and garden soon had 90 to 95 percent fewer grasshoppers. There were also fewer in the pasture, even 100 yards and more away from the treated area.