It’s the Grasshopper’s Turn to Dominate Connecticut

Have you noticed there's an unusual amount of grasshoppers? My chihuahua is nervous when we go out on walks, he's never encountered so many flying insects buzzing his cute little face. We have it good when it comes to bugs in Connecticut, our insects have to be small and mighty to survive our harsh winters, usually the giant bugs stay south. Why are there so many grasshoppers around Connecticut right now?

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When we have warmer summers, warm weather-loving critters can multiply and run rampant. June and July have been incredibly dry, and grasshoppers thrive in hot, dry weather. Fungi are one of the biggest threats to grasshopper eggs, but the dry, hot Connecticut summer is limiting fungi growth, and lots more grasshopper eggs are hatching. Even worse, hot weather makes a grasshoppers metabolism run faster, so they eat more, and they're growing quicker

Your home garden and watered lawns look like a buffet, and your crops? Oooof. You can protect your crops with floating row covers made from lightweight fabrics, which will let the sunlight in, but will protect it from insects. You can use insecticides to kill grasshoppers, but most pesticides only last a few days and there are billions of hungry mouths waiting to chow down after it fades away.

The jumping is what startles me and my Chihuahua. A large grasshopper can jump over 3 feet without using its wings. It's quite a sight when millions of them get together in a swarm. We aren't at plague level yet in Connecticut, but I'm hoping that our fungi grows and takes out those damn eggs.