Steps For Successfully Controlling Grasshoppers!

Grasshoppers are very common insects that come in many sizes, shapes, and colors. Most are green or brownish others are very brightly colored.

Grasshoppers can cause great economic damage to crops, turf, landscapes, and gardens. They go through five nymph stages before molting a last time, and becoming adults. As adults, they have wings and can mate.

They are very heavy feeders at all stages and will eat almost anything. They prefer grass or plants in the grass family and weeds but are just as likely to enjoy plants in a field or garden. As the season proceeds, heat and drought reduce vegetation the grasshoppers move to crops or areas where plants are irrigated.

Grasshoppers overwinter as eggs deposited in the soil the previous year. In late spring to early summer the eggs hatch and feeding begins. After becoming adults, they can live two to three months, being able to fly over 15 miles in search of food. There is one generation per year.

Controlling Grasshoppers

Due to how mobile adults are, they are much harder to control, also adult grasshoppers have a very waxy exoskeleton, helping them resist many chemicals. To help chemicals stick and penetrate that waxy exoskeleton, you MUST add HY Spreader Sticker to the mix when you spray. Nymph stages are less mobile and are more sensitive to chemicals so the earlier the application, the better.

The BEST success I have seen controlling grasshoppers is a mixture of HY Lawn, Garden, Pet & Livestock Spray with HY Spreader Sticker. Without the HY Spreader Sticker, it only seems effective on young ones. This is a nice broad-spectrum product because of how many places you can use it, including vegetable gardens. Apply early in the morning to reduce the effect on beneficial insects and to take advantage of morning feeding grasshoppers.

To spray non-edible areas such as, the yard or weedy areas where grasshoppers may first appear use HY Bug Blaster Bifenthrin 2.4. Again, add HY Spreader Sticker if you are not using the RTS.

An organic option would be the ferti-lome Triple Action. With this we do not add spreader sticker, it acts like one on its own. It is OMRI listed.

For soil application in the garden, HY Vegetable & Ornamental Insect Granules will work. For more ideas for controlling grasshoppers contact the experts at The Big Tool Box and Highlands Garden Center in either Parker or Centennial.