The grasshoppers are hatching again this year and invading my garden by the millions(literally). I rememember using a soap and mouthwash concoction last year that worked fairly well but i cannot remember what exactly the recipe was . If anyone has anythong similar I would really appreciate hearing from You. We try to stay as nayural as possible with our garden but the grasshoppers ate the fruit off the trees last year and left the pits.I am desparate to not have a repeat this year. We put out nosema today but it will take about three weeks to see any results.It will be a wasteland around here by then.Thanks.

-- carla sloan (twosloans@texoma.net), May 11, 2001

Answers

Carla! Don't know anything about the receipe you want but what about some ducks, chickens or maybe some guinea? They'll take care of the situation in short order. Matt.24:44

-- hoot (hoot@pcinetwork.com), May 11, 2001.

"Pests" archive.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), May 11, 2001.

For the fruit trees, I fenced in my orchard and run the birds under the trees. Not only do the hoppers not have a hope of getting close, the birds also clean up the fallen fruit. That is the only thing I do for bug control, and it does a wonderful job. I only get the occasional bug bite now, in the pre-chicken days my fruit wasn't fit to bring to the house. For the garden, ducks and guineas aren't as hard on the plants, chickens scratch too much, and turkeys and geese like to eat the plants.

-- Connie (Connie@lunehaven.com), May 11, 2001.

Get yourself some chocolate. Roast them grashoppers and then coat them with melted chocolate. YUM

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), May 11, 2001.

You must live in Texas, Carla! I ordered more chicks a couple of weeks ago to help my flock. They're gonna need some Maalox with all those hoppers out there! -LOL-

Before the days of chooks, a half and half mixture of water and blue Dawn Dishwashing Detergent sprayed on the plants was a good method.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), May 12, 2001.

If it is those big black hoppers your birds might not eat them. Their natural protection is their bad taste and many birds will not eat them. Perhaps you could cover your garden (if not to large ) with some garden netting.

-- ed (edfrhes@aol.com), May 12, 2001.

BLACK hoppers??? Never saw anything like that!

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), May 12, 2001.

I feel your pain. Last year huge (and I mean HUGE) yellow and black grasshoppers ate everything in my yard but the monkey grass. All they did was breed and eat. They even ran my bluejays off. I finally broke down and sprayed sevin. All I can say is don't waste your time with nonorganic solutions -- they won't work either and I still feel guilty for poisoning the ground. I think the grasshoppers thought the poison was hotsauce. The best solution I came up with was to plant in containers and hang them from the porch. The little bastards STILL tried to jump up there. My neighbor would kill them individually with a hammer, but I didn't have the stomach for that. (She certainly looked like a gore-splattered nightmare after a "grasshopper session.") Sometimes some tobacco water (soak some cigarettes in water and spray it on your plants) slowed them down, but not all plants are fond of nicotine and might die. In the end, I moved. Good luck and invest in some of those great hanging baskets.

-- Sabrina Comer (sabrinalaw@hotmail.con), May 27, 2001.