We all would like to have plants that are always healthy and protected against pests, but from time to time we can find insects that are particularly harmful, and not because they rot the roots, but because they eat the leaves. These are grasshoppers, locusts, and cicadas. Their appetite is voracious, especially when they are young, so they can destroy plants in just a few days. Here we will learn how to repel grasshoppers. Fortunately, there are several things that can be done to keep them away.
Read on to find out how to repel grasshoppers.
Key features
These insects are of considerable size and the worst thing about them is their voracious hunger. And it is that they can wreak serious havoc on gardens and orchards that are not continuously controlled. When grasshoppers appear in small numbers, it is best to remove them by hand to not having to use any type of pesticide. However, if a garden that we have at home is spread throughout all the crops, other more drastic solutions will have to be used.
Grasshoppers live in an environment that is wild and humid enough to allow them to reproduce. This means that a high degree of humidity in the crops can help their reproduction and create the ideal environmental conditions. Since it is a dance of herbivorous animals, they generally feed on grass, although some species are omnivorous and also feed on other small insects. Depending on the species of grasshopper that we have in our crops, it can benefit or harm us.
If we have an omnivorous grasshopper species that feeds on other insects that are also acting negatively towards our crops, could serve as pest control. It would be a totally biological pest control without the need to use chemicals. However, the most common is that these insects become a problem for our plants. Therefore, it is important to learn how to repel grasshoppers.
The lengths of these animals vary quite a bit. They can reach 15 centimeters in length. They weigh between 1-10 grams.
Grasshopper life cycle
In the process of reproduction, grasshoppers sing their songs in such a way that the female can more easily recognize the male. This is their form of courtship and, for this, rub part of their paws. The legs that are provided with teeth like a saw on one of the veins of their own wings.
After reaching each other and overcoming the courtship, these animals start the fertilization process. The reproduction is carried out through the eggs and this makes it an oviparous breed that must deposit the eggs on the ground. Larval-type hatchlings are quite similar to adults although they are not as large and do not have wings.
It is later when the reproductive system forces them to develop their wings and it is at that moment that they are complete. Grasshoppers find enough acts to deal with different predators. Among this list of predators we find birds, toads, spiders and other types of insects as well as some mammals.
How to repel grasshoppers in your garden
Let’s now analyze what are the main methods to learn how to repel grasshoppers in your garden. It is somewhat difficult to completely eradicate these pests since they are usually annual pests. They usually consume plants and some flowers. There are references based on garlic extract that although it does not kill us directly, it can drive them away. They work with some grasshoppers as they detest the taste and go elsewhere in search of food. The problem is that the smell of garlic is also impregnated in the rest of the plants.
Natural predators like ducks and chickens can drive away or eliminate some of the harmful grasshoppers. It is interesting to have these animals to learn how to repel grasshoppers. Natural insecticides that are made with neem oil they can help a lot to eliminate these insects. If all these natural solutions do not work, we are going to use chemical pesticides.
To reduce the damage of chemical pesticides use specific compounds that work for grasshoppers. In addition, it must be specified that they do not harm others that could be beneficial such as ladybugs, butterflies or dragonflies. The problem with chemical pesticides is that adult individuals are resistant to the compounds. However, it must be used with young individuals who are usually easily eliminated.
How to repel grasshoppers naturally
To keep them away, you can do the following:
- Chop one or two garlic cloves and spread them over the potting soil: These insects have a very delicate sense of smell, so much so that they detest the smell of garlic.
- Make garlic infusions (1 clove for every liter of water) and spray the plants: if they eat the leaves, they will only be able to take one bite. Then they will leave.
- Chop a padrón pepper, and boil it in 1l of water and then pulverize the plants: We all know how spicy these vegetables can be. Keeping them away with them is not a difficult task.
- Acquire the natural insecticide Neem Oil to treat your pots or the garden: it does not harm the environment, and also helps to repel and fight other pests, such as aphids or spider mites.
- Protect the plants with a mesh of very small holes: It is true that it will not be very aesthetic, but if you have few plants it may be a solution.
- Catch and release them very far away, at least 50 meters away from the garden: It is an option that may be temporary, since there is no way of knowing if you will see them again. But in the meantime, it can do.
If none of this works, then it would be necessary to resort to specific pesticides to eliminate grasshoppers, since otherwise they will not work.
How do you know if there are grasshoppers in the garden?
You will know that you have grasshoppers roaming your garden if you see insects (take a good look at the plants, since when they are young they can be mistaken for them), or if you come across the bitten leaves.
Grasshoppers can cause significant damage to your plants. Keep them away.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about how to repel grasshoppers.
