Grasshoppers

How can I get rid of grasshoppers organically? We have a major infestation.

Thanks!

Hi Johnny, when I was a kid, we got three ducks and they completely cleaned out our suburban garden of grasshoppers, and in fairly short order;  we didn't feed them any additional feed over summer.  I now live in a wet, mild climate suited to slugs and snails, and thanks to my own two ducks, no longer trouble my vegetables (they also self harvest cabbage caterpillars and many other bugs and creepy crawlies).  

I know it's not for everyone, but honestly ducks are such great pest control, and if you don't want to keep them long term you can always eat them at the end of the season--they are delicious too :)

Welcome Johnny,
I've got no birds, though I certainly have enough slugs to feed a fleet....
grasshoppers show up here in the dry spells of the winter (we're in 9b, it's not very cold winter) and I keep an eye out for them. When they appear, I go after them with a wicked sharp kitchen scissor. Snip wildly, leave the parts around, the others move on rather quickly!

My swarms of grasshoppers don't seem to do any harm, but wild turkeys come out of the woods to eat them enthusiastically -- watching the chicks hunt is darling. I wonder if domestic turkeys would do the same.

My suggestion would be to make "Grasshopper Traps" and feed the grasshoppers to fish or sell as bait.

Traps can serve as a quick way to bring down the number of grasshoppers, especially in a home garden or smaller farm. Set up a clear pane of glass vertically that the grasshoppers fly into, and then they fall down into a container of soapy water below which they sink and die in.6 Some people have found success making a trap for their home garden/yard by cutting the top off a drink bottle and inverting the top in the bottle (reinsert the top, upside down). Put some grass in the bottle, and grasshoppers will crawl in through the bottle top opening but not be able get back out.

https://www.pesticide.org/grasshoppers



Folks also cook grasshoppers:

https://www.wikihow.com/Cook-Grasshoppers

Cheapest biological.  You catch about a cup of grasshoppers.  Put them in the blender with 2 or 3 cups of water and blend well,  Strain this(so you don't plug the sprayer) mixing with about a gallon of water in a sprayer and spray the plants well.  Don't know whether it chases them away or kills them but it will usually get rid of them for a week or 10 days.(I have seen both claimed, but have to say I have never seen carcasses so I think it is just a repellent personally)  Be aware this washes off with even a slight rainstorm and you have to start over.  

Some stuff I have read suggests it needs to be non chloriated water.  As I have never done it with chlorinated water I wouldn't know.

Catching them by hand is a LOT of work but with a sweep net it often is a fairly fast operation.  Used to walk out into the hay field and sweep and then come back and make spray for the garden.  With a sweep net in 10 minutes or so you can often have over a cup gathered.

One thing that is on the to try list I have never gotten done is to put out some Nolo bait in an area then catch grasshoppers from that area a few days later and go spray in another location.  If it kills this should let you improve its ability to kill.

Nolo bait is another biologic control.  It is treated with a spore that is specific to grasshoppers and crickets.  Since they are carnivorous and eat their own dead it is supposed to spread some after application.  Have had good luck a couple of times with it and little or no luck about twice that many times.  Read an article on how sensitive it is to poor storage and to age and my guess is the failures were bad product because of improper storage.  Notice it is a bit pricey as an answer.