Prairiewide grasshoppers are a key insect to monitor for right now, especially in the southern and drier areas.
Grasshoppers can cause tremendous damage to a crop.
Saskatchewan's insect specialist James Tansey says with that in mind it's important to take note of the economic thresholds for the crop.
"For small nymphs, the economic threshold in the crop is 30 to 45 per meter squared. We have certainly seen populations in that range, in the ditch 50 to 75. Given the conditions this year, I would err on the low side, a lot of activity and with commodity prices being what they are. So you know, I would err on the side of 30 in the crop, 50 in the ditch. For adults generally 10 to 12 per meter square, if you see recommendations of 8 to 10, look at 10 per square meter as a good general guideline. And that needs to be gauged case by case, under most growing conditions for most crops. "
He says for canola and soybean, they're more tolerant to foliar damage so 14 per square meter is the guideline for that.
" If they're munching on pods, obviously, that's the cash component of those crops. So, you're going to want to weigh those case by case typically, canola is not a preferred hostplant. These animals, though, again, push comes to shove everything's on the menu for some of these species. We've got a couple of crops that are particularly sensitive, flax in boll, grasshoppers can go right underneath that boll and clip it. So that's knocking off the money part of the plants. "
He notes for flax in boll and lentils in flower there's obviously low tolerance for grasshoppers, so two per square meter in both of those crops.