What to do about locusts/flying-grasshoppers and how bad are they?

[Tracydr]

I doubt kaolin clay will work. When grasshoppers get desperate, they eat the window screens off the windows.

[biscgolf]

unfortunately nosema locustae isn't available in virginia. anybody want to ship me some?

[lakelady]

Originally Posted by Tracydr

I doubt kaolin clay will work. When grasshoppers get desperate, they eat the window screens off the windows.

You're kidding, right? please tell me so. I have nightmares about the freaking stink bugs because they got into my attic for the winter, and when the Christmas decorations came down, every single box had the stinkin bugs in it! My garage....took out the boxes of starter products/containers for seeding my tomatoes in late winter, and again, tons of stink bugs, NOT DEAD in them. I guess freezing has no effect.

I've begun making a list of all the places I will not retire to because of rattlesnakes, big spiders, alligators, etc. lol.... The biggest scare to me is the brown recluse spider. I know two people bitten by one locally and they got very, very sick for a very long time from them. They just love attics which is why mine is such a mess because I hate to go up there.

I live in the woods, on a lake, and bugs creep me out. go figure!

[Tracydr]

No, not kidding. During the last couple of OK droughts they've done just that. I was there for the 2004 drought and saw it. Have forum friends who said the same last summer.
They will eat all the green stuff, then start in on the window screens, any cloth, etc. Evil bugs!
I think that beneficial nematodes spread in spring/fall on the surrounding pastures can help. Ecobran is the best, spread of the grassy edges of your property.

[Dewayne mater]

Howard Garret says it does work on grasshoppers: http://www.dirtdoctor.com/Kaolin-Clay_vq2138.htm
Here is an available kaolin clay product called surround: https://cart.naturalorganicwarehouse..._id=126&ref=ac

I haven't used it so I can't convey personal results, but, I would be surprised if any insects that eat leaves would be too fired up about having to eat through a layer of clay to get there. If nothing else is working, this is a very earth friendly option that just might be worth a try.

Dewayne mater

[z_willus_d]

Originally Posted by rnewste

Naysen,

I gotta ask - - when you go outside and look straight up, do you see a dark cloud hanging overhead?

I've never seen anyone have such poor luck growing tomatoes. Your persistence is highly commendable as many of us would have given up on gardening and would have taken up building a Lionel train display in the basement instead.

Seriously, keep up the good fight!!

Raybo

Ray, I've come to believe gardening is just an ongoing series of inevitably loosing battles (particularly with tomatoes). They're all dying from the moment of germination. Each year/season/grow-cycle I rejoin the battle anew with unachievable, unrealistic hopes of the perfect plants: no disease, pests, physiological irregularities ...but invariably I encounter all of these. It's kind of like life. We all know where we are heading in the end, and instead of waiting for the days to go down it's best to seize the fruits of the day and devour them while they're ripe for the taking. My birds certainly seem to agree with this philosophy re: the eight blueberries that had finally ripened on my sole producing shrub yesterday. I took the last two.
-naysen

[z_willus_d]

I finally got a snap on an average sized locust taking a snack of/on one of my tomato vines. I had the boy in arms, so I couldn't address the issue with a direct and lethal SMACK, so sadly he had move on by the time I got back arms free. This one was just 4.5" large; others have reached upwards of 6".

--naysen

[kurt]

Has anybody in your area called the county agricultural department or any regulatory office?At 6 inches you can almost shoot them with a bb gun.I have seen them 2-3inches but that large something is wrong.Maybe the officials can do something for you if that is state or county property that you have stated where you think they might be coming from.

[saltmarsh]

Looks like you need to buy an Acme grasshopper harvester. Get a loan from the Export-Import Bank. Make Chocolate Covered Grasshoppers for sale to overseas markets. Sell out to Nestle and retire.

Or have them stuffed and mounted and sell them like the talking fish. Be the next Billy Mays.

You don't live anywhere near where "Them" was filmed, do you?

[kath]

Whoa- that thing is HUGE! We had a 17 year locust infestation a few years ago but they were nowhere near that size. How about a butterfly net?

[z_willus_d]

Yeah, they certainly are huge, and that one is one of the more moderately sized of them. I think they're loaded up with eggs. My guess is they're finishing up the grow cycle and laying their spawn up in my fertile garden. Oh joy. Kurt, they're certainly coming from the fields that abut my property, but I can't image our city/county would do anything about them. We only pay multiple thousands in taxes to them every year, and they have to make a living to you know. Kath, the butterfly net option probably isn't a bad idea. I'll have to find one on Amazon, or the local butterfly catching store. Who catches butterflies anymore...?
-naysen

[Karensnowj]

I wonder if diatomacious earth would help you. Its a powder,gets in the exoskeletin and kills flying and crawling insects with no insectacides. Just put it in a bottle like talcum powder and puff it around all your plants.karen

[kath]

naysen- I found butterfly nets at the dollar store and bought a couple for the grandkids to play with in the creek. Very cheaply made, of course- cardboard tube covered in colored plastic for the handle and coat-hanger wire to hold the netting. Maybe you could rig one up out of bamboo, wire and netting?

kath

[DogsandDirt]

Originally Posted by z_willus_d

Each year/season/grow-cycle I rejoin the battle anew with unachievable, unrealistic hopes of the perfect plants: no disease, pests, physiological irregularities ...
-naysen

So, like me, you want tomatoes that look like Raybo's??