Grasshoppers and Sevin SL

[Ruark]

We're having a horrific problem with grasshoppers here in central Texas. This morning I sprayed my pastures with 2 qts/acre of Sevin SL, in bands 15 feet apart. I'm just wondering how long it should be before I notice any results. We've got trillions of them. Down at the cafe the other day, a local was joking that "when you walk across your pasture, you need to keep your mouth closed!" :help:

 

[dun]

You hsould be seeing results by now

 

[bird dog]

Please let us know how it works. I had the same problem last year, not quite as bad this year but I still have a bunch. I have been told by most that once they get bigger than 1" you are to late and it is a waste of money. I think you just move them around. Shredding the tall dead winter grass ans spraying for weeds a couple weeks after that seems to work the best where I have done some tests. In areas where I did neither the infestations are much higher.

Good luck.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I spray for them every year with sevin about 50 to 100 feet apart. Main place to spray is fencelines and ditches as this is where Mrs. Grasshopper likes to set up house. Three hundred grasshopper's eat a day's worth of cow feed a week.
I am anal about feeding grasshopper's.

 

[Ruark]

Well, it's working pretty good as of near sundown. I went out in the pasture and there's about 70 percent fewer hoppers flying around. Supposed to get much higher kill after 2 or 3 days. This is Sevin SL, not regular Sevin. SL is an ag/industrial level with twice the carbaryl as regular Sevin.

Shake the hell out of and mix it in good. I said 2 qts. an acre, but it was probably closer to 1.5. The label recommends 1 qt. for "range land" and 1.5-2 for thick grass pastures. But that's the full-coverage calibration. The actual spraying was a 10-foot swath (the width of the boom) with about 15 feet between swaths. Doesn't have to be exact. I know some people make their swaths much further apart.

They will tend to concentrate in the higher, uncut growth. That's why you saw fewer hoppers after you shredded.

One of my main concerns is the areas where I can't really go with the tractor; some rocky, cedar-infested areas, gullies, etc. A couple areas with big boulders and broom/rag weed up to your chest. I think for some of those I'm just going to park there and switch to the hand sprayer. But some places I just won't bother with.

There's also the neighboring property. On my north border is a pretty much abandoned plot, 95 acres of cedar, johnson grass and miscellaneous weeds, and a quadrillion hoppers. On my south border is my neighbor's place - he doesn't do much with it, it's most thigh-high broomweed, also full of hoppers. I'm thinking of really spraying heavily along those fencelines.