View Full Version : Grasshoppers!
WV Girl
07-20-2009, 09:56 PM
Hi everyone! I have been quietly reading the new posts each day trying to learn what I can while my first basjoos have been growing nicely out back by the pool. They have tripled in size from when I first received them and things were fine. AND THEN......the leaves starting getting holes in them. upon further inspection, what do I find hiding down inside of a new curled leaf but a *GASP* grasshopper! Then another! I didn't realize these buggers could do that kind of damage. So the question is......What do I do now? (please don't ask me to touch them) Is there a bug deterrent/preferably killer to get rid of them? Thanks in advance for all your knowledge and information. (And no, my cats don't eat them.:ha:)
Bch Grl
07-21-2009, 03:59 PM
Grasshoppers are yukky! I won't touch them either, but they say that is the best way to kill them. I have heard that it is very hard to get rid of them as they spend part of their lives in the ground.
And they eat voraciously! I don't have but a few every year, but I have been to houses where they are climbing up the walls and across the driveway.
I don't recall what is the method to rid your yard of them, hopefully, someone will help!
Margie:waving:
cowboyup4christ
07-21-2009, 04:49 PM
liquid saven should work
lorax
07-21-2009, 05:30 PM
Insecticidal soaps or diatomaceaous earth will also help, however the best thing I've ever found for grasshoppers/locusts (which affect my sugarcane) is to pick the little buggers off and dispose of them in whatever way you please.
I toast and eat 'em (they taste like peanuts), but you can just kill them by mashing them with a fork. They're less gross to touch than other insect and invertebrate pests I can think of - they're dry, and they don't bite (until they're locusts, but that doesn't sound like what you have.) Also, if you're fast you can use tongs to catch them and smoosh them all in one step.
D_&_T
07-21-2009, 05:48 PM
I like to pull their heads off, then smash em!....or watch em try to move and jump
Dan
Ohio'sBest
07-21-2009, 06:02 PM
Garlic Oil Spray or Neem Oil
Grasshopper Control (http://www.ghorganics.com/page12.html)
LilRaverBoi
07-21-2009, 07:13 PM
LMFAO Beth....your post just cracked me up. I dunno if it was meant to be comical, but I got a few good chuckles out of it! I especially loved that not only do you eat them, but all your devices of extermination were eating utensils! LOL.
WV Girl
07-21-2009, 07:14 PM
Thanks everyone for your quick replies!
(To Dan...Ewwwww. ):rollerbananadone:
I'll give your suggestions a try!
lorax
07-21-2009, 07:52 PM
LOL, Bryan, I'm dead serious.
LilRaverBoi
07-21-2009, 08:05 PM
LOL, Bryan, I'm dead serious.
LOL...that's kinda what I figured...which was why I found it so hilarious (cause I was picturing you doing all these various things!). Keep up your hardcore ways!
CValentine
07-21-2009, 08:15 PM
I prefer chocolate covered (toasted)grasshoppers... :D
My Mom uses the Diatomaceous Earth & if that doesn't get'em, she goes around the yard wearing gloves & with a widemouthed Mason jar of kerosene & drops them in!
Hope this helps!!! :) ~Cheryl
Smoothie
07-21-2009, 09:38 PM
I used to have a cat that took care of grasshoppers in my garden. I've had some luck with garlic and neem as well.
BullShark
07-22-2009, 03:11 AM
If you don't want to touch them and don't want to put poison or other weird stuff on your tasty bananas there's another trick you can do. Get a flashlight and a bug vacuum, go around your plants and night and suck up the grasshoppers with the vacuum. The bugs will be sleeping on the stems and leaves of your plants. So will other things like lizards, frogs and even legged tadpoles. Yeah, it's weird! Anyway that's how I organically control pests and come up with protein supplements at the same time. I've eaten a bug or two on purpose just to see what it was all about but I give the protein supplements to my chickens and they turn the bugs into eggs for me. I think eggs are tastier than bugs and the chickens think it's a fair swap too.
Bananaman88
07-22-2009, 08:55 AM
Beth, do you have a banana sauce recipe to go with those toasted hoppers? We could post it in the "recipes" section. Seriously, though, how do you go about toasting them? I'd be game for trying it!
lorax
07-22-2009, 08:59 AM
Pull off the head and the wings, then put the rest in the hot-air popcorn popper. I like mine with a bit of salt and dill, personally, but I bet they'd be fantastic with the banana ketchup that's part of the Inasal Chicken recipe in Issue 2.....
TommyMacLuckie
07-22-2009, 09:51 AM
In Mandeville, LA we get the Devil's Horses. They are lubbers. They eat whatever they can - philos, cannas, ears, bananas, various lilies. They start out red with a black stripe. They're very easy to kill when they're freshly out of the ground. When they get bigger they turn black with a red stripe and then at some point multi-colours. They're TERRIBLE.
WD40 kills 'em good. As they get bigger they are a bit more difficult to kill but the WD still works. Raid Earth Options kills 'em as well. Not many other bug killers work. And then if you spray them while on plants with WD, well, you might as well just pull the damn bug off.
Water makes these lubbers climb to the top of whatever they can. They don't like water. They have no predators. They need to be eradicated - or go back to where they belong - the East Coast.
BullShark
07-22-2009, 12:34 PM
Ugh! lubbers! Maybe it's their poisonous coloration or maybe it's the drunken way they move but something about them really irritates me! I've tried stomping them on the ground before only to see them get back up and start moving. My chickens won't even eat a lubber, not even when it's a baby, and they'll eat anything!
TommyMacLuckie
07-22-2009, 01:22 PM
That's because they are TOXIC.
NOTHING eats them. They're TERRIBLE!
cowboyup4christ
07-22-2009, 01:39 PM
Sounds like Pharaoh moved into the neighborhood and brought a plague with him. Them must have been what God used on Egypt.
Sounds like a job for napalm. Love the smell of it in the morning.
BitterSweet
07-22-2009, 01:44 PM
Nothing eats them? I'm pretty sure I've seen alot of pictures with praying mantids (mantis?sss?) sucking the life out of them. Maybe raise and try a few of those guys? I'm debating about getting some of those guys to keep the hoppers out of my greenhouse, they're mad here! Best of luck to you.
LilRaverBoi
07-22-2009, 02:08 PM
I've seen alot of pictures with praying mantids (mantis?sss?) sucking the life out of them.
LOL...Just to clarify that one for ya: mantis=singular....mantids=plural.
How great is this language of ours, huh? :ha:
BullShark
07-22-2009, 05:01 PM
That must be one huge mantis! Lubbers a big, heavy, awful things. We actually did use to call them locusts just because that's the worst grasshopper we'd ever heard of.
WV Girl
07-23-2009, 08:53 PM
You guys crack me up!:ha:Thanks for all the great nana advice. I'll let you know how it goes. Operation Hopper Kill begins....:2723:
WV Girl
08-06-2009, 06:32 PM
Hello again! I am happy to report Operation Hopper Kill has been successful!:woohoonaner:
I sprinkled seven dust all around the base of each plant, as well as down in the top. This seemed to do the trick, and I havent seen any more bugs or their damage in a while now. Just wanted to pass this on, in case anyone else has the problem. Thanks for all the great advice!
TommyMacLuckie
08-07-2009, 01:01 AM
The evil Devil's Horses have been and still are mating in LA but are dwindling due to massive deaths by foot, hose, various sprays and vehicles (and some people throwing them and/or cutting them in 2) and, well, they're usually gone by August. They've been chomping down on several different plants. I hate them.
oldguardmom
09-20-2009, 12:11 AM
Thanks WVGIRL I was going to post also about grasshoppers on my nanners. I am going to try the S Dust.
Tania:drum:
xmoose
09-20-2009, 11:35 AM
Thank you everyone for thisinfo.....I was just reading through and now have a few (tasty) ideas for my own garden pests. This webste is GREAT !!!
SOCALROCKER
09-20-2009, 12:03 PM
I have had grasshoppers all over my dragonfruit.I think they are eating parts of the plant should I get rid of them or are they keeping other bug pest away.I have also had some bites in the dragonfruit branches are these guy's the culprit eating my drangonfruit branches?
D_&_T
09-20-2009, 12:16 PM
They are only eating your dragonfuit!
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