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Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK |
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Oklahoma Alfalfa |
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Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK |
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Oklahoma Alfalfa |
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PROPER PLANNING FOR SEED PRODUCTION AND THE CONTROL OF GRASSHOPPERS |
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| If seed production is planned, control of grasshoppers should be made a part of the pest management program in June. This is the time when most grasshoppers hatch from overwintering eggs that have been laid in soil during the previous fall in grassy or weedy areas along field borders. As a general rule, keeping field border areas mowed can help to reduce available habitat and thus, lower the potential for problems with grasshoppers. It is also important that field border areas around seed production fields be scouted in June to detect populations of small nymphs of grasshoppers for three reasons. First, if insecticide applications are needed to control the grasshoppers, they can be made before alfalfa blooms and pollinators have begun to work. Secondly, grasshoppers may be killed in border areas without need of spraying fields. Finally, if large numbers of small grasshoppers are found and spraying is necessary, efficacy of insecticides will be much greater than if sprays are applied later in an attempt to kill large nymphs and adults. Additional information on insecticides registered for control of grasshoppers can be found in OSU Extension Facts #7150. |
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| Richard Berberet,
Alfalfa Entomologist Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology Oklahoma State University |
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