Plague of the locusts

[Alan L.]

In the last 2 weeks we have been totally infested by grasshoppers. They have eaten all the plants in my wife's flower garden, ate ALL of the tops off the onions, and are working on the tomatoes, jalepeno peppers, and watermelon. They have even eaten my wife's monkey grass to the ground and have wiped out about 25 potted plants on the porches including a big nice one our daughter gave her mom just a week ago.

She is so frustrated she was out on the porch this morning burning them one by one with one of those long firestarters. We have dusted everything with Sevin but the grasshoppers continue to eat the plants with no reaction whatsoever to the Sevin dust. We also put out Nolo bait but probably too late to do any good.

We have lost several hundred bucks of new plants in a week. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Bird]

I haven't seen hardly any grasshoppers in this area this year. One year of the 8 years we lived in Navarro County, we had what you just described, and one other year, bad, but not that bad. And I don't know what you can do, other than just hope it's better next year. When they were really bad in Navarro County, my brother-in-law bought some netting to put over his tomato plants and the grasshoppers even ate through the netting. I don't know of anything that would help you, but I wish you luck.

 

[RTII]

Sorry I don't have any suggestions but reminds me of a similar experience. Was working in Indonesia way back when on an offshore work barge. Had a plague of crickets descend for about 2-3 weeks. Vessel was just covered. Always in your hair and under your shirt. Walking on deck was like walking on bubble wrap. Solid crickets at least an inch deep and more in places. Nastiest experience I've had.

 

[dusty3030]

If your holding anyone captive you might outta turn em loose. Believe you don't want the frogs to come next.

 

[BelarusBulldog]

If your holding anyone captive you might outta turn em loose. Believe you don't want the frogs to come next.

:laughing: That's what came to my mind also, as I read his post!

 

[jinman]

We have lost several hundred bucks of new plants in a week. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

In the last few weeks, we've seen an increase in grasshoppers, but not to the extent you have them. Yesterday, I mowed down my bluebonnet patch (about 1 ac) because all the seed pods are dry and dropping seeds. As I was nearing the end of mowing with only about a 10' wide swath to finish, I noticed loads of grasshoppers. It seems they had been moving away from where I was mowing and into the unmowed area. Those last few swaths had grasshoppers scrambling everywhere. I haven't noticed them in other places in those numbers, so I'm thinking there was something there they wanted to eat.

Also, as grasshoppers grow, they morph to a stage where they are voracious eaters. At that stage, they are nearly impossible to kill with insecticides. You need to get them when they are young nymphs. The young grasshoppers look like small adults, but they go through a metamorphosis to the adult stage. Once they get to their adult form, the only thing that will cure your problem is a flock of guinea fowl. If you can stand the poop and noise, I'd suggest guineas.

 

[farmfun]

"Also, as grasshoppers grow, they morph to a stage where they are voracious eaters. At that stage, they are nearly impossible to kill with insecticides.?"

Those who reach this stage are commonly called "teenagers"...

 

[Alan L.]

These grasshoppers are not full grown, but not tiny either. Last evening I noticed that the grasshoppers were "roosting". Sitting wall to wall on the brick veneer of our house, and on the side of the metal building. Also alot on the porch. I got some Orthene and mixed up a couple gallons of spray and sprayed those rascals where they sat. Didn't notice any immediate effects, but today they are considerably thinned out at least for now, and there were lots of dead ones on the porch. Tonight there are very few visible so at least we slowed them down some for now.

I don't like spraying the toxic stuff because of our dogs and an outside cat. First thing the dogs want to do when they go out is chase grasshoppers and/or eat the dead ones. Plus, we have a water well, and you hate killing beneficial spiders and what not. But at this point we are pulling out all the stops. I wish I had sprayed before so many plants were ruined.

I am open to the Guineas, but we don't have any place for them to roost. We had ducks one time and I built a duck house but it proved to be a big pain getting them in at night, especailly when we got home late or were gone overnight. Every single time we didn't put them in at night they disappeared (coyotes/owls, etc). Not sure about guineas, what they do at night.

 

[jinman]

I am open to the Guineas, but we don't have any place for them to roost. We had ducks one time and I built a duck house but it proved to be a big pain getting them in at night, especailly when we got home late or were gone overnight. Every single time we didn't put them in at night they disappeared (coyotes/owls, etc). Not sure about guineas, what they do at night.

Guineas will roost in your trees (if you have them). You can spot thier favorite tree by all the poop on the ground around it. I think owls are their biggest menace since coyotes can't climb trees. Kathy had guineas once and the slowly disappeared over time until she had none. The owls showed up at her place for the buffet, but our woods is a lot more dense than yours, I believe.

 

[Bird]

Our neighbor down in Navarro County had a half dozen or so Guineas when we bought our place. I think it was about 2 months before predators got the last one. Then a couple of years later, they decided to get another half dozen, and that time they didn't even last a month.

 

[jonyyuma]

Our neighbor down in Navarro County had a half dozen or so Guineas when we bought our place. I think it was about 2 months before predators got the last one. Then a couple of years later, they decided to get another half dozen, and that time they didn't even last a month.

Myself, I did not know that guineas were that hard to keep.? I do know they love to eat ticks, which is why i wanted them..I have watched some of them in a line as they walk and eat bugs..

 

[Bird]

Myself, I did not know that guineas were that hard to keep.? I do know they love to eat ticks, which is why i wanted them..I have watched some of them in a line as they walk and eat bugs..

I'm sure it just depends on how many predators you have in the area. We had lots of coyotes, along with a few raccoons, oppossums, hawks, etc.

 

[Alan L.]

Guineas will roost in your trees (if you have them). You can spot thier favorite tree by all the poop on the ground around it. I think owls are their biggest menace since coyotes can't climb trees. Kathy had guineas once and the slowly disappeared over time until she had none. The owls showed up at her place for the buffet, but our woods is a lot more dense than yours, I believe.

We do have a grove of maybe 10 acres of mostly cedar elm trees, along the banks of the creek. Do guineas fly at all, I have cut off the bottom limbs on any trees near the house so its maybe 10 feet or so up there to the bottom limbs. I guess the other thing is, how do the guineas know they live there? Seems like the neighbors land would look just as good to them as ours?

 

[Bird]

We do have a grove of maybe 10 acres of mostly cedar elm trees, along the banks of the creek. Do guineas fly at all, I have cut off the bottom limbs on any trees near the house so its maybe 10 feet or so up there to the bottom limbs. I guess the other thing is, how do the guineas know they live there? Seems like the neighbors land would look just as good to them as ours?

I think you have to keep them penned up for a few days so they learn that is where the food and water are.

 

[jinman]

I think you have to keep them penned up for a few days so they learn that is where the food and water are.

+1 - Your roost will need to have a high shelf for the guineas. They like to roost up high. After they have been acclimated to the roost, they should return to it safely each night for food/water.

BTW: Chickens also love grasshoppers, but I think chickens are more prone to peck your veggies too. Whether guineas or chickens, I'd make sure I never fed them any vegetable scraps so they don't develop a taste. As a kid, we used to feed chickens watermelon rinds and vegetable peels. They were probably getting more of the vitamins than we were, but if they ever got out of their pens, they'd also do some garden damage. . . though minor. I used to love to catch big grasshoppers and hold them through the chicken pen fence. Every chicken in sight would race over to get the tasty treat.