SALT LAKE CITY — Bad news: It’s grasshopper season. But the good news is that there are ways to control them.
Gardeners often worry when grasshopper season returns because they notice that the bugs invade their plants. According to KSL Greenhouse Host Taun Beddes, they do that partly because they prefer to feed on green foliage.
Although it depends on the species, grasshoppers tend to feed on tomatoes and corn ears. Sometimes, they prefer lilacs over other shrubs.
Try grasshopper baits
If you start to see small grasshoppers, a bait can help.
“There’s a bait called Eco Bran that you can pick up from IFA (or) Steve Regan,” Beddes said. “… Spread it in your garden area or where you see the grasshoppers coming in. They feed on it, and it kills them. And because it’s a bait, and it’s on a granule—usually a corn cob piece that’s been ground up—it doesn’t harm anything, and it only targets the grasshoppers.”
If you can’t find the Eco Bran, you can find similar baits and granules from Garden Tech. The key is to find something that contains carbaryl, bifenthrin or permethrin.
Some plants might need spraying
While you can put baits around your vegetables, Beddes said spraying your plants will come in handy if you’re seeing countless grasshoppers.
“If you want to try to keep them out of your yard, if you live in a wildland area and it’s just bordered by weeds, you can go in and weed whack 15 or 20 feet out and just leaf blow all that plant material away from your house. And that may deter them from coming in because there’s nothing for them to feed on between the house and that dead area.”
Another strategy for those living in a wildland area is to do a band spray every week or 10 days. This is when you spray the perimeter of your yard out into the field and the plants near your fence line.
Read more from the KSL Greenhouse show:
KSL Greenhouse is live on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
We want to hear from you.
Have a story idea or tip? Send it to the KSL NewsRadio team here.