Blister beetles are a scourge to some livestock owners – they are toxic to horses.
Grasshoppers are also a problem. Kelly Loftin, extension entomologist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said he’s been fielding questions about grasshoppers.
“At the University of Arkansas farm at Savoy, grass is sparse,” he said. “All the grasshoppers are on the fence line just waiting for the grass to grow. And because it’s so dry, fungal pathogens don’t do so well, which is limiting natural control of grasshoppers.”
They’re also harder to kill with pesticides.
“The best time to control grasshoppers would be the time period when they’re still nymphs and they can’t fly long distances,” Loftin said. “When they’re big adults, they’re more mobile and harder to control.”
However, nature didn’t give grasshoppers all the cards.
“Blister beetle larvae eat grasshopper eggs,” he said, adding that the drought-hardened ground has forced the grasshoppers to lay eggs above the soil, leaving them unprotected.
Click here for more Arkansas Drought Resources. FG
—From University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture news release
PHOTO
Photo courtesy of University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
