District Extension director Dr. Dale Fritz of College Station said grasshoppers were a large problem last year because of drought and look to be the same if not a bigger inconvenience this year. These diseases are more prominent in wet weather, so you see fewer grasshoppers. Fritz also said there is a large carry-over from last year, and those eggs have begun hatching. By treating them now, it can save many producers a lot of hardship. The sooner the problems are taken care of, the better off crops will be.
Grasshoppers are pests to both rural and urban gardeners and farmers.
They eat gardens and shrubs and attack row and forage crops with a vengeance. Extension entomologist Dr. Cliff Hoelscher of College Station said small nymphal grasshoppers have been found in Brazos, Robertson, Milam and Falls counties. Farmers should start insecticide treatments now to get the numbers below the economic level of five to seven grasshoppers per square yard. Right now, the populations are clumped, and there are as many as 12 to 15 grasshoppers per square foot in some places. Hoelscher also recommended using natural control agents as much as possible to get rid of unwanted populations.