Oklahunter
Yearling... With promise
In less than a week grasshoppers have stripped my 2 three year old apple trees of their leaves. Will this kill the trees?
Grasshoppers
- Thread starter Oklahunter
- Start date
Apple Junkie
5 year old buck +
It's not good, but I think there is enough season left for new leaves to form and allow your trees to survive baring continued defoliation. That's my thinking... but I have been wrong before. I've got my fingers crossed for ya Oklahunter.
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
I have lost more than 1 tree to grasshoppers. Gets worse when they eat the bark as well on the new growth.
Apple Junkie
5 year old buck +
Ouch... I was not aware grasshoppers would eat the bark too!! Geez, one more critter working against me in the orchard.
Oklahunter
Yearling... With promise
How do I prevent grasshoppers from eating my trees?? I’ve tried the home recipes, insecticide, netting( they chewed through it). Is there any prevention?
I spray my apple tree whips with Demand CS to keep the grasshoppers off, but this year they arrived earlier than the date I had calendared for spraying my whips. The grasshoppers ate all the bark, from ground level to tip, off about 150 of my whips. They ate the bark off so fast that I noticed several totally barkless whips that still had all their leaves on them, still perfectly green without any bark to feed them. It was a very strange look.
Most of the eaten up whips are 6' - 8' tall, and on standard rootstock. I'm hoping many will send up a new shoot from the root. I'm planning my bulk order for next year and am wondering if anybody knows whether any that don't have new shoots by the end of this fall may still send up a new shoot next spring. Or should I simply write them off as dead and replant those that don't have new shoots by the end of this fall?
Most of the eaten up whips are 6' - 8' tall, and on standard rootstock. I'm hoping many will send up a new shoot from the root. I'm planning my bulk order for next year and am wondering if anybody knows whether any that don't have new shoots by the end of this fall may still send up a new shoot next spring. Or should I simply write them off as dead and replant those that don't have new shoots by the end of this fall?
Oklahunter
Yearling... With promise
I have same questions as Poorsand.
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
Assuming that all your grasshopper eaten trees were grafted trees, none of the new growth coming from the ground level will be the variety that you planted. The new shoots, if any, will be from the root stock. I would have thought most of the roots would have suckered by now if they were likely to.
Turkey Creek: Thanks. You jogged my memory. I'm feeling a bit better about it now. When we planted them, I told the crew that helped me that we were to plant them all deep enough that the grafts were an inch or two below the soil's surface. So maybe I will get some of the intended varieties and some random Malus Domestica varieties from any regrowth. I am okay with that.
Chainsaw
5 year old buck +
I had no clue that grasshoppers could and do that amount of damage to fruit trees. Nor did I ever recall seeing so many grasshoppers in our fields. Yesterday my farmer friend and I rode together in his tractor no-till planting my food plots thru very tall killed weeds. From the tall perch of the tractor seat at any one second during the three hours it took to plant,there were at least 100 grasshoppers in the air leaping away from the tractor.
The numbers were astounding;Now I shall do a daily check on some of our this years planted apple trees to be sure they are not becoming dinner for grasshoppers. For how long are these grasshoppers in the stage that they are a threat to the young trees?
I’m thinking this is yet another good reason to choose Dolgo over other rootstocks. A Dolgo rootstock grown out as a backup plan is not such a bad thing.
The numbers were astounding;Now I shall do a daily check on some of our this years planted apple trees to be sure they are not becoming dinner for grasshoppers. For how long are these grasshoppers in the stage that they are a threat to the young trees?
I’m thinking this is yet another good reason to choose Dolgo over other rootstocks. A Dolgo rootstock grown out as a backup plan is not such a bad thing.
