How to Get Rid of Grasshoppers Without Using Chemicals

When grasshoppers invade the garden and flowerbeds, a gardener typically reaches for insecticides. It's an effective gardening move because insecticides work quickly-one squirt and the grasshoppers keel over dead. However, environmentally speaking, it's not a good choice. Green gardening, on the other hand, might employ insecticidal soaps and sprays that are good for the environment, but the biggest complaint is that they only partially work and require repeated applications.

Many of those who love gardening would like to try keeping the earth healthy-if they could only find something that actually worked against those pesky grasshoppers.

Consider Nosema locustae for bio-control in gardening. This year, while the gardening season is still young, consider creating a plan of attack against the grasshoppers that may work for as long as 2 gardening seasons (and is sometimes partially effective up to 3). Use Nosema locustae early in the gardening season, while the grasshoppers are still small, for a method that doesn't require those time intensive and continuous applications of poison all summer long.

Nosema locustae is a naturally occurring, single-celled microsporidium protozoan that is effective against approximately 90 species of grasshoppers, as well as Mormon crickets and locusts. The spores are not considered harmful to humans, pets, bees, or fish, and have no adverse affect on the environment. Formulated as a powder, the Nosema is mixed with bran, which is then scattered in the garden, flowerbeds, and outlying areas.

The grasshoppers consume the bran, ingesting the spores. This causes the grasshoppers to cease feeding, become lethargic, and die. In addition, non-infected hoppers will feed on the dying or dead grasshoppers and become infected as well.

Remember it's not a gardening quick-fix. Be warned that using Nosema locustae is not a quick-fix gardening solution, but it is an excellent, environmentally safe way to control hoppers. If applied when the grasshoppers are small (approximately 1/4-1/2 inch long), the biological works well. After that-the larger the insect, the less effective the treatment. In addition, the grasshoppers don't die immediately, but within 2-4 weeks. However, they do cease eating once a certain level of infection is reached and the disease is contagious, giving it a two-pronged attack. Plus, there's the benefit that the grasshopper population is reduced for more than one gardening season.

Nosema locustae is not available at all gardening centers, but is well worth the time and effort to locate it. The bait can also be purchased online at Bionet.com under the brand name, Nolo Bait, or at Amazon.com under the name, Semaspore Bait. The shelf life is 6 weeks at room temperature, or 5 months if kept refrigerated, so be sure to check the expiration date on the container before buying.

Other gardening articles by this author:
Are You Getting a Great Harvest from Your Tomato Plants?
Ideas for Making Plant Markers

Sources:
Embedded links as listed above.
Gary L. Hein; John B. Campbell; Ron C. Seymour, "A Guide to Grasshopper Control in Yards and Gardens," University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Publications.
"Nosema locustae (117001) Fact Sheet," US Environmental Protection Agency.