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mistigardens

What are ya'll using for grasshoppers?

mistigardens
10 years ago

Please list as organic or not...as I have veggies being demolished by these demons! Anyone using the clay powder mix...like they use in pottery? Can't remember name but was advised by another organic. Just want to save my plants!

Comments (21)

  • Lynn Marie
    10 years ago

    Your post title made me laugh. I thought perhaps you were cooking with grasshoppers and couldn't find any and were looking for good substitutes. I was going to say that I use crickets when grasshoppers aren't in season.

    Otherwise, I can't help you. I use sevin dust when I have to, although I rarely need it anymore. Pretty sure it's not organic!

  • lou_spicewood_tx
    10 years ago

    I think you're talking about Nolo Bait.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Nolo Bait

  • Ray Scheel
    10 years ago

    Nolo Bait knocked back the horde, then I got free-range chickens and it was the grasshoppers who had problems instead of me...

  • beachplant
    10 years ago

    chickens. No grasshoppers, no snails, no slugs,no bugs, no weeds,no grass and the mulch is everywhere.
    Tally HO!

  • TxMarti
    10 years ago

    I wish we could have chickens here!

  • mistigardens
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Wish I could have chickens as well!

    I was referring to Kaolin Clay. Anyone use this?

    thanks

  • Ray Scheel
    10 years ago

    Check your city ordinances, as a great many allow hens and some even allow a rooster or two. (Those living under the dictates of an HOA's are another story).

    Houston proper is one of the few major cities with near-draconian restrictions (from what I can tell, even Bellaire has more reasonable ordinances), but there is a current push to change the Houston restriction to something more reasonable with elements that work in other Texas metro areas.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Hens For Houston

  • TxMarti
    10 years ago

    Our city might, but our neighborhood restrictions don't. I'd have to get approval from the majority of the neighbors and I don't think they would approve.

  • sowngrow (8a)
    10 years ago

    I use Nolo bait. This year I may need to reapply it. The grasshoppers are extremely numerous.

  • PKponder TX Z7B
    10 years ago

    The birds in my yard are eating them up :-) I still have damage to some plants but can't use anything because the birds are eating them. I hope my neighbors are not spraying anything. It's so cute to watch the sparrows and cardinal babies just hopping all over and getting the grasshoppers :-)

  • lou_spicewood_tx
    10 years ago

    I've noticed that birds would fly to the bird bath to dunk grasshopper in the water before eating grasshoppers. I don't see to have much of grasshopper problem. Maybe I'm in the middle of nowhere with high bird populations helping keep grasshopper population down?

  • crisslyon
    10 years ago

    Nolo helped me sooo much. they came out in hordes in 2011 as if the drought wasn't enough... The only thing they wouldn't eat....black eyed peas... And I bought some guineas.... They destroy those suckers I giggle everytime I see a guinea get another one.....

  • ilovemyroses
    10 years ago

    they are getting bad 'round here, in inner city dallas. Haven't seen much damage, but keep encouraging my kids to catch them for great fishing bait!!!

  • bootscootengal
    10 years ago

    fishbait....................got lots. on my second bag of nolo

  • Gretchen W.
    10 years ago

    I have them as well in Carrollton. Haven't seen many but they are a pest I want to get rid of.

  • bootscootengal
    10 years ago

    am considering a lighter and a can of hairspray.......homemade torch for these grasshoppers. they have stripped 2 rose bushes and r eating my cannas

  • linda_tx8
    10 years ago

    I'm guessing that some of the birds who dine well on all the birdseed and suet I put out probably like the grasshoppers to add more protein to their diet, because I don't often see any!

  • roselee z8b S.W. Texas
    10 years ago

    I didn't know that the drought was driving up the grasshopper population. This article from Texas Gardener's Newsletter 'SEEDS' tells how:

    Grasshoppers break out" but not as copiously as in 2011
    By Robert Burns
    Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service

    "After a dry winter, as expected, grasshoppers are becoming a problem, but they are not as severe or profuse as they were during the 2011 drought, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service expert.

    â 'ItâÂÂs mid-summer and the grasshoppers have gotten bigger; theyâÂÂre now winged, so theyâÂÂre moving into other crops and orchards,' said Dr. Allen Knutson, an AgriLife Extension entomologist, Dallas.

    "As they were in 2011, this yearâÂÂs grasshopper outbreaks are connected to drought conditions, he said. From July through the fall, grasshoppers deposit their eggs 0.5 to 2 inches below the soil surface. On an average year, fungus and other diseases take a toll on egg survival, thereby reducing the first generation grasshoppers that hatch in the spring.

    "But most of the fungi and diseases affecting egg survival depend upon moist conditions, so during a drought year, outbreaks are expected, Knutson said.

    "But the outbreaks this year, at least so far, have been spotty", he said.

    âÂÂ'Though some areas have had good rains, which reduce grasshopper populations, others have not, and theyâÂÂll still have problems,' he said. 'They are intense in some areas, while others donâÂÂt have any.'

    "Reports from AgriLife Extension county agents support KnutsonâÂÂs account.

    "Logan Lair, AgriLife Extension agent in Navarro County, northeast of Waco, reported, âÂÂGrasshoppers, grasshoppers, grasshoppers; they are back and with a vengeance. This is affecting hay production.âÂÂ

    "Heath Lusty, AgriLife Extension agent in Lampasas County, north of Austin, reported that along with hot, dry, windy conditions, 'grasshoppers are a serious issue in some parts of the county.'

    "In East Texas, where grasshopper infestations were especially severe in 2011, there was only one county reporting outbreaks in June, that of Rich Hirsch, AgriLife Extension agent in Henderson County, west of Tyler."

    Here is a link that might be useful: Texas Gardener Magazine - Past Newsletters are Available for Viewing

  • beachplant
    10 years ago

    we don`t have many on the island anyway. I guess they don`t swim all that well.

    Houston is changing their ordinances on chickens, they either voted or are going to vote soon and the chicken people are making happy noises.
    Tally Ho!

  • mistigardens
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks again for all the info.

    Beachplant, you mention Houston, and we don`t have many on the island anyway. ....what island?

  • wantonamara Z8 CenTex
    10 years ago

    I don't have many grasshopper problems due to a hungry bunch of non chicken birds. The hill country is not very friendly to them. I did see a few during the drought but then , I didn't have many plants alive for them to eat. They kept dying in my sink.

    here is what my go to site for Organic solutions says. They have a couple of solutions.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Arbico grasshopper page