Another Grasshopper Plague

[Bird]

Is the rest of the south expecting another grasshopper plague this year?

We've had one that Moses would have been proud of the last two years, and now it appears that it may be even worse this year./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif A neighbor had told me that he had already sprayed his garden twice this year, so Sunday I was back there and he has baby grasshoppers (about a quarter inch long) by the millions, in the garden, the lawn, shrubs, and on the side of the house (he sprayed again Monday). He was intending to buy more cows this year, but now says he may sell some instead because he's expecting the grasshopppers to eat up the pastures.

The really weird thing is that my garden is less than 300 yards from his, and only by searching for them Sunday was I able to find one little grasshopper. However, I expect them to descend on us in the very near future. I have used no chemicals on my garden in the past, but that's about to change. I've bought some "Bayer Advanced Garden PowerForce Multi-Insect Killer" for the vegetable garden (and the local Walmart says they're already having trouble keeping enough of it in stock). And I've stocked up on Diazinon for the rest of the place.

I know this has been discussed in the past, and it seems that there are a lot of things that will kill the grasshoppers that you actually spray, but nothing that will keep more from moving right in within a very few days after spraying.

Anyone have any good ideas?

 

[TonyC]

The only "trick" I've heard from friends is that the spraying needs to be a community effort. If everyone isn't part of the effort, they'll just move around so I'm told.

 

[rf33]

I have not seen any yet this year up here in Canton, but if they are anything like they have been in the last few years, it is going to be a long summer/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

 

[Argee]

Bird,
Is the reason your not suffering any of the effects of grasshoppers due to the possibility that you have a healthy garden. I read somewhere that healthy plants are the best means of controlling garden pests (the bug variety). Makes sense. I've also read that prolonged use of any chemical warfare wiil strengthen the insects resistance to that chemical. Case in point, the potato beetle. After years of throwing every chemical known to man at it, it still survives and migrates further every year. I'm convinced if people took the time to build healthy soil, which would in turn produce healthy plants, we could eventually control the bug population via their natural predators. Just my .02 cents worth.

 

[TerryinMD]

Bird,

I believe that you guys have been having a couple of "wet" years. If that is the case, the grasshopper eggs have a better chance of hatching and with the additional availability of green stuff to eat. Well, you get the picture... /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif/w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif

Everyone in your area missed the prime time to kill the eggs and lavae by using an insecticide that gets the little buggers before they hatch. So, now you're stuck with the worst choice... using a lot of pesticides to keep your crops and other vegatation.

You may as well go to one of your garden centers and talk to them about the best remedy or contact your local ag agent.

Terry

 

[Bird]

Terry, we've had very wet early springs, but then hot and dry right on through the summer. And this year, it's been wet in Dallas, but 60 miles south, it's been unusually dry.

And I just came in from a hour or so in the garden and the grasshoppers have really started to arrive in my garden now.

 

[TerryinMD]

Oh well.... bag that theory!! /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Maybe it's just that you're growing an attractive resturant for them!! /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Terry

 

[RJohnson]

Bird
I keep telling you the best control is what my wife calls biological insect control.... chickens/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. I let mine free range and no grasshoppers. It is a real hoot to watch them chase a grasshopper.

Randy

 

[Bird]

Randy, I agree that chickens, turkeys, or guineas would help, but I don't think they'd last long around here. The neighbor I was talking about had a flock of guineas when we moved here 7 years ago, but they were gradually killed off over a period of about a year, and he doesn't know whether it was coyotes (as he suspects), dogs, or something else. Sometimes he found remains, sometimes he didn't, but anyway he's gotten another batch recently; still has them penned up until they get used to the new home. But with the number of grasshoppers he has, I figure he'd need at least a couple of hundred chickens to do any good./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif And I can still remember watching our chickens chase grasshoppers when I was a kid; fun to watch all right.

 

[BB_TX]

Bird, keep 'em down your way as long as you can. I am about 60 miles north of Dallas and they haven't reached here yet. You are right about rain here. Last I heard, we were over 10" ahead of normal and still getting regular rains.
I seem to remember reading that wet weather was actually detrimental to grasshoppers, some kind of fungus or something that kills them off. They really like hot dry weather. Planted several new sweet gums last year in September. Grasshoppers cleaned every leaf off within 2 weeks./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

 

[Rodneyd]

We have the little buggers North of Austin. We have 8 chickens and they are working to a certain extent. We got the chickens last year and could tell a difference from the previous year. We turn them out for a few hours each evening and then they are ready to go back in and be closed up at sunset. Heard this morning on the news we are over 6 inches behind on the rain. Also read last year that the rain and moisture in fact does promote a virus that kills the grasshoppers......no rain.....many grasshoppers.
Rod

 

[TxSam]

Bird,

We got 'em here in Waxahachie also, thousands of them like you said, 1/4 in. long or so. I didn't own the property last spring so I don't have anything to compare to, but late last summer when I was looking to buy the property, there were plenty of the big ones flying/hopping around. When you would drive through the pasture it was like a small cloud of grasshoppers scattering in front of the truck. I guess they left their legacy for another year! I was kind of hoping they would die off before the dry summer hits, we'll see.

 

[Tdog]

Bird,

I remember you complaining about this time last year. Bummer that they are back again.

No out break over here in SE La. I was going to post that we'd been 36 days without rain, but 0.6 inch fell today, & it is sprinkling again. Boy did we need it. While we average 60+ inches a year, we've only received a little over 3 inches since April 1.

If I'm complaining, I hate to think what the people along the eastern seaboard are going through - - I understand they are in an all out drought.

 

[8NTX]

Do they make such a thing as a grasshopper suit for hoggin'? Last year, mowing in the summer was pretty hairy cause of the hoppers. Got lots this year too. No chickens - part time weekend place and they wouldn't last with all the coyotes, bobcats, etc.

 

[Bird]

Little over 3" since April 1? I've gotten a little less than 2.5" in that time span; including about 2/3 of an inch yesterday. Of course, our "normal" annual rain is about 33" a year. And the grasshoppers aren't really bad at my place yet like at the neighbor's, but I do have a few. I picked 5 gallons of green beans, 5 gallon bucket of squash, a dozen or so cucumbers, and a couple dozen eachof beets and onions this morning to take to our kids tomorrow. Then I picked about a quart and a half of blackberries; that's the first blackberries this year, but looks like a bumper crop coming in.

 

[wichiwichi]

So what insecticide will kill the eggs?

 

[Bird]

The neighbor who has been inundated by grasshoppers had a dozen or so free ranging guinea hens when we first moved here, but something gradually killed them all, one or two at a time, so he hasn't had any the last 4 or 5 years. Well, he bought 6 more a couple of months ago, but has had them penned up in hopes they'd get accustomed to roosting in the hen house and would return there every night and he could close the pen up. He finally turned them out yesterday and enjoyed watching them chase grasshoppers, but they didn't return to the pen and hen house last night. This morning, they found one live one hiding in the fence row, one dead one with no feathers on its neck, and 4 piles of feathers. No idea what killed them, but this couple was sleeping with the window open, never heard anything, and the guineas couldn't have been more than 150 feet from the open window.

 

[Alan L.]

Bird, I already have millions of grasshoppers here about 50 miles north of Dallas. We put sulphur all over every plant in the small garden, but they will eat ever leaf off every tree on the place. I hate them rascals.

BB TX - I'm only about 35 miles or so sorta West of you - a little bit west of Gunter, which is where I grew up.

 

[drpepper]

Bird, Keep those grasshoppers down there! They are starting to come out around here. Not enough grass for them and the horses too. Looked at your bio. My boy lived at Tennessee Colony till recently. Got promoted and transferred to Navasota. Really nice country you're in. I am about 70 miles Northeast of Amarillo. Hardly any rain up here this year. Normally only 18-19" a year. Doing it's durndest to bring that average down the last few years.

 

[Bird]

Bob, we "normally" get 33-34 inches of rain a year. This year Dallas is way ahead and we're way behind, but the Memorial Day weekend brought us 3" of rain in 3 days and now a heavy dew every morning. We have a lot of little grasshoppers, but they really haven't damaged my garden yet like they have done to the neighbor's. I did spray diazinon around the house, shop, and barn yesterday, but still haven't put any insecticide on the garden and don't guess I will since it's producing more than we can use and/or give away.

I guess the best thing is that we've had unusually cool weather so far. Just wish it would stay that way./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif