Hi All,

It is another hot and dry summer near Austin.  We have had a little bit more rain than last summer, but not enough to make a measurable difference.  The biggest difference between last year and this year is the grasshoppers are back in force.  It is not possible to walk through the field without stirring up 30+ of them with each step.  Over the past two days, they have stripped 5 trees bare of leaves...

LSU Purple (grasshoppers really seem to love these)


GM-8


143-36


The larger trees are also being eaten, but none as dramatically as the smaller trees.

~james

That is sickening. Can't anything be done?

Thats terrible James. I wonder what the farmers do to keep them in check.

Sorry to hear about your Trees.

Only two solutions I can think of would be pesticide spray. Might be able to make cage for the small trees out of hardware cloth and screen wire

Gawwwwd that must be horrible to see

Efinn Grasshoppers does not describe it 

My sincere condolences

James,

The quickest and easiest way would be netting.

Are grasshoppers seasonal in your area?

I agree about  netting being the best way.  Gonna have to be fine mesh neting though.  (How big are elfin grasshoppers?)

That would be a heck of a setback. I think I'd make a cover out of the screen used in a "screened in canopy". It keeps out mosquitos so I'm sure it would keep the grasshoppers out.  Are they out in force ALL summer?

Nylon laundry bags should do the trick.

The problem with pesticides is the area I am dealing with.  I am growing on about 3 acres and surrounded by 100s of acres of hay, corn and sorghum.  My trees are spaced on a 15'X20' grid so spraying would be difficult and localized spraying would be ineffective.

Netting is problematic as well.  Many of the grasshoppers are laying eggs in the mulch that surround the trees.  While we had a wet winter, we are back in a drought pattern for the summer.  The only water in the field is around the trees so that's where they want to lay their eggs.  Two years ago, my propagation area was swarming with baby grasshoppers.

I would not mind just defoliation so much (at this time, it is not really much of a set back and dare I say it is somewhat desirable) but they have chewed through some of the limbs.  It is difficult to see in the crappy picture of GM-8, but the limb coming off the trunk at 10 o'clock and the dots on the trunk are chewed wood.  Also, many of the cuttings planted this year (sorry Barry, they got all of the Sal's Corleone) are chewed down to the ground.

One of the things I am doing to minimize the grasshopper issue is to minimize the shade they are seeking (I think that is the primary reason they jump into the trees) by trimming off all but the top most leaves of all but the smaller trees.  This may sound odd, but my trees have stopped growing anyway until mid-September.  Last year it was so hot and dry the trees really did not record any growth during June, July and August.  A second benefit of removing the leaves is it reduces moisture loss through the leaves.  I noticed this several years ago during the summer leading up to and the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.  Many of the trees I was growing then (in containers) dropped their leaves early in the summer and went into a non-growth state.  When it started cooling down, they would put on a new flush of growth.  This is the same growth pattern my trees exhibit during the summers here. 

James, although I do not have an answer for you problem. I lived in Abilene for nine years and have seen the damage the hoppers can do. I watched them strip a hundred acre Milo field to the ground in less than a day. Have you attempted to contact anyone at Texas A&M? The whiz kids there are pretty smart. What about the local Ag office? Just tossing out a few ideas. Best of luck to ya.

James, I live in the Austin area too. For me chickens are the solution. I even catch hoppers when out and about to give to the horrible hens. One of the guys at the farmers market says he blew diatomaceous earth all over his crops and pfft! they were gone. 

Well the guy that is taking care of our hayfield sent another truck here yesterday (2nd time in 3 weeks) to spray for the effin grasshoppers! I thought it was going to be another JOKE like it was 3 weeks ago>    BOY was I wrong! whatever they sprayed was sudden death for the some beaches! I just hope it didn't kill the feral cats that have been doing a great job of controlling the effin gophers (the gophers & grasshoppers are not related!HEHE

Sounds like a big effin mess

You got that right Barry

They're small plants, why not cover them with fiberglass screening material to give them a chance to recover... sorry for your loss,  for a plant that is supposed to not have many problems, I'm finding that figs CAN have MAJOR problems....

What a pain, James! Once when I was trying to protect my figs from both birds and beetles, my daughter sewed some big bags (sleeves, actually) from a mosquito net-like material. I slipped each sleeve over a branch and gathered it around the base, securing it with a twist tie (the other, open end was closed with a clothespin for easy access to the fruit). I realize we're giving advice about locking the barn after the horse is gone, but if you could find some suitable bags before next year and then gather them around the trunks, maybe that would foil the new hoppers hatching out under the trees.

I agree with landscapewitch, try the diatomaceous earth.  I had an ant invasion yesterday and didn't have any DE left, so I puffed some baby powder all around the ring of the tree.  No more ants.  

They all belong to the biological genus of effin.  I have effin chipmunks here.

i feel your pain james.....i have some bunnies that have eaten many of my new rooted fig plants, papers, eggplant, beans etc

Malathion, wait till there is no cross  wind and soak your trees with a sprayer.
This stuff will stick on the plant and kill the critter when he chews.



Doug