Grasshoppers can be funny at times, but deadly to garden plants. In this post, we are going to look at how to protect baby plants from grasshoppers. I see them hopping or flying away from my garden as I approach. I may even see them hanging around to chomp on my plants, but a good blast of water from my hose will cause them to flee. In fact, this is what caused the grasshopper in today’s featured video to become a tightrope walking grasshopper. This first method of being there to scare them off bodily or with a blast from the hose isn’t going to work for when I am not there. Watch the video, and then let’s go on to see what else we can do to protect the baby plants.
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Grasshoppers are Deadly to Garden Plants
How could such a funny insect be so deadly to garden plants? We have all heard of the plague of locusts that God sent to Egypt to humble Pharoah and we have all seen the modern-day locust plagues around the world where swarms of grasshoppers fly in to eat everything. But, what harm can just a few grasshoppers do? Well, I planted some carrots last year and as they popped their heads above the soil, they all disappeared! That is because grasshoppers love baby plants. The deadly result was that I had no carrots at all.
How Can I Protect My Plants?
First, It helps to have a good library of books to refer to when there is a pest problem. The following book is a good example.
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Cultivate and Mulch the Soil
I have a book called The Encylopedia of Natural Insect & Disease Control. It recommends the cultivation of the soil to destroy the eggs and hatching nymphs. That won’t work for my hugelkultur garden. Next, try a good layer of mulch to keep them from surfacing. That is all well and good, but what about the fact that adult grasshoppers can fly?
Natural Enemies
The author goes on to tell of all the different birds and mammals, including cats, that like to eat them. Since I have seven cats is the problem solved? No. They aren’t going to get them all. Reptiles, amphibians, and spiders take their toll on the grasshopper population. Grasshoppers even have parasites that attack and kill them. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone would make some of those parasites available to gardeners? Well, they have.
There is a protozoan parasite, Nosema locustae, that is now available. It comes as Nolo Bait. Nolo Bait is an easy-to-use dry bran flake that has been sprayed with protozoa that control grasshoppers but do not harm humans, animals, or other insects. Death may occur in 1-3 weeks in juvenile grasshoppers. Third instars or older may take more time to die. The insect pathogen multiplies in infected grasshoppers and passes from grasshopper to grasshopper throughout the season. This will help to keep the population down so I don’t get a plague of grasshoppers. This process seems slow. Maybe it will help for next year, but while they are living, they can still eat my baby plants.
Cheap Row Cover
Should I make an elaborate hoop system and put screening up to keep out all insects to protect the baby plants from the grasshoppers? That could get costly. It would also keep the bees from pollinating the plants that need it. My book suggests a wonderful idea that is cheap and doable. All I will need to do is buy some cheesecloth and lay it over the rows where the baby plants will come up. That way, the plants are protected from the grasshoppers and it will also shade them from the hot sun and act as mulch.
Sprays and Traps
For emergency protection for the plants right now, a spray can be made with hot-pepper pods (if you have any on hand) or you can use cayenne pepper powder. Just put some in a sprayer with water and pure soap. Shake it up and spray. This will have to be done every time after watering the plants.
Half-fill two-quart mason jars with one part molasses to ten parts water and place near the plants. This tasty treat is to attract the grasshoppers to jump in and drown. I don’t like this idea too well because other insects like sweet things too and I wouldn’t want to drown a bunch of bees or other pollinators.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we have looked at how to protect baby plants from grasshoppers and found that we can use one or all of the methods. There are things we can do for immediate protection and things we can do to cut down on the grasshopper population in the future to prevent a plague. I’m going to start with the cheesecloth and let my homesteading cats do their job in keeping the population down.
To see more posts in the Wildlife Edition of my blog, click this link. https://healthyhomesteadingadventures.com/category/wildlife/