Dawn2,

We've had grasshoppers hatching out since Feb. down here in our part of the state. The warmer it gets, the more we see. We had huge numbers of crickets last year, but about an average number of grasshoppers and locusts. Since it runs in cycles, we'll probably have a lot for another year or two before their populations head into a down cycle.

I really don't worry about the crickets or locusts, but the grasshoppers can be very destructive.

If these critters are being a problem or a nuisance, I have the solution. : ) Really, I have two solutions--one that is more of a country type solution and the other one is more of a city type solution.

Out here in a rural area, our primary method of grasshopper control on our 15 acres is guineas. One guinea can eat 2 lbs. of grasshoppers a day. Once they eat all of ours, they go next door and across the street and start cleaning up all the neighbors' grasshoppers (and ticks, and other bugs as well).

Of course, free-ranging guineas wouldn't work in town. (They don't respect fences and go wherever the bugs are.) If anyone in a city setting wants to do something to cut down on the number of grasshoppers and similar pests, the time to do it is now. The most effective remedy we've ever found is an organic product called Semaspore. It is a bacteria-laced bait. I think the bacteria is Nosema locustae. You scatter the bait around, and the hoppers and other family members then eat the bait only to find themselves attacked by the bacteria within a couple of days. Once the bacteria has begun working its' evil on the pests, they stop eating within about 24 hours and begin to die. It may take a few days for them to finally die. And it can take up to a month or more for all the grasshoppers to find the stuff, eat it, get infected, and die. It is not a "quick kill" type product but it is an effective one.

Ideally, you put out the bait as soon as you start seeing newly hatched hoppers, crickets or locusts. It works best when they are in the smaller instars, roughly between 1/4" to 1/2". The larger they get, the less well it works on them.

One thing you need to know about any product that contains Nosema locustae as the active ingredient--it has a shelf life of only a few weeks if unrefrigerated, and up to 5 months if refrigerated. So, only buy as much as you need to use within a brief period of time. Also, check the package. Somewhere on the package it should have either a "use by" date or a "packed on" date. Be sure you are not buying old Nosema locustae because it loses its effectiveness as it ages. I have found Semaspore on the shelves of VERY reputable nurseries that was far beyond its expiration date, so watch out.

And, I haven't even told you the best part yet. Grasshoppers are canabilistic. So, once some infected grasshoppers die, then more grasshoppers come along and eat them and then THOSE grasshoppers get infected and die. For this reason, once you get a little colony of Nosema locustae established on your property, you may not have to put out the product again that year and sometimes not for several years.

We had a severe drought going on here in '98 when our house was being built, and in '99, when we moved here. (I think '97 had been a bad hopper/locust year too.) I put out Nosema locustae 4 times that year, about once a month beginning in March. By late summer, we didn't have much of a hopper problem even though everyone else did.

I may have used Semaspore once or twice since then, but the guineas take care of the hoppers on their own most years.

I've linked some info on Semaspore, which is just one of the available products that have Nosema locustae as their active ingredient. There are others, and I think one of them is named Grasshopper Attack.

Our wooded acres are full of locusts and I don't worry about them. (Of course, I would do something about them if they were being really destructive instead of merely being loud.) It is mostly the grasshoppers around the house, yard and garden that become a problem, so that is the area where I scatter the Semaspore.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Semaspore

Hi Dawn2

I know some people call grasshoppers locusts. Are you seeing locusts or you just seeing grasshoppers and calling them locusts? They are a hot weather critter like lightening bugs. I don't mind having them around.

I don't really worry about grasshoppers. There is a pretty good population here right now and it's getting bigger every day. That's great.

In about another week or so the Phoebes eggs will hatch and the parents will have three acres of grasshoppers to feed the 5 hatchlings.

I usually see scissor-tails here in the yard when it gets warmer. Saw one yesterday.

After they raise two batches of young, grasshoppers are hardly noticeable.

randy

I'm not sure what the winged critters are, only that they fly and have antenna. I hadn't noticed them this early in the year before and was wondering if to expect a "bumper crop" because of all the rain last year.

Thanks for the info and link, Dawn.

Dawn2

I'm in Choctaw & can't BELIEVE the size of the grasshoppers I'm seeing!!! They're huge! I've been stomping on them every chance I get. . . or getting my cats to chase (& mame) them. Do they winter under the ground or something??? All I know is that it was spring break a couple of weeks ago, and there were already grasshoppers in my yard! Unbelievable! Guess that's Oklahoma for ya. Maybe we'll try the guinneas!

Randy,

I guess we are a little "too rural" here because the grasshoppers will eat everything, including cotton clothing on the clotheslines and fiberglass window screens, if we don't work to keep them under control.

We have wild birds everywhere, and the domesticated ones too, and we still have grasshoppers come in waves. I know they are migratory but some years it is ridiculous how many rounds of them we go through. Well, I guess a lot of them probably come our way from the Red River bottom lands once they've exhausted the food supply there.

I wish we could send your phoebes our extra hoppers, because our phoebes hardly make a dent in them.

Dawn2,

You're welcome.

Singnfool,

Most grasshoppers overwinter as nymphs or eggs in the ground, but every now and then a limited number of the previous season's hoppers can survive the winter cold. And, of course, the warmer the winter, the more that seem to survive.

I don't know when grasshoppers start hatching in your county, but they generally hatch in Feb. here in southcentral Oklahoma, and sometimes even the last week or so of Jan. if it has been a relatively warm winter. Different species (they are 130 diferent species of grasshoppers in our fine state) grow at different rates, but most grasshoppers go through the five instars and mature within 40 to 55 days of their hatch, so it is possible that grasshoppers which hatched in Feb. could already have reached the full adult size by early April.

We did see some big ones in late Feb. or early Mar. here, so they may have overwintered.

It doesn't seem like grasshoppers have been a serious problem for a few years now, so we might be due for a bad grasshopper year either this year or next. A lot depends on rainfall...it is a good thing if the rain is falling a lot at the same time the hoppers are hatching because it decreases their chance of survival.

Dawn

I think my saving grace is being surrounded by pasture that is never plowed or worked other than a late season cut. Grasshoppers probably prefer tall grasses with better protection than what they get in my yard.

They probably flock to my yard in spring because it greens quicker, but then fan out into the countryside after the pastures greens up.

There was a bad year here about 5-6 years ago. I was going out at night with a flashlight and picking them off my standard hibiscus plants and bananas.

randy

Randy,

I remember that bad year, and it has been long enough since we had it that I fear we are due for another.

One thing I noticed here is that the farmers/ranchers go absoltutely nuts with pesticides when the bad grasshopper years hit. On the one hand, I understand it. A huge grasshopper swarm can seriously harm grazing lands as well as crops. On the other hand, I wish they wouldn't do it. The last time they went nuts with spraying for grasshoppers, we lost all the bluebirds. I don't think we saw a single bluebird for three years. And, to make it worse, the pesticides are not really all that effective on mature grasshoppers.

How bad were the grasshoppers that year? My guineas and chickens ate them like crazy for weeks and weeks until it got to the point that even they were sick of them. The birds went on strike for several weeks and quit eating the hoppers, so I had to resort to putting mason jars with a water/molasses blend in the garden. The hoppers went into the half-filled jars to drink the sweet water and then drowned/died. It wasn't very attractive, but it trapped and killed a lot of hoppers.

Dawn