Grasshopper Control
Keep Your Garden Clean!
Grasshopper control is difficult as the grasshoppers are quite mobile. Although some species of grasshoppers do not feed on garden plants, many species do. They eat vegetable plants, flowers, and grass, and most anything. You will observe that your problems with them mount in the early summer. Migratory grasshoppers do the most damage to crops.

Keep Your Garden Clean
Cleaning your garden of weedy areas, dead crops, dead twigs, etc. can help you control the next season’s grasshoppers. You will also need to prune back your perennials after the first frost hits. Remember that grasshoppers like to lay their eggs in dry undisturbed soil. They also tend to stay close to the hatching area, as long as they have sufficient food. Clean and trim any ditches or fence rows that can become a habitat for grasshoppers.

Choose What You Plant
Some of the plants grasshoppers like are beans, carrots, lettuce, onions, peas, squash, sweet corn, zinnias, etc. They do not like cilantro, peas, squash, sweet clover, tomato leaves, etc. One way of control is to plant “trap crops.” For example, you can plant a row of zinnias at the outermost part of your garden, and plant cilantro next row. This method is helpful especially if your garden is next to a field.

Grasshopper Control
Controlling grasshoppers are more effective when pointed to the developing stages or early season. Once the grasshoppers have become migratory, the control diminishes until there is none.
  • Beneficial protozoan Nosema locustae – a biological grasshopper control. that attacks the grasshoppers at their first metamorphosis. An example is the Nolo Bait or Semaspore powder. You may need to use other grasshopper control with it because it is very slow acting. However, the long-term effect is very promising: up to 70% reduction under proper conditions. When purchasing, check the expiration date. Refrigerate before use.
  • Cover Crops – peas, sweet clover, etc. For instance, if you had grasshopper infestation last season, try control through planting peas early in the spring and then sweet clover at the end of the season. These crops will help as well the nitrogen in the soil.
  • Domestic poultry – assess benefits against damage done to plants.
  • Insecticide Sprays – rain makes it ineffective. Use caution when applying as most insecticides are not for direct application on fruits and vegetables. Spray in the month of May for lower altitudes; June for higher elevations. There is no need to spray the whole area as grasshoppers are mobile.
  • Natural predators – adult robber flies, birds (horned larks, kestrals [small falcons], etc., blister beetles, coyotes, lizards, praying mantis, rodents, spiders, etc.
  • Screens – they protect a plant’s first season growth from being stunted. Do not use fabric screens, as grasshoppers can chew through most fabrics.
  • Weather – cold, wet climate; very dry winter and spring conditions
Grasshopper Control through Insecticides
Some of the insecticides utilized in the control of grasshoppers are Dimilin, Orthene, Sevin, etc, but exercise caution using them. The Dimilin, for instance, is a restricted-use insecticide. Know what you are doing and seek professional help, if necessary. Permethrin has many different trade names, and is widely used for fruits and vegetables. Ask your local garden centers what trade names they carry.

Remember that grasshopper control is possible even for a beginning gardener if it is done before the grasshoppers have developed their ability to migrate. For best results, it should be treated as a community project. You can talk to your neighbors and make a plan on grasshopper control.


 
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