All I Ever Wanted to Know About Grasshoppers I Learned in my Own Garden

One of the things I learned is that when they’re really intent on eating, I can sometimes cut them in half with my flower-harvesting scissors. But I always have to squeal in disgust when I do this, and I don’t like myself very well afterward.

I also learned that they like molasses, and an old fashioned remedy for killing them is to put molasses-flavored water into something like a dishpan in hopes that the grasshoppers will investigate and drown. We had only six grasshoppers yesterday that were curious enough to do that, despite Hiromi dumping all the rest of the molasses into the water early in the morning.

Grasshoppers love Gomphrena. The buggers ate the top out of every one of the purple and Bicolor Rose ones–a 15-ft. row full of flowers at the end of the garden where the grasshoppers are moving in from the surrounding vegetation outside the garden.

On some of the sunflowers at the other end of the garden, only stems and a few leaf stalks are left. The grasshoppers have wings now, which means they’ve gone through all the instar stages, and are in the adult, egg-laying stage. I am so not impressed.

Most insecticides are not very effective anymore against grasshoppers of the size these are. And with their mobility, any grasshoppers we kill with insecticide is quickly replaced by more that fly over or through the fence. Killing them early is important, but it only buys time without really solving the problem for the season. We used Eight, which contains Permethrin, in the flower garden. In the other garden, we used a Rotenone/Pyrethrin blend. Neither are really sustainable over the long term because of cost alone.

One fascinating document, published in 1912 by Kansas State University had lots of the kind of information an insecticide-averse gardener appreciates. While not applicable in the garden, they explained how to use a hopper dozer, which is like a giant tray with three tall sides. The whole thing is on skids and can be dragged over the ground, open side in the lead. The hoppers jump up and fall down into the water-and-oil-filled trays. I suspect it was used mostly on pastures and hay fields.

I found there also a recipe for mixing up a bait using arsenic, wheat bran, ground-up citrus fruits, and water. That’s another remedy I’m not too likely to try.

Poultry of all kinds are good grasshopper predators. Chickens, ducks, guineas, and turkeys were mentioned the most often. Even very young poultry will snarf up the young grasshoppers early in the season. This helped me see the wisdom of letting hens raise their own chicks because that’s the only way chicks could range safely while they’re still very small. Even this has its hazards, of course, but I’m looking wistfully at having poultry again that has females smart enough to be good mothers. I think the Muscovey Ducks fill the bill there, but I’m told the guineas don’t do quite as well in this department. They take their keets for strolls through wet grass and are a little too indifferent about keeping them close by.

Besides grasshoppers, poultry feeds on sowbugs, ticks and flies, and all other kinds of insects. They will even kill mice and snakes–chickens, guineas, and turkeys, at least. One person reported watching a pair of ducks play with a live mouse by tossing it back and forth. When one of them apparently tired of the game, it caught the mouse in mid air and sent it down the hatch in one giant gulp.

Grasshoppers hatch around the time of the last spring frost. While they are still on the hatching grounds, if the vegetation there is dry and brown, burning can kill them off. I wish we had tried this around the veggie garden. It’s got a driveway on one side, and sheep and goat pens on the other three sides. The goat pen was not used last summer and neither was it grazed down by Lowell’s cows, so there was an abundance of dry vegetation there, although the cheat grass also furnished a green carpet underneath. I’m not sure if a fire could have been very easily sustained, but I wish we had tried it earlier this spring..

In the flower garden, the vegetation outside the fence on two sides is part of the cattle grazing area–which has not been grazed recently. This is a grasshopper factory, and the moist, succulent growth of my irrigated, fertilized flowers are a huge attraction. When the cats that keep me company while I’m harvesting flowers walk through this overgrown area, the disturbed grasshoppers create a drumbeat of activity.

Egg laying commences for grasshoppers in July and August. Tilling after the eggs are laid can expose them to drying out, and to predation. Poultry and wild birds love any upturned egg clusters they find. For this reason, I’m determined this year to till at least our garden areas.

The reports of how peacefully poultry and gardens coexist vary a lot. But I do know that having them range all over the farm will help in the long run. So far the two remaining guineas have stayed out of sight most of the time, although we see them on most days. I don’t know where they are, but I’m sure they’re finding something to eat there, and I hope it’s grasshoppers.

I hatched my own plan last night. Hiromi was dubious, and, at 5:30 this morning he informed me that we can’t carry it out because there’s thunder and lightening out there. I sensed a little too much relief in the pronouncement. Or maybe it was of the lion-in-the-street variety.

My plan is very simple. Armed with gloves and a bucket of water, I plan to patrol the rows of flowers, and pluck and drown every grasshopper I can capture. This isn’t quite as hopelessly futile a prospect as it sounds, since grasshoppers tend to climb up high on any nearby stalk late at night, presumably the better to warm up and dry out the following morning. They move about and feed only after they’re dry and warm. So while they’re still slow and satisfied, I’ll be the Jenny-on-the-spot and dispatch them. While I know very well that I can’t get them all, and more will move in throughout the day, letting them feed for only half of one day looks a lot better to me than letting them feel for many days and many nights, and then, to add insult to the whole assault, leaving them there to lay their eggs.

The thunder and lightening has moved off to the east, without our getting any rain. Excuse me while I go look for gloves and a bucket.