How to Prevent and Get Rid of Grasshoppers in Your Garden
Grasshoppers are herbivorous insects with angled hind legs that they use for jumping. There are at least 30 varieties in the United States that are considered plant-damaging pests and, in large numbers, can cause significant losses to your crops.
There are about 600 varieties in total, but not all of them harm crops.
Bad locusts are chewing insects that feed on the stems, leaves, and fruits of plants. In-home gardens, grasshoppers feed on all the plants you have lovingly cared for, including:
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When the number of grasshoppers is high, they feed on plants that they normally wouldn't but are voracious, and when the food decreases, they eat everything in your garden down to the last leaf.
Lifecycle of Grasshoppers
Grasshoppers are not like butterflies. They do not form a cocoon but are born into nymphs and go through five seedlings, gradually becoming the grasshopper we all know.
If their numbers are too high, environmental conditions can cause some strains to swarm, and that's when they become like a swarm of locusts and decimate everything they find. This is something you would never want to experience.
Natural Prevention Methods to Control Grasshoppers
Stay tuned, especially from early spring to mid-summer. That's when their numbers are at their peak. As the growing season progresses, make sure your garden is not surrounded by tall grass. They love to use it as a base, especially when the weather is hot and dry.
Cut the grass a little lower, directly around the garden.
Weed, Weed, and Weed
If you live in an area where locusts are prevalent, you should remove weeds as much as possible. The weeds provide food for the newly hatched nymphs. They also provide shelter if they are abundant. If the weeds are long, you may find that they have been there and increased in number without even being aware of their presence.
Till the Soil for Prevention
Grasshoppers lay their eggs in the ground to hibernate before hatching in spring. Plow the land frequently to kill the eggs that are waiting to hatch when conditions are right.
Until mid-summer, late fall, and early spring. Its objective is to interrupt the life cycle from the beginning. Remember that it is better to be safe than sorry.
Natural Predators Love Grasshoppers
In a way, you can sit back and let Mother Nature take care of the locusts in her garden. She must make sure that the right predators are in abundance around her plants.
- Swallows love grasshoppers and are renowned for keeping them in check.
- Praying Mantis are hunters that are always keen to tuck into fresh grasshoppers.
- Small Snakes will sit and wait for grasshoppers and you probably won’t even see them.
- Toads have a habit of targeting grasshoppers if they come near them. Great if you have a lake or pond nearby.
Cover Your Plants
Cover your favorite plants with an antifreeze cloth, fine mesh, blankets, or gauze. Hopefully, any wandering lobsters will pass through your garden.
Use Natural Garlic Spray
Make the food the grasshoppers want unpleasant. A basic garlic spray works wonders and will likely force you to move on quickly.
Boil a cup of minced garlic in five cups of water. Turn off the heat and let the mixture sit overnight. Then mix one part to three parts of water in a spray bottle.
Moisten the top and bottom of all the foliage. This not only discourages grasshoppers but most other chewing insects as well.
Use Plants Grasshopper’s Don’t Like
Companion planting can be used in a number of ways. Just as some plants help each other to thrive, you can use some plants to repel grasshoppers.
I had good success with sage. Some time ago another gardener told me that he had deterred lobsters with him, so I gave it a try. You can also try:
Calendula
Sunflower
Dill
Cilantro
Tomato
Sudden passion
Eradicate Grasshoppers
If you live in a warm environment, be prepared to use any organic or natural method to get rid of lobsters. We can see that grasshopper activity gets worse as the world warms up, but stay alert and act as soon as you find one.
Like most other parasites, where there is one, there are many.
Chemical control
Sometimes, you need to use chemicals to control pests in your yard. If you are like me and try natural remedies first, the idea of chemicals is very unpleasant. The problem with locusts, however, is that there are very few pests that can withstand the damage they can cause.
If all else fails, you will need to use a broad-spectrum pesticide like carbaryl. The problem is, it kills everything, including beneficial insects when used as a spray. Better to use carbaryl bait stations if you use the chemical method.
Predict Bad Grasshopper Years
If you or your neighbor are having a bad year for the grasshopper business, they will probably have another next year. Grasshoppers appear to cycle for several years. This means that you can be reasonably sure that next year will be bad if this year was.
That is why it is imperative to break this cycle using the technique of your choice. Tillage, neem oil, free-range chickens, and homemade natural sprays all contribute to a better harvest in the future.
Neem Oil
Neem oil contains azadirachtin. This is a compound that causes insects to cut down on food. It also affects your hormonal systems, which affect reproduction.
Spray your plants regularly with neem oil when there are grasshoppers. Use an organic one if you can find it. This is another way to make your plants ugly to insects while interrupting their life cycle.
How to Tell if You Have Grasshoppers
With all the possible pests that may be in your garden, how do you know if you really have a grasshopper problem?
Grasshoppers are reddish-brown or olive green. They grow up to 1 and 3/4 inches long and have long, slender bodies.
They have big heads and eyes and I always think their hind legs seem flabby and ready to shoot and allow them to jump long distances. Adult grasshoppers have wings.
You need to find out which varieties are endemic to your area and learn to identify them. While this makes sense for any garden pest, locusts are, to me, a notch above most other pests, due to the potential damage they can cause if they are left behind in a large amount of the population.
What Temperatures Do Grasshoppers Prefer?
The colder the better when it comes to lobsters. The ideal temperature range for lobsters is between 86ºF and 112ºF. So you can see that they prefer warmer areas because they are thermoregulated, which means they use the environment to keep warm.
This is why you often see grasshoppers sunbathing in the morning. They are literally warming up for the next day.
How Bad Are Grasshoppers?
To show how harmful they are, some studies have shown that lobsters eat up to 1/4 of the plant material in the western United States.
A grasshopper will eat 50% of its body weight every day, regardless of the stage of its development. They will also eat the plant material in your garden to the point where the plants no longer grow because they continue to eat until there is nothing left to eat.
Nor does it take many to cause significant damage. Just 10 adults in a square yard are estimated to be enough to damage your crop beyond recovery. Six or seven adults in a square meter can eat as much as a large herbivorous animal.
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Source: Pests, Weeds & Problems
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Last update on 2025-04-28 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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