Organic
Grasshopper Control
Part I
While there are
many solutions to insect control, a lot of our friends and neighbors are
finding it a bit difficult to find an effective, organic method to not only
kill, but also repel, GRASSHOPPERS! With the interest in organic gardening
picking up steam this season, our staff is constantly researching new ways for
us to approach age-old problems. Records indicate grasshoppers have devastated
crops as far back as biblical times. Why is there no sure-proven solution to
their over-population? Grasshopper "plagues" come in waves. Which
means we could lose all of our crops this year to an infestation, and next year
not see a single grasshopper. If there was an easy solution to this problem, it
would be public knowledge. Unfortunately, grasshoppers are one of the most
difficult pests to rid your garden of.
Grasshopper 101
In order to
effectively wipe out the population of grasshoppers, you need to first learn
the basic facts of their biological cycle. Grasshoppers have 3 life stages; egg
(pods they lay directly on the ground), nymph (adolescent without wings)
and adult (fully grown with wings). It is most effective executing your
chosen control methods in the egg and nymph stages. The female grasshopper will
lay her eggs about an inch to two inches below ground in mid-summer, where they
will remain dormant until spring, when they begin to hatch. As with most
insects, if we see an early spring, we will see an earlier arrival of
grasshoppers. After they hatch, they go through several molting stages for one
to two weeks, a couple more weeks to develop wings, and then they finally
become adults. After which, they live approximately one month. This means they
have a total life span of one full year.
Deciding what method is best for you
It is ultimately
you who decides how to approach organically controlling grasshoppers. Although
using one or two of the methods listed in this series will help, using a
thorough, combined method would be most effective. Now that we understand the
basics of the life cycle of the grasshopper, we know when it is most critical
to take corrective action. We need to eradicate them before they mature into
their most destructive phase: the adult.
1. Introduce
predatory animals & insects
One of the top natural ways to reduce your grasshopper
population is to introduce predators. However, you do not want to create a new
problem, so research a little on each creature to figure out if it is the right
one for you. For example, snakes are natural predators to grasshoppers, but you
don't want to introduce a hundred rattlesnakes in your backyard and create a
whole new set of problems. Here are just a few predators that are easy to
introduce, and are known to be top predators of grasshoppers:
·
Snakes, lizards &
toads (not only eat the adults and nymphs, but consider eggs a tasty delicacy
as well)
·
Birds! (All kinds of
birds! Some birds consider grasshoppers not only their favorite dish, but their
regular source of food! Bluebirds, cardinals, brown thrashers, crows, hawks,
mockingbirds, meadowlarks, woodpeckers, sparrows, chickens, ducks, Guinea hens)
·
Bats, flies, wasps,
& spiders (they DO serve a purpose!)
·
Mice, rats, skunks,
raccoon, armadillos, opossums & other rodents and marsupials (highly
effective in digging up and eating egg pods)
·
Koi fish, cat fish,
gold fish, and just about any fish you could stock a pond with. (Throw a live
grasshopper in your pond and watch the fish fight over it!)
Research each predator on exactly
how to attract them in your yard. For some, it is as easy as hanging a bird
feeder stocked with seed that is designed for that specific species of bird, or
just adding a decorative bird bath to your yard.
This is just a tiny step
towards controlling grasshoppers organically, but as we mentioned earlier, ridding
your garden of grasshoppers is not an easy task! Stay tuned for Part II, where we discuss what
organic products work best!
Now let’s discuss today’s Part I!
Does anyone have any suggestions, additions, or corrections that
go with today’s article? Anything work particularly well for your grasshopper
infestation management? If so, please share with us!
To comment, you can either sign up for your own blog,
or comment anonymously.
This article was written by Brittany Dickinson on July 29, 2013.
© 2013 Riddle Plant Farm All
Rights Reserved
© 2013 Brittany Dickinson
All Rights Reserved
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