These pests can desimate a corn field if there is a bad infestation of them. They feed so extensively that without control, you can lose your whole crop completely.
Photo Courtesy of Iowa State University. http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegal/orth...
Female adult grasshoppers lay eggs in soil. Most species eggs overwinter and hatch when temperatures stay above 50 degrees. These newly hatched nymphs resemble adults but have no wings. Other species overwinter as nymphs, and therefore, can begin eating your crops earlier in the year.
Controls include parasitic wasps and flies, such as robber flies for large agricultural areas, birds, frogs, and fungi called Entomophus grylli, which only works in high humidity conditions. You can also buy what they call a "bran bait" which contains Nosema protozoan, which infects the grasshoppers, causing dehydration and death.
I hate to even bring up the synthetic chemical controls, but at the top of the list is malathion. This is the stuff that your city/county may spray in the air via airplane or vehicle to control mosquitos. You can use Sevin dust, and carbaryl baitss. Remember these products also kill the good bugs. And frankly if it affects the nervous system of a grasshopper, I don't want that stuff in my body either. I have an aunt who can no longer work due to pesticide use at the place she worked. She now shakes constantly and has lost some motor control. She sued and won damages.
For more information on toxic chemicals, read ExToxNet by clicking the link in my list of websites found elsewhere on this site.
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