Cheers,
Jonathan Haskett
On Wed, 26 Jul 1995, Georgann K. Cunney wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I was living near Grants Pass, Oregon from 1975 - 80, I had a half acre
> garden. I was learning about biodynamic farming at the time...
> My garden was directly across a little dirt road from a very large
> meadow. It was very dry there (also, it was the beginning of a few
> year long drought) and we could only get half a gallon of water a minute
> from our well. The first year our garden was wonderful til the grass-
> hoppers came and devoured nearly all of it.
>
> We discovered a remedy that seemed to be fairly effective (to make a long
> story short). We had a large bucket of water in the garden to attrack
> birds to bath and drink, in hopes that they might also eat the grass-
> hoppers. This didn't appear to work. But instead many grasshoppers
> landed in the bucket and in the hot sun after about a week, made a very
> dark, smelly brew. We strained it and used it as a spray throughout the
> garden. It worked, they actually refrained from munching. We would
> collect them into bottles of water which we let sit out in the sun for
> a week of so and then strain it to spray. We also tried (I know this
> sounds despicable) puting this in the blender, but it was messy, very
> unpleasant and difficult to strain.
>
> I've wondered though how effective this really was. I don't know much
> about grasshoppers, maybe they eat ferociously up to a certain phase in
> their lifespan and then less? It seemed like they were still eating
> all around the garden. The fact that the garden was the only real green
> vegetation around made it all the more inviting - vulnerable.
>
> I'm sure someone on this list would know more about this topic and
> approach. I'd be curious to hear whatever that may be.
>
> I guess this is just about prime grasshopper season.
> Goodluck,
> Georgann
>