Every rose has its thorn; every garden its pests and every pest a definitive pest control measure. That must warm up your heart and make you seek hope in despair on the verge of your rewards turning into ashes.

Let’s see if this is the symptom your garden is suffering from. It seems to have been wiped out without any prior warning; even the leaves that are left are sporting tattered, jagged holes. If that’s the case, you can be dead sure of it being an ill deed of the grasshoppers.

We don’t need to describe grasshoppers. The long and narrow bodies with long and angled hind legs are enough to spot them out; however, you must not confuse them with locusts, which also look somewhat similar. But you must also know that only 25 species of grasshoppers out of the 400-odd varieties are capable of disrupting the ecological balance. Therefore, the following garden pest control measures are only to be applied upon the harmful varieties.

As an effective pest control measure, raw canola oil with poisonous varieties of different fungi work simply wonders. Kudos goes to the fatty acids that stay within the Canola oil; these help attracting the grasshoppers while the fungus kill them. However, if you want to derive the perverse pleasures of being the virtual mafia boss, then appoint your hitmen (or hit-insects) for an effective gang-war in your garden.

That translated, is appointing certain predators to do the job. The list stretches from chickens and birds to bee flies, beetles and crickets, the later being famous for devouring grasshopper eggs. But you must also learn how to control them if the healthy food causes them to proliferate profusely.

If that terrifies you, then go for insecticide formulations. Not commercial insecticides; those are poisonous chemicals and may also harm your already suffering plants as well as the insects you invited; hence, you must ensure that they are specially formulated for targeting grasshoppers and not the others. Also, extra doses need to be avoided; best is, to go by the guidelines or the printed instructions that come with the bottles. DA earth shall put the final nail on the grasshoppers’ coffin; sprinkle it profusely on the ground to put them between a rock and a hard place.

Now, these garden pest control measures are suitable when there are a hundred or less grasshoppers infesting your garden; if you think there are more, a professional pest control service shall be your only way out.