You might want to look into one of the Spinosad products. When applied properly, it has little effect on non-target insects and arachnids, even if the product comes into contact with them. Spinosad had shown to be quite helpful in the fight against grasshopper nymphs, much more so than the adults. Spinosad, a biological agent, needs to be ingested for it to be effective. Use it to cover the foliage, not the flowers.

Hey haven't seen you around in awhile 3orangeboys! Good to have you back! As for the larspur I was really disappointed. I planted two different kinds of them and in one bed a few really small straglers that may or may not bloom. The second bed I have 3 blooming now and a few others that are about to bloom but no where near what I was hoping for. I really think both the weather and the heavy rains right after I sowed them had a lot to do with it. I'm going to sow some next spring as well and hope I get a better show. Here are a few purples that are blooming but their are some others that haven't bloomed yet. Meghan

We have a huge grasshopper problem here in Northern Nebraska. Every year when the winter wheat gets cut in early summer, they invade and eat anything that is available to them. Namely my garden. They defoliate most of my garden plants every year. I do not use insecticides though because I don't want to kill beneficial bugs too. It just goes with country living I suppose. I stopped mowing the outlaying areas of the ranch a few years ago to give them more foliage to chew on than just my garden. It remains to be seen how bad they are here in town this summer. MeMo

Squash bugs;.....I keep a covered bucket of soapy water ( dawn original) to drown the squash beetles when I see them. Harlequin bugs too. One gets used to their odor when you grab them. If one gets at them just as the infestation starts, one can thwart it BUT if you wait, it is history. I go out early in the morning. They are slower then. Look under the leaves for little phalanxes of eggs. Squash bores need Row covers until the squash start flowering, Unless you want to be the person that fertilizes the flowers. It takes a while for the bores to grow from eggs and get to damaging size so keeping them off early backs the bugs off so when the flowers start happening , you get time to have your harvest. The eggs laid then will not be large enough to kill the plant. That is what I was told at Natural gardener. in Austin by their garden guru. The squash bugs have me staying away from a lot of squash this year. I took an ill timed hiatus from my garden and paid for it in spades. So I have not had the chance to test the gurus words.