I loathe grasshoppers

May 16, 2020

The best defense
by: Jacki Cammidge, Certified Horticulturist

The best defense is a good offense. Attract a grasshoppers scariest nightmare and in time you won’t have any problem with them.

It won’t be overnight, and it won’t take care of every single one, but getting birds to hang around is the best solution to grasshoppers, and many other pest species. Various lists of birds that predate grasshoppers include bluebirds, blackbirds, blue jays, hawks, chickens, and turkeys.

Other residents in your garden might like a grasshopper snack now and again too. These include lizards, snakes and other reptiles like turtles and even bearded dragons.

And don’t forget the mammals; Raccoons are a very common grasshopper predator, as are opossums, brown bats, red foxes, and least shrews, not to mention the northern grasshopper mouse.

Other insects will eat grasshoppers too; praying mantis will hunt them down, no work for you to do.

There is also a fungus that affects grasshoppers, but I have no idea if it’s commercially available. It’s Entomophthora grylli and will put the grasshopper into a coma, where the fungus uses it as a host, the spores become airborne, and affect other grasshoppers.

Some of those solutions may be suited to your conditions, so they might be worth a try.

Ground squirrels are another matter entirely, and you may have to get an exterminator to deal with them. If you’re surrounded by sandy areas, growing your plants up off the ground and in containers may be your only solution.