Grasshoppers – Threat to the crops!

Grasshoppers, the ground-dwelling insects are the real threats to your crops. They belong to suborder Caelifera which are the plant eaters and considered as serious pests of cereals, vegetables, and pasture, especially when they swarm in their millions as locusts and destroy crops over wide areas.

Grasshoppers have a brilliant skill of protection i.e. through Camouflage they protect themselves from predators. This leads to significant increase in population which also depends upon the weather. When the populations are large many locusts and swarming grasshoppers emigrate from their habitat.

Thus the emigration can cause severe destruction to your crops and following are some recent evidence experienced.

Grasshoppers feast on crops in Wayanad

E.M. Manoj

KALPETTA, MAY 19, 2020

Grasshoppers feeding on plants at Pulpally in Wayanad.

Climatic variations behind sudden spurt in insect population, says scientist

Swarms of grasshoppers, disconcertingly resembling locusts, have descended upon parts of Pulpally in Wayanad, leaving farmers anxious about a possible damage to their crops.

However, scientists at the Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS) at Ambalavayal, who have since been getting numerous phone calls from farmers, said the damage had been noticed at its initial stage.

It was found that attacks by nymphs of spotted grasshoppers or coffee grasshoppers had triggered panic among farmers.

Central Australian quandong harvest significantly down due to grasshopper influx

By Katrina Beavan

Posted Monday 18 September, 2017 | Rural News

A Central Australian quandong grower says yields are significantly down this year, thanks to the high amount of grasshoppers in the area over summer.

Gunnar Nielsen, who grows the fruit on his block in Alice Springs, said the influx of the insects in the area in January destroyed many of the trees, some of which did not recover.

“[The grasshoppers] were really hard on all the trees, they scoffed all the leaves, and the trees have been flat out recovering.

“That’s just how it goes, when the grasshoppers eat [the] leaves and flowers then we have a bad year.

The news articles depict the grasshopper nuisance created in the agriculture sector.

Let’s see how they damage crops.

Grasshoppers are general feeders on grasses and weeds and often move to cultivated crops. Crop damage is likely to be greatest in years when dry weather accompanies high populations. Drought conditions reduce natural vegetation, forcing grasshoppers to move to cultivated crops.

The damage that grasshoppers cause appears as round to ragged holes in the leaves. These ragged holes extend in from the leaf margins and between the veins. Grasshoppers may also feed on and damage soybean pods, often chewing through the pod tissue into the seed. This may be a serious problem in dry years.

There are different types of grasshoppers and accordingly, the host plants vary. Here are some of them mentioned below:

The Clear-winged grasshopper is mainly a grass feeder. Economic damage is primarily to cereals, especially wheat and barley. Clear-winged and migratory grasshoppers have together destroyed areas of range grass and hay almost entirely.

The Packard’s grasshopper prefers herbs to grasses; it causes little damage to rangeland but will damage field and garden crops and legume pastures. It feeds on leaves, stems, and flowers of many plants. Cereals and alfalfa are heavily attacked.

The Two-striped grasshoppers feed on grasses and broad-leaved plants. The broad-leaved plants are necessary for maximum growth. They prefer the lush growth around edges of streams, marshes, and cultivated fields. Hosts include weeds and most crops, especially alfalfa and vegetables, and occasionally trees and shrubs.

The migratory grasshopper is one of the most destructive pests in western Canada. Outbreaks can lead to costly losses for grain growers. This species attacks both field and garden crops, especially cereals, tomato, celery, onion, and carrot.

According to the crop report – Aug 17, 2017: The Grasshopper invasion in crops are as following:

In Northwest region, Grasshoppers are 49 percent moderate and 11 percent over the threshold population.

In Peace, The grasshopper population is 8 percent moderate and 4 percent over the threshold.

To get rid of these pesky grasshoppers we have an eco-friendly solution!!!

C Tech Corporation provides you with Termirepel™ which is an insect aversive repellent. Termirepel™  is manufactured on the basis of green technology. It is durable at extreme climatic conditions such as changes in temperature, rainfall, water pressure etc.

The product is RoHS, RoHS2, RoHS3, APVMA, NEA  compliant and FIFRA exempted. Our product will not kill the targeted as well as non-targeted species but only repel which helps in maintaining the ecological balance of the earth.

Termirepel™ is available in three basic forms: Masterbatch, liquid concentrate, and lacquer.

Termirepel™ Masterbatch is specially made for polymeric applications and used as additives in their processing time.

Termirepel™ Liquid concentrate is to be mixed in paints in proper proportion and can be applied on the interior and exterior of houses, schools, hospitals, offices, warehouses etc. to keep this pest out of these areas.

Termirepel™ Lacquer form can be directly applied to the applications such as fences, pipes, wires, cables, etc.

Agricultural equipment can be covered by our Termirepel™  product and have an effective protection against these pesky grasshoppers. The crops which are suitable to cover with plastic bags/covers can be applied to our product.

Contact us at  technical.marketing@ctechcorporation.com to keep the pests away.

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