Grasshoppers. Sorry. It's frustrating, I know. And even worse, I don't know what the heck to do to stop them (as is evidenced by duct tape patches on my back door and french door screens.)

I sympathize with you. Seems we just get a handle on one problem then ANOTHER pops up.

Paula

I agree. Grasshoppers. Usually they prefer fiberglass screens, but if you've got wire mesh they'll eat them too.

I don't know what would deter them that you're likely to have on hand. Surround WP might, but I doubt you happen to have kaolin clay sitting around since it mostly is used by veggie and fruit growers. In the old days before we had kaolin clay, gardeners used to sprinkle all-purpose flour on plant foliage because it supposedly gums up the grasshoppers mouth parts and intestine type areas and kills them. It could be made more lethal my mixing equal parts of lime and flour. I don't know how you'd get it to stick to the screens though, and it would be messy and would look yucky.

If this was happening to me, I'd likely try making a hot pepper wax product using whatever I had handy. You'd need something with soap or oil to help make it stick to the screens. I am not sure if hot pepper wax deters grashoppers, but it might.

Here's a link with some simple recipes for pepper or garlic type repellents. If I was going to use it, I'd add either Dawn fish detergent (only for spraying screens but not plants because detergent in high temps can kill plants). Murphy's Oil Soap, Orange Oil (the cleaning type like Medina makes) or a summerweight superfine dormant oil to make it stick.

Use whatever peppers you have handy, or Tabasco sauce or whatever you've got. Dried red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper might work as a substitute for fresh peppers. Since I raise Habanero peppers, I'd use them because I'd only have to use one. Of course, the extreme heat from a Habanero pepper might melt the window screens. (Just kidding about that last part.)

If a repellent doesn't stop them, I'd buy tree tanglefoot and put it on the screens. They'll stick to it and it will be a big mess to clean up eventually though. Or, if you don't open those windows to let hot air into the house, you could take down and store the screens until the grasshopper population begins to recede, which normally is in mid- to late-August but sometimes not until September.

There's likely some chemical pesticides you could buy, but I am fairly sure the burden of all risk would be on you since spraying screens with them would be an off-label use. If they, for example, stained your screens or paint, you couldn't expect the manufacturer to pay damages. I also don't know if they'd stick to the screens and deter the hoppers.

Good luck.

You know it is summer drought time in Oklahoma when the hoppers start eating the window screens.

Oh, one more thought, Jeannie. Give them something more attractive to eat. Put molasses, syrup or sugar in water and boil it until it dissolves. Pour the mix into a bucket or quart canning jars filling it about halfway. This is very effective in canning jars, but you could use any jar--old spaghetti jars, pickle jars, etc. Jars that have a bit of a neck to them keep the hoppers from flying out better than wide mouth canning jars do. The hoppers fly in to drink the sweet water and drown in it. I had some success with this in my garden in 2003.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Grasshopper Repellent Recipes

Thanks, Paula!
Never heard of this before.
What would we do without duct tape?!

Jeanie

Thanks, Dawn.
Just as I think I've seen every dastardly trick of the rural "critters", something else crops up.
Don't really want to "gum" up my windows, but like the idea of drowning the buggers with a sweet diversion.

Jeanie

You're welcome Jeannie.

I didn't think you'd want to gum up your screens, but thought I'd throw out all the options I could think of, and let you choose whatever appealed to you most.

This is just beginning. The hotter and drier it gets, the more desperate the wild things get. I've heard of people finding snakes and skunks in their homes, seeking shelter from the heat. It looks like the next 4 to 6 weeks will be miserable in terms of heat and also critter problems.

I'm ready though. I made the ice cream run to the store and bought Blue Bell Ice Cream, so we're ready for anything now.

There's already been a 5-10 acre fire near Lake Murray so apparently the rain that fell a couple of days ago didn't make much difference around here.It's pretty bad when the rain doesn't help prevent the fires.

Our heat index is already over 100 so it seems like a great day to hide inside the house and not venture out again until after sunset.

Dawn

95 degrees, so far.....
You're a good "Scout", Dawn! Be prepared! HA. Love Blue Bell!

Jeanie

It's 100 here, but supposed to be 105 later today, and 108 tomorrow. Yikes, it's hot.

99 degrees, so far. Supposed to be 105; 106; 107 for next several days. Man! It must be REALLY dry, because last year, it was hotter, but the grasshoppers didn't eat my screening! Fully expect deer and rabbits to come in closer to house, now.

Jeanie

You guys aren't helping me much, I picked up an old aluminum screen over at the old house this AM, planning on making a cover for a seed starting box. I had never heard of grasshoppers eating through aluminum. I plan on starting seeds even if I have to make an electric grid over them.

Larry

Larry, We are so pleased to be able to give you something new to worry and fret about. I've been keeping Agri-bon material over my seedlings and the hoppers haven't eaten their way through it yet. Knock on wood. They might not bother your screens as long as you have some green plants for them to eat. I think Jeanie's county is way drier than your area right now, so her hoppers are extra-hungry. Or, maybe they just want to come inside to be in the air-conditioned comfort of the house.

Dawn

Larry,
After thinking about it, I went outside and double- checked the screening. Even Though it LOOKS like aluminum screening, it is probably fiberglass, as it is soft to the touch. No wonder the GH have no problem chewing through it! Your screen will probably be OK. Gee, I hate modern technology with all it's bells and whistles and plastic!!!!

Jeanie

Larry, I planted cantaloupe late this year after the onions came out so they are just now blooming. I had two volunteer plants that came up in the pepper bed and I was excited that one of them had one melon on it. I have checked it everyday (almost), but some friends had a death of a grandson who was in their care, and I prepared and took a meal down on Thursday. I was so busy that morning that I didn't check. We came home for a short while and left again to go to our son's house. In the car I told Al that I knew that melon was ready to pick but I had forgotten to get it.

We got home at 11 PM and I went out in the dark to get the melon and it was gone. No seeds or any kind of mess around it and I have never lost anything from my back yard. Before we went to bed I was going to take the dog out and he went ballistic and by the time I got to him, he was barking and nipping at a possum and the possum was trying to get to the air conditioner. We got a new unit in the fall and he had found a way to go under and get under the house. I had thought that was probably where he was living, when I saw him a few weeks ago, but had never found where he could get under. Rico held him back until I made Rico go into the house, then he ran behind the heat pump and went under an area where he had dug out under the edge of the unit and the metal housing where it connects to the house. Guess where we found the remains of the cantaloupe. He moved it 10 feet, squeezed it through an opening about the width of the melon, then broke it open and ate more than half of it. I guess everything is just hungry right now.

And it is too dang hot to go fix the area around the heat pump, but I don't guess I have much choice.

Carol, that is the pits. I have more trouble with armadillos than I do with possums, but they both are a pain.

I have kept 1/2 rebar around for years. The rebar is very useful to make the critters go find another spot to dig in. Larger rocks help, but they will just dig the smaller ones out of the way.

Madge said she heard an armadillo under the house last night but did not want to wake me. Whatever had been taking my hearing for many years seems to be taking my balance also. Madge said she did not want a drunk man staggering around the house with a gun for fear I might fall and shoot her or the dog.

I had planted some cantaloupe in the north garden. I was trying to keep an eye on them because I had a large blister beetle and grasshopper population. I went out to check on them one day and all I had were 1/4" high stumps.
They were young plants about 1" to 1 1/2" tall and planted near the tomatoes that I was letting the blister beetles have. I may not be so nice the next time the beetles show up.

Larry

Jeanie, I am relieved to hear your screens are fiberglass. I was a bit worried about grasshoppers who could chew such a large hole in metal window screens. Usually they can only manage to chew small holes in the metal screens, but larger ones in the fiberglass ones.

Larry, I think you're right. The blister beetles do not deserve a "Nice Guy" approach. Just kill them and get it over with. They are eating all my beans and southern peas down to the ground and I am about ready to spray them with something. Probably spinosad. It likely is too late to save the beans and peas, but maybe I can get rid of them so the fall beans and peas have a chance.

Dawn

Jeanie - my screens are fiberglass too, but I've seen them eat thru the aluminum as well. You can buy a screen patch kit if you want to take the time and have the patience to sew a patch over the hole. I don't have either of those, but I can focus long enough to cut a nice square of duct tape for both side of the holes! LOL!!! Duct tape fixes anything. DH came home from work the other day with a blow-out on the heel of his work-boot. Yep, he had it strapped with duct tape. My oldest DD got a tear in her dress at Senior Prom many years ago. Fixed it with corsage pins and duct tape. That's my girl!!! True story.

Larry - I vote with Dawn to just go ahead can kill the blister beetles. I physically moved a few to another area and now they've disappeared. My fear is that there out exploring and will soon find my Original Gargen out in the front part of our land, which is where the okra and beans are. I got all excited this morning when you said you were planting southern peas on another thread! I still have some space and finally, a little more time ....but now I'm afraid it would be pointless.

Carol - THAT'S JUST WRONG! I think Larry's got a great idea on the rebar. Gonna file that one away for future use myself. Wish you were closer, we've got lots. We planted late too and are just now getting blooms on the melons, okra and green beans.

Paula

Let's hear it for Duct Tape! Comes in colors, now. Didn't I see a wallet made out of DT on one of those craft shows a while back? Mercy! Some people just have WAY too much time on tbeir hands! HA
Unfortunately, my kitchen window over my sink is higher than I can reach outside (no tall ladders), and you would have to stand in the sink to reach it inside. Probably will have my son take the screen down after hopper activity dies down and will go to Ace and get a roll of screening and a spline tool and repair it, because I love fresh air in the Spring and Fall. I've replaced screening before, and it is really easy. Looks like I had better keep a roll of screening around, for emergencies. HA

Jeanie

Paula, I am a big fan of repairing things also, and another very handy product is a glue that I use often. The brand I get a Walmart is called E-6000. There are other brands just like it but I cant remember the brand name. When fixing something like a screen I just put a little glue on the surface and then stick it to the adjointing surfaces after if had dried a minute of so and press both sides with a wet finger. It make a joint much like hot melt glue but does not burn your finger.

I have been driving the same truck for 15 years, the last 5 years the right hand mirror has been held on with that glue. The trim and molding on Madge's car has been held on with the same glue where she tried to kick the window out when her dog's head got hung in the drivers window. Without glue and screws my world would fall apart.

Larry

What has a light side and a dark side and holds the universe together? (Duct tape)

I love duct tape, and now it comes in so many great colors. I've been buying a roll or two of the "flame" pattered duct tape every month and am stockpiling it to put in the firefighters' Christmas stockings for our annual party. They always get something useful from us like leather gloves (and they still will) but I thought the duct tape would be cute.

My favorite bandages in the world were the 3M Duct Tape bandages, which sadly are no longer in production. One year, the firefighters had those in their stockings and thought it was the best gift ever. The Duct Tape bandages protect your injury from soil, water, etc. and you can work on engines or whatever and not have your band-aid scrape off your hand in tight quarters. When you have a duct tape band-aid on your hand, it stays there until you remove it. I still have a half-box of them and ration them out only for the most serious cuts because I want for them to last as long as possible.

Duct tape is the "balin' war" of our generation.

mo

That's the truth!

I do still save and reuse baling wire too.

The flaming duct tape is my favorite!!

That is too funny, mo. :D