Air June 19, 2002

Thank you Gary, and good morning everyone. Some of the early wheat is ready to go or already gone. Some of it that looked like it ripened in a hurry had that look because it died. Dry weather is the culprit. Don’t be too surprised if some of those early fields aren’t all that great. Later fields may well hold the edge this year.

I was out in one wheat field over the weekend. What concerned me was not the wheat - it still was looking pretty good. What concerned me was all the stuff moving around in the field as I walked. And a lot of that stuff had obviously moved out into the adjoining soybean fields. One of the sure signs that we’ve had dry weather is the increase in grasshoppers. I have seen grasshoppers in many places both crop fields, pastures and yards. A spell of wet weather would help reduce the number of hoppers, but it may not come soon enough for many fields. The grasshoppers are fairly small right now and they will be easily controlled. But there are a lot of them and even though they are small, they have big appetites. There are a lot of products labeled for grasshopper control in field crops and pastures. Unfortunately there really isn’t one product labeled for all crops for grasshoppers. Warrior probably comes closest, but any of the synthetic pyrethroids will work, but also Sevin, cygon and lorsban have fairly broad labels also. Controlling grasshoppers is usually more than just a one pass shot. You will probably also need to treat field edges and then stay on your toes for the need to retreat. It may be easiest to use a handgun to adequately treat fence rows and field edges. Keeping the grass mowed down in areas around the fields will also reduce staging areas. If you harvest a hay field of any kind that is next to a crop field, expect a strong migration of hoppers out of the mowed field. This can cause a real concentration in adjacent fields. I’ve also been seeing some high numbers of grasshoppers in alfalfa fields with small regrowth. The grasshoppers can really keep that new growth chewed down so don’t assume that dry weather is keeping the regrowth held back, it could be hoppers. One last bit of warning - if you have a hay field next to the homestead, and you mow that hay field, be prepared for a plague of locusts moving into your yard and garden!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2002.

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