elle sagenev wrote:Haha Chickens. They'll probably eat your garden too but the grasshoppers will be gone.

Meryt Helmer wrote:

elle sagenev wrote:Haha Chickens. They'll probably eat your garden too but the grasshoppers will be gone.

yeah I almost suggested ducks for the same reason! but then you need to do something to protect your plants. that is why my first suggestion is a bird feeder. they won't damage the plants as much. you need a way to attract predators. I wonder if a little frog pond could help?

Meryt Helmer wrote:the reason I have 9 baby ducks in my kids bedroom is my hopes that they will help with slugs! we also get crickets or grasshoppers here later in the year and if they help with them I will be pleased! my asparagus bed seems very very empty so perhaps the slugs (or something else) ate all my asparagus but I will plant something else there if that is the case.

Meryt Helmer wrote:I recommend predators because I think in the long run it will be easier and work better. I am not against using some sort of natural pesticide but I have no experience using them. I think that one downside is they can kill beneficial bugs and then things can get further out of balance so sometimes they can make problems worse. planting things that attract beneficial bugs would be helpful and also sometimes people plant something that will attract the pests as a sort of sacrificial crop that all the aphids or whatever go after. I don't think that would work so well with grasshoppers. I think grasshoppers are harder to deal with using pesticides honestly.

Pia Jensen wrote:

What I also understand from having used the hot pepper (capsicum), garlic, onion, water, smidgen of liquid dish soap (substitute with neem oil?) is that it is effective on certain highly invasive and damaging insect such as spider mites. esp. the red spider mite. But, you have to stick with the spray one day one week, spray again at two and three weeks (every seven days) to ensure you eliminate the mites and their offspring. When in a pinch and no fresh hot pepper is around I let dried pepper sit awhile in the mix to let it be fully absorbed.

Brandon Greer wrote:

Pia Jensen wrote:

When you say "one day one week" do you mean once every week? I assume so...just want to clarify.

glad to help, yes one day per week, three weeks (miss one week and they can get ahead ahead of you. Even .gov has recipes (page 8 here alternative pest solutions I have used up to six cayenne, with one medium onion, 1 head of garlic, small amount of dish soap in large batches. Liquify in blender or chop real fine what you can, mix, strain out the "pulp" put in a sprayer ad be sure to get the undersides of the plant leaves. Test spots to see if it's too strong for oms plants, adjust.

Rodale also describes the spray http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/garden/natural-pest-spray