Before I give away all my beautiful surviving dahlias, is there anything I can spray them with that will stop grasshoppers and crickets from eating them? I am rural and the grasshopper crop is prolific. They seem to leave a lot of stuff alone but adore dahlias. at this point sprinkling at bird time gets rid of some hoppers but they wiped out the dahlias last year, got one bloom only. Anyone have a solution? I did not lift my dahlias this past winter, but the first one is a foot tall already
Grasshopper defense for dahlias
Nolo bait
sounds good. Bees won't eat it?
ah, may just give away the dahlias. Nosema kills bee hives. Don't THINK they would eat it, still researching.
Researched. Supposedly different strain of nosema, but neem oil looks safer. Thank you Stephanie. I've got 5 hives currently and 4 aren't very strong, was a rough winter.
This message was edited Apr 26, 2015 12:28 PM
The chickens got rid of the grasshoppers, but then started in on the plants- so that also has its downsides...
Chickens got some grasshoppers and some flowers then my neighbor's dog got my rooster then I locked the hens up and gave up on dahlias. Neem oil does look promising