As a gardener, grasshopper infestation is one of the major problems you are likely going to face. Moreover, your geographical region plays a vital role.
Grasshoppers may not be the power-hungry thugs, like some of us learned from the movies, but they are still some of the more destructive pests known around the world.
Not only do they target grass, but they’ll also invade gardens in damaging crops. However, in this article, we will enlighten you on how to identify and get rid of grasshopper infestation leaving your grass and ornamentals pest-free.
How to Identify Grasshopper Infestation
To carry out a pest elimination process properly, we recommend you first identify the pest infesting your property. Wrong or lack of identification would lead to wrong treatment methods costing time and money.
There are many different kinds of grasshoppers around the world with about 11,000 known species, they grow to varying lengths from 2 meters long.
They have long rear ends, powerful hind legs, and 2 pairs of wings that compound eyes, and 2 antennas.
Their body colors can include green, brown, and grey. There is one kind of grasshopper that many people may be familiar with, it is the locusts.
Locusts are a type of grasshopper that normally act like other grasshoppers. When populations are low, most grasshoppers are solitary spending most of their adult lives foraging for food alone.
However, when the local population becomes dense enough, it’s become more gregarious and undergoes numerous drastic changes.
These changes include body shape and color that felicitate physiology and survival. For example, the migratory locusts exhibit all of these changes.
A couple of these changes are its body color changes from green to brown and black. And it will form massive swarms which infest your property.
Read also: How to Get Rid of Hobo Spider on your Property
How to carry out Inspection for Grasshopper Infestation
After you must have identified the pest infesting your property, inspection is the next step of an even pest control strategy.
Check around your property to confirm the presence of these pests or find their habitats. Grasshoppers prefer to live in areas with a lot of grass and other low plants in residential areas.
They’ll be among tall grasses, gardens, and around shrubbery because they don’t like to be out in the open.
Active grasshoppers are signs of grasshopper damage, walk around your property to spot any hopping or flying grasshoppers you may have disturbed.
Check the grass, plains near turf, and the leaves in your garden for chew marks. Grasshoppers are most active during the day, but can occasionally feed at night.
Ensure to know where you identified grasshoppers or their damage as you’ll use this information to get rid of them.
Read also: How Long Do Grasshoppers Live? Their Lifespan
How to Get Rid of Grasshopper Infestation
Knowing how to get rid of grasshopper infestation will cut the cost of hiring a pest control expert. Following these procedures below, you’ll be able to get rid of grasshoppers naturally spending $0 and with the aid of chemicals.
Read also: Where Do Grasshoppers Live? Discover Their Habitat
How to Get Rid of Grasshoppers Naturally
Natural methods of getting rid of grasshoppers are considered the best, why? You tend to spend less due to the procedures involved. Below is how to get rid of grasshoppers naturally:
- Using biological pest control agents: Birds, chickens, and guinea fowls are biological pest control agents which hunt and feed on grasshoppers. Rearing these agents in your property will control grasshopper infestation in your property.
- Making and applying garlic spray: Grasshoppers and other common household pests are known to be scared of the smell of garlic. Applying garlic spray in areas you identified grasshopper infestation will get rid of them.
- Spraying all-purpose flour: This is one of the best natural ways of eliminating grasshoppers. After spraying all-purpose flour at infested areas, grasshoppers will consume the flours. This flour will be very sticky to their mouthparts preventing them from eating. As result, they will starve to death. Note: spray only all-purpose flour as other flours contain salt which could be dangerous to plants.
- Setting up traps: Grasshoppers prefer staying in tall grass areas, you could leave grasses uncut at a particular area which attracts them to settle making it easy to catch them.
Read also: What Do Grasshoppers Eat? Discover Their Diet
How to Get Rid of Grasshoppers With Chemicals
Ensure to wear your personal protective equipment or PPE before attempting chemical treatment. Also, remember to keep all people and pets off the treated areas until dry.
To get rid of grasshoppers in your lawn and garden. You’ll need to use an insecticide that’s labeled for grasshopper control like Reclaim IT.
Reclaim IT is an insecticide concentrate that’s made with bifenthrin. This product is used to control over 70 labeled pests, including grasshoppers.
Once you have found signs of grasshopper activity on your property. You’ll need to apply to Reclaim IT over your entire lawn and your garden.
Read also: Do Grasshoppers Fly? Movement Of Grasshoppers
How to Apply Reclaim IT Insecticide
- At a rate of 0.25 to 0.5 fluid ounces per 1000 square feet of the treatment area.
- To start calculating your treatment area square footage by measuring the area in length and width and multiplying them together.
- You’ll use this to determine how much product you need to use since you’ll be making a wide variety of treatments to control grasshoppers.
- We recommend you use a handheld pump.
- Close the sprayer and shake to ensure even distribution.
- Pump the sprayer a few times to produce a low pressure.
- Ensure to spray the undersides of leaves as well.
- Once you’ve sprayed your lawn and garden, you can then proceed to make a parameter around your home to stop pests like grasshoppers from invading indoors.
Note: Reclaim IT should not be sprayed on to plant used for consumption as food.
Perimeter Application of Reclaim IT Insecticide
When attempting perimeter application of Reclaim IT, ensure the solution of 0.321 fluid ounces of product per 1,000 square feet of the treatment area.
- Spray the entry points you’ve identified grasshoppers around the outdoors.
- Spray doors, windows vent, openings, and other voids in the wall.
- Once you’ve treated entry points, conduct a perimeter treatment around your structure.
- Start at one point and continue to treat along with outdoor by going 3 feet up the structure and 3 feet out to avoid overlapping this application with your prior treatments.
How to Prevent Grasshoppers from Returning to your Property
Prevention is essential to keeping pests in check even after you’ve applied pesticides. The best way to stop grasshopper activity is to make sure it can’t return.
- Grasshoppers are attracted to overgrown grass. You’ll need to mow regularly while still maintaining healthy turf.
- Mow once a week to a proper height of 3 to 4 inches, this will keep your grass trimmed while it’s at a proper height to promote good root growth.
- Be sure to water your lawn properly on weekly basis. The water will help drive the roots of your turf deeper into the soil encouraging healthier grass that more easily fights off pests and disease.
- If you’re experiencing grasshopper activity indoors, then you may need to go around your structure’s parameter and close any openings with a combination of copper mesh and caulk.
Conclusion
In conclusion, be sure to keep up with reapplications of either natural or chemical methods of grasshopper elimination methods to maintain and control grasshoppers and other pests year-round on your property.
Grasshoppers are widely known pests that will devour entire lawns and gardens, but following these DIY guides on how to get rid of grasshopper infestation.
You’ll be able to eliminate an infestation that’s gone out of hand completely. Do well to share!
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