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Last Updated on Friday, 08 July 2011 13:30

Written by Saige Albert

The University of Wyoming Entomology Department’s research program has one consistent forecast for this summer – a 50 percent chance of grasshoppers.
Wyoming Department of Agriculture (WDA) Weed and Pest Specialist Slade Franklin also predicts another summer of pest-grasshopper infestation to follow last summer, when farmers and ranchers across the state witnessed an onslaught of pest-classified grasshoppers in both their crops and rangeland.
“Where we did our adult surveys this year there are some definite indicators that we will have some problems, as far as the amount of acreage compared to last year,” states Franklin.
“We expect the same amount of acres as last year, but in different areas. For instance, Campbell County was a county of interest last year, and not so much this year and vice versa for Laramie County,” notes Franklin.
While the state focused on rangeland treatment in 2010, this year the attention will shift to farmland, which was hard-hit last season.
“One of our main concerns is crops this year. The counties are all trying to handle them differently this year, and one thing that we do have, especially on alfalfa, is the ability to use Dimilin, which is what we use on rangelands. This week we should have the final approval from EPA to use Dimilin on alfalfa,” says Franklin.
Grasshoppers are a large threat to crop growers and ranchers alike, but prevention starts in the spring. Many pest-classified grasshoppers begin to hatch in mid-May, and experts say it’s easier to terminate them before they become adults.
Entomologists say early detection is the first step in successful prevention of grasshopper infestation. By looking for grasshoppers still in the first stages of life, landowners can get a better idea of when and where to spray. Grasshopper eggs and young grasshoppers can both be detected by closely examining the ground and, in farmland regions, those areas close to and surrounding planting acres.
“The problem is that grasshoppers don’t actually hatch on the croplands themselves. They hatch on the areas surrounding them, whether that’s barrow ditches or trees. When the ground is disturbed eggs don’t typically survive, so with annual tillage the eggs can be terminated, except for in the instance of alfalfa, and that’s where Dimilin and other adulticides come into affect,” says Franklin.
Dimilin is an effective, inexpensive insecticide that the Wyoming Weed and Pest promotes in most counties for farmers and ranchers to use in affected areas. The chemical can be applied multiple times if necessary, and is considered one of the leading grasshopper terminators. Local Weed and Pest agents can help producers determine if it would be successful on their individual crops and range lands.
The summer of 2011 could be unique in terms of grasshoppers for many reasons, but the one that sets it apart is populations. With last year’s combination of a wet spring and a dry, prolonged fall, the laying season for grasshoppers was greatly extended. Specialists with Wyoming Weed and Pest and the University of Wyoming admit that, while they don’t have a good estimate of how many eggs were laid, they do know it could be substantial, and they’re concerned.
“We are stressing the importance of producers getting into their Weed and Pest Districts now to either register their rangeland for any spray-block programs that may be going on, or just finding out how their individual Weed and Pest districts will deal with the grasshopper issue this year,” Franklin notes.
In 2010 Wyoming’s treatment focus was on grasshopper control in rangelands, and the state was caught somewhat by surprise at the effect of grasshoppers on cropland. Thus, it’s no surprise that this year the WDA is focusing its efforts on farmland.
Some county Weed and Pest programs are now offering reimbursement plans for pesticide users. For example, Platte and Goshen counties are implementing programs of their own, where landowners will be able to turn in receipts from their pesticides and for partial reimbursement for their efforts to prevent grasshoppers. State Weed and Pest programs want all farmers and ranchers to be prepared for this year as best as possible.
Wyoming Weed and Pest funding for the grasshopper treatment and reimbursement programs has come from former Governor Dave Freudenthal, Governor Matt Mead and the Wyoming Legislature. This year the state has $2.7 million designated for suppression efforts.
“We are in for some significant numbers, just in various places this year compared to last year,” adds Franklin.
Tressa Lawrence is editorial intern for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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Last Updated on Thursday, 16 December 2010 15:36

Written by Heather Hamilton

The grasshopper infestation during the 2010 summer was widespread and as bad or worse than all early predictions. The use of Dimlin and aerial spraying around the state was very effective on rangelands, but less than ideal on croplands according State Plant Health Director of USDA APHIS PPQ Slade Franklin.
“Both the federal and county run treatments were huge successes. There are very few examples of density counts above economic impact numbers after treatment on rangelands, which made up about 95 percent of the total treated area,” says Franklin. He adds that croplands were more challenging to treat, and the results weren’t always as desirable as those on rangelands.
Rancher Joe Reculusa of Johnson County agrees that his local weed and pest district did a good job planning and treating for the grasshopper this year.
“I give all the credit to not having many grasshoppers to the weed and pest district. They got on it early and signed people up and were pushing this starting way back in January. They also did a good job getting large plots of land together, preventing contamination from neighbors.
“They sprayed before the hatch occurred, and we had very few grasshoppers. But in the areas along the river where they didn’t spray they really showed up later, so the spraying did do some good,” notes Reculusa. He adds that producers in Johnson County paid 25 cents per deeded acre.
Fred Oedekoven of Campbell County also felt the spraying was very effective.
“Last year we were devastated by the grasshoppers. It was so bad our wildlife all either moved out or died over the winter and they completely stripped the leaves off all our alfalfa hay.
“I’m near Recluse and have sandy loam soil. This spring on the south slopes there were thousands of little hoppers, and when they sprayed they got a really good kill,” explains Oedekoven.
He adds that while he was originally skeptical of the idea of spraying a strip then leaving a strip untreated, he feels it was highly effective. “They really only sprayed half the total acreage, and I had some concerns about that. But it was very effective and worked.”
“I am very proud of the job our weed and pest district did. They got on top of things early and made sure everyone was in the program. They did a lot of work in Campbell County and it really showed.
“As far as I’m concerned the program saved all our hay and grass. I was feeding at this time a year ago. This was a good year in terms of moisture also, and not having the grasshoppers made it a tremendous year,” says Oedekovan.
“The infestation was very bad here. We sprayed twice with an airplane and also used chemigation,” explains Wheatland area farmer and rancher Juan Reyes. “It didn’t do us a lick of good. Or if it did do some good I couldn’t tell because there were just so many hatches in Platte County. We may have had some good kills followed by another hatch.”
Reyes says the end result included some lost crops and a reduction in tons per acre of hay produced. “We are figuring we lost between half and one ton per acre on alfalfa hay,” he says.
“It was very tough, but Slade Franklin and all the guys at our county weed and pest district worked their hearts out trying to do whatever they could with the irrigated land. Wyoming Director of Ag Director Jason Fearneyhough secured some funds for help with cost sharing on irrigated acres also. Everyone worked really hard to try to control them, that wasn’t the issue,” explains Reyes.
He adds Platte County had the perfect spring for killing young grasshoppers. “I was told a cool, wet spring would kill most hatches. We had that, and it was the worst year for grasshoppers I’ve seen since the 1980s. We even saw hoppers at elevations over 6,500 feet, which is kind of scary.
“Surely we will run out of their cycle pretty quick. I hope that next year we can come up with a chemical that is longer lasting for crops and that we don’t suffer the losses we did this year,” comments Reyes.
Heather Hamilton is editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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Last Updated on Monday, 06 December 2010 08:22

Written by heat

“We did very well with planning and implementation, and couldn’t have done any better making landowners aware of the program. Setting up the program and actually going and doing surveys to determine when to spray is another thing that went really well,” says Weed and Pest Coordinator for the Wyoming Department of Agriculture (WDA) Slade Franklin of the grasshopper infestation in 2010.
“That being said, there were some areas we would have liked to see much better control. We had some issues with crop counties; Goshen and Platte counties had some big problems. Next is determining if it is more financially viable to spray or endure loss to grasshoppers,” he continues.
“It was harder to put together an effective spray program and utilize some tools such as aerial spraying with the checkerboard effect in cropland areas. There were also issues with pesticides, as only specific pesticides can be used on specific crops, and they don’t always overlap,” notes Franklin.
He adds that when calculations were complete, landowners across the state paid between 25 cents and $1.15 per acre. “That’s still pretty dirt cheap for the cost of the application, which is between $3 and $3.50 per acre,” notes Franklin.
Bruce Shambaugh, State Plant Health Director of the USDA APHIS Plant Protection Quarantine (PPQ) program, adds that in areas with a high percentage of federal land, APHIS was involved in planning and treatments and paid for 100 percent of the cost on federal lands. He notes the BLM also obtained funds to pay for BLM lands treated under county weed and pest programs.
“We work very closely with county Weed and Pest districts and rely on them to act as a representative for the private landowners who request our assistance. I think both the federal- and county-run treatments were a huge overall success. There are very few examples of density counts after treatments with more than three grasshoppers per yard, which is well below economic numbers,” explains Shambaugh. He adds that federal treatments were strictly on rangeland, which saw higher treatment success levels than croplands.
“Last year county weed and pest districts conducted many public meetings in which we were involved, and they met with numerous landowners. Then, as the sign-up sheets developed, and decisions were made as to which areas made the most sense for a PPQ program versus a county program. The Wyoming program was a cooperative effort between federal, state and county agencies and the landowners, and it went very well, especially considering the daunting number of acres signed up,” comments Shambaugh.
Franklin explains that, for 2011 grant applications, weed and pest districts are encouraged to include more cost-share dollars directly for landowners. This would allow producers to purchase chemicals and do the work themselves, or coordinate with their local weed and pest district. This is especially encouraged in crop-oriented counties.
“If you use a chemical with a seven-day window of efficacy, grasshoppers from your neighbors can move in after that time period and there’s no residual killing effect. But, if producers could use Dimlin early, its 45-day residual would be much more effective,” says Franklin.
“Those growing crops need to start scouting source habitat areas in late spring or early summer. Grasshoppers come from the borrow ditches and the fencerows, and if you can treat those areas early you’ll prevent a lot of crop damage later in the growing season,” adds UW Research Scientist Scott Schell.
“APHIS conducts a pretty comprehensive adult grasshopper survey used as a guide to locate potential problem areas for the next year. There are still many areas with high densities, according to the 2010 survey – probably very similar to the number of high-density acres we saw a year ago,” explains Shambaugh.
“Based on those same surveys, the high count areas were outside where we sprayed at least 95 percent of the time,” notes Franklin. “That’s a positive indication that spraying was effective.”
“We put together a lot of data from each survey point after sorting through the grasshopper species by hand. Of the 120 species, only about a dozen are considered bad. So far we’ve seen that the treatment blocks on rangelands were successful in reducing numbers to non-economic levels, and that bodes well for next year,” notes Schell.
He adds that UW is trying to quantify grasshopper damage through tools like remote sensing from satellites, which look at areas of forage loss.
“We would eventually like to find a way to establish damage with satellite imagery. This year I sampled a couple places with similar vegetation that were partially infested and partially controlled, either because the rancher didn’t have the funds to spray the entire area, or because of a cut-off in spraying. I did an arbitrary sample in the treated and untreated rangelands, and want to use the samples to figure out the difference in forage quantity based on grasshopper presence. I also had the samples analyzed to see if there was a difference in forage quality where grasshoppers were numerous versus where there weren’t very many,” explains Schell.
“I did this in September, after the grass had cured, and the results surprised me in one respect. There was a big, and obvious, difference in the amount of forage in the two sampled areas, but the forage quality wasn’t that much different, even though there wasn’t much left beyond the stems where grasshoppers were present. That was interesting,” explains Schell.
He adds the sampling he did was small and very preliminary, but that the ultimate goal is using satellites to locate grasshoppers. “If we could rapidly assess regions of the state with grasshopper problems with the satellite and get those areas mapped out for treatment, it would save a lot of time and money.”
“We’ve also talked to the people at the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) about how to figure out loss due to grasshoppers, or what loss is prevented due to the grasshopper control program, and how to quantify that. We took them to some damaged areas and discussed how we can measure loss from grasshoppers versus that due to weather or other natural causes in a given year,” says Franklin.
“So far the information we are receiving just confirms our management efforts, which was not about killing grasshoppers, but about preserving forage for livestock and wildlife. That looks like it’s working effectively,” says Schell. “We are trying to show that we aren’t just killing them, but what we’re really doing is saving forage.”
“Grasshoppers are too big of a problem for most landowners to manage on their own, as they are a fairly mobile pest that can impact entire regions. We need to utilize economies of scale against them. I would encourage producers to attend meetings early and be aware of what’s going on in their area in 2011,” notes Schell.
The grasshopper control program is dependant on the WDA, receiving $2.7 million in their supplemental budget this year. “We have a supplemental request out for 2011. If that isn’t approved we probably won’t have a grasshopper program for next year,” says Franklin.
“PPQ obtained emergency funding for the grasshopper issue in 2010. We have to request those dollars every year, and all of our treatment decisions are based on the available funding,” adds Shambaugh. “The first thing we’re doing for the 2011 season is a session devoted to the grasshopper at the upcoming Wyoming Weed and Pest fall conference. I expect there will be a number of landowner meetings throughout the winter, in addition to federal and state agency meeting to prepare for the upcoming 2011 season.”
“We will also utilize all the data obtained from the adult grasshopper survey to focus efforts on potential problem areas next year. If conditions are favorable for hatch and survivability of young grasshoppers next spring, there will be areas with high densities of grasshoppers,” says Shambaugh.
Look for additional landowner perspectives on the 2010 grasshopper infestation in upcoming editions of the Roundup. Contact your local legislators with comments about funding for the 2011 season. Heather Hamilton is editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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Last Updated on Friday, 11 February 2011 12:59

Written by Christy Martinez

While 2010 grasshopper treatments were successful in many rangeland areas of Wyoming, some of the farmland areas were hit hard, and UW Extension Entomologist Scott Schell is working on how to prevent that in 2011.
Of problems encountered in Wyoming crop production areas, Schell says the major species that affect farmland are migratory, differential, twostriped and redlegged.
“They’re all related, with the same genus and habits,” he says. “Some hatch earlier, some have higher reproductive potential, but they’re all mixed feeders, preferring forage first, then eating grasses and small grains. They’ll even chew on pine trees and other things considered inedible, like clothing on a clothesline and window screens. Anything is food to a grasshopper, if it doesn’t kill them when they eat it.”
He says the crop varieties have much higher reproductive potential than rangeland species, at 45 to 194 eggs per pod found in one study.
“If you look at a grasshopper area with 40 per square yard, and 20 are females laying one egg pod, that’s 900 eggs per square yard for next year,” explains Schell. “The egg density on field borders can be very high – that little bit of area that’s not cultivated can cause a lot of problems.”
The nymph stage is the time period when producers should look for grasshoppers and think about control for the species they find. Schell says the crop species, as nymphs, have black between their head and thorax, and a white swoosh underneath that. Many also have a black bar on the femur of the hind leg.
Schell says their extended hatching period is most important – there can be up to 52 days between the first and last hatches, and none of the current products have enough residual to cover the entire period.
Crop grasshoppers will come from the edges of a field, around borrow ditches, fencerows and the corners of irrigated circles.
“Those can be source habitats. They often lay their eggs in those field borders, and we have seen some situations where grasshoppers adapt to farming units with no till or minimum tillage and lay eggs in the middle of the field. Some minimum tillage implements, like a sweep, might not be enough to kill them,” says Schell. “Plowing, disking and rotary hoes create more disturbance, so farming practices are something to think about if you’re having problems with grasshoppers.”
Schell says the major goal is to keep grasshoppers out of a crop. “Once the grasshoppers get in a crop it’s much more expensive to kill them, so we want to treat source habitats early and often,” he says.
A 40-acre corn field with a 15-foot border has approximately 38.2 tilled acres and 1.8 acres remaining around the edges for grasshopper habitat. Schell calculates that’s enough to produce 200 eggs per square yard in the edges, for an average of 9.5 grasshopers per square yard over the entire field.
“That’s a density at which they can defoliate a corn crop,” he says.
To protect that field, Schell recommends spraying that 1.8 acres between May 20 and May 31.
“I’d scout it and see if there’s a hatch again, and spray again between June 20 and June 30,” he says, saying he’d repeat again between July 20 and 30, if necessary. “I’d use Dimilin at the label maximum, which is two ounces per acre.”
Dimilin has become the preferred product for treating grasshoppers because of its safety, selectivity and economy.
“It doesn’t affect other species and the residual is pretty long,” says Schell. “In rangeland situations one treatment is more than enough, if applied during the ideal time period. It has reliable results, and can be applied through a wide temperature range.”
The one challenge with Dimlin is that it’s not labeled for alfalfa, and Schell says the company is working to get a full label on the forage crop.
“It has a low impact on non-target insects, and I think it would be an ideal fit for our crop situations,” he adds.
Apart from Dimilin, other options are pyrethroid insecticides, which have a different mode of action and affect the nervous system of insects.
“They have good safety with low mammalian toxicity, and they work very quickly. One thing about Dimilin is that the grasshoppers have to eat it, and it won’t kill them until next molt period, which is five to seven days down the road, so you’ll see a gradual decline. Pyrethroids have a very rapid knockdown, and you will see dead grasshoppers and other insects, because it will affect any insects that come into contact.”
Schell says the advantage of pyrethroids is that there are many crop labels.
Carbaryl is another control possibility for grasshoppers, says Schell.
“It’s also a neurotoxin, it’s stable in a lot of temperatures and it has decent residual, easy handling and reliable results,” he explains. “It has to be applied at a higher volume, there is potential harm to people and wheat is no longer on the label.”
He says carbaryl is also available in bran or pellet baits, which will kill adults, but multiple applications are necessary. “Within one week it’ll all be gone, and you might have to apply it for seven or eight weeks,” he says.
Schell adds that organophosphate insecticides are labeled for wheat and alfalfa and are broad spectrum, non-selective and are labeled for chemigation with irrigated crops.
Another option for wheat land is seed treatments in winter wheat.
“After the seed sprouts and germinates, the new seedling has insecticide inside it to protect it,” says Schell, saying that one product is Rancona Crest, which also includes fungicides. “It’s expensive, but you don’t have to plant entire field with it – just the outer two rows of treated seed will help protect your field.”
It does have a grazing restriction, and Schell says sometimes you might be overrun despite its use. He says it’s easy to use if the seed is purchased pre-treated, but other products have to be treated by the farmer.
“None of them are perfect, but you’ve got to educate yourself to the pros and cons of each one to see what fits your situation,” says Schell.
Schell cautions that a cost/benefit analysis is a critical component of any treatment program.
“You don’t want to do a treatment that will cost you more than the benefit,” he says.
He recommends a computer program for both range and cropland treatments called CARMA, which was developed at UW by John Hastings and can be found at carma.johnhastings.org.
Schell also recommends visiting Wiki.bugwood.org/HPIPM:Main_Page, or simply Googling “High Plains IPM” for the most current crop labeling. “It’s difficult to keep up with all of them – they change constantly,” he says.
For more information on cropland treatments for grasshopper prevention, contact UW Extension Entomologist Scott Schell at 307-766-2508 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Schell presented his information at the First Annual Natrona County Ag Producers’ Convention in Casper Dec. 9. Christy Martinez is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .