Grasshoppers

Grasshoppers have all but destroyed my garden. I planted a 3 sisters garden next to a potato patch. First they decimated my potatoes. Then they went after my squash after which there was no sign that it was ever even there. Now my beans are nearly gone and the only thing left standing is my corn. They've eaten about 10% of the foliage of my corn so far. Is there anything I can do to save my corn? And what should I do differently for next year?

Chickens in a moat around the garden. Doesn't take many. We put 7 in a one acre fenced parcel and they took care of our hoppers in a week. And the eggs are amazing.

Haven't tried anything else, but I'm sure others have.

Ann Torrence wrote:Chickens in a moat around the garden. Doesn't take many. We put 7 in a one acre fenced parcel and they took care of our hoppers in a week. And the eggs are amazing.

Haven't tried anything else, but I'm sure others have.

Sorry for the late reply. The problem with my situation is I don't live at the place where my garden is so I can't keep chickens. It does seem that the grasshoppers have subsided now. I guess they don't like corn so much because my corn is the only thing left standing.

Are they small grasshoppers like the size of a dime? I live in Nj and I have them all over my potatoes but they don't seem to be doing any significant damage. I have cilantro dill and marigolds planted in and around my potatoes which I know has kept potatoe beetle in check( I still had to manually pick some off on an almost daily basis but no damage was done to my plants). I know this companion planting worked for potato beetle because I would often see wasps eating adult beetles right on the potato plants. So, I am thinking that the same is happening to the grasshoppers I have there. They are present but kept in check by wasps. Marigolds also worked for tomato worm. My tomatoes last year were totally cover in tomato worms and not a single tomato was harmed(every tomato worm was completely covered in wasp cacoons). So if ou don't have marigolds in and around the garden then that would be a good start. I think I bought an entire tray for 8$ at my local garden store.