DESCRIPTION:
There are more than 200 species of grasshoppers in the Southwest. Adult female grasshoppers lay eggs in the soil which hatch in the spring and mature through the summer.
DAMAGE:
Grasshoppers have chewing mouthparts and leave holes in leaves or consume the entire leaf.
MANAGEMENT:
- Normally grasshoppers are not a problem in gardens and landscapes. Many birds, including quail, are dependent on them as an important food supply and tend to keep populations down most years.
- Occasionally, after a particularly wet spring, populations may build up and begin defoliating everything in site. Damage is usually limited to a few weeks in early summer immediately after range weeds dry up.
- Capture and removal is easiest in the cool morning when they are slower.
- Floating row covers and other protective covers are probably the best strategy in a small garden with a serious grass hopper problem.
- Beware of the impact pesticides may have on birds which eat poisoned grasshoppers. Read the label carefully.
- NOTE: As with all cycles in nature, higher numbers in grasshoppers this year means we can expect higher numbers of grasshopper predators next year.
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Image from Department of Entomology,
University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
Visual Media Library,
Differential Grasshopper on Soybean Pod
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