7/7/08

I hate Grasshoppers!

I have large beds of Canna Lillies all around my house front and back, which usually put on quite the display all summer long.

The past few weeks they have been growing happily away and I have been terribly busy with work, home and visitors. So I had failed to really look at my canna's closely, until last week when I noticed the first blooms just never really happened at all. One day they were all standing proud, the next they looked 3 weeks old!!

So Thursday night I investigated more closely and found the 'Attack of the killer grasshoppers' had hit them with force. As I chopped away at the stripped flowerheads and ravaged leaves it was literally raining grasshoppers in all directions of all sizes. Two years ago I would have been seriously freaking out and shrieking, but now I am becoming a true Okie, I just got mad! So I got them tidied up and then sprayed them with 'Seven' and bingo the problem has disappeared.

So I am hoping to soon have my canna's back to their former glory, as pictured here two summers ago. Grasshoppers are now enemy #2 here, right behind snakes (thanks Michelle)!

11 comments:

Michelle said...

Aw, sorry about your flowers, Sarah. Darn bugs anyway!!! That pics of a couple years back is simply gorgeous though...good luck getting them to grow back...I'm sure they will. :) PS...congrats on getting over the shrieking thing, LOL! and 2/really??? Enemy number ONE??? Even over the dreaded snakes???? ;D

Unknown said...

Eeek you're right Mich', I have edited this post appropriately!

Sherri said...

I'm glad you found the problem and took care of it Sarah. We have grasshoppers that do damage in NC too! Bad Bugs!!

Teresa said...

First off, thanks for telling me the name of those red flowers. I am only renting for this first year until our house sells in Indiana, then it's off to build or buy. I have those red flowers in spots around this rent house and the fence. They are so striking and I thought I might want some when we get somewhere more permanent. Now I know what to look for at the nursery. I hope you post a photo of your Lillie's when they pick back up. They will be beautiful, I’m sure.

Now, I have a question for you. I was thinking of contacting Dee at Red Dirt Ramblings, but I am guessing you can help me. In Indiana, I always did herbs in terra cotta pots on my back deck. The second weekend I was here in Oklahoma, I got right at it and planted my herbs for the summer. I planted and watered just as I always have, maybe just a bit more water though. They all dried up and died. There may be some hope left for the Rosemary and Basil, but everything else went brown. They are on the west side of the house so they do get the bulk of the afternoon sun. What happened????? I am too determined to have fresh herbs to just quit. I intend to get this right, but obviously don’t know what I am doing here in the desert. :-(

Rhea said...

Bad, vicious, killer grasshoppers!

Unknown said...

Teresa - first of all the herbs, way too much hot sun on the west side I'm thinking. My experiences so far have made me put things that need some sun but not alot in East facing areas, so they just get the morning sun only. I suspect you possibly even grow them in a shady area here - but Dee is the expert.

Secondly those Canna's - I know you're in a rental but...after the Canna's are done for the summer you have to must cut the stalks back to the ground. At that point you can easily dig up the bulbs they grow from and divide them in half with a sharp knife. Put half back in the ground and store the other half in peat in a cool dark room for the winter. Come spring you can plant them in your new home and you will have Canna's for free! This will not damage the one's you put back in the gorund as long as they are well in and mulched over. Alternatively you can wait until they start to sprout next spring and then do the same, but plant immediately. Canna's just keep multiplying and bloom all summer if you keep cutting off the dead flower stalks. Great plants!

Tess Kincaid said...

Your lillies are magnificent! Which reminds me, I need to go spray my roses. Something ate them to shreds while I was busy over the 4th weekend. yikes...

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Yipes. That is one big grasshopper.

Anonymous said...

One morning I went to check on my flowerbeds when I realized something had mowed down half of my cannas. Deer!!! They also love hostas and impatiens.

The Chemist said...

Not to gross you out, but grasshoppers and locusts are a delicacy in some countries. Having tried it once, I highly recommend roasting. However if predation is not your thing, maybe decapitating one and mounting it's head on a toothpick in the ground will deter the others from nearing your precious botanicals. :P

Mmm said...

do you ahe an infestation of Cicadas by now too? Yuk.