Grasshoppers flock in from the desert

Sometimes they cling to walls. Sometimes they're hopping up to doorways or across store parking lots.

But it's only that time of the year when grasshoppers come out as they migrate to the Yuma area's agricultural fields, said Willie Negroni, pest control adviser with Soilserv Inc.

"They're moving everywhere as they are coming out of the desert. As the desert dries down, since we had early rains, it means that the grasshoppers' population increase ... and they're just migrating."

So how is it they're winding up in Yuma?

Outdoor lights in the early morning and nighttime hours attract them.

Dealing with these grasshoppers is not an uncommon problem for farmers every year, said Negroni, even though it has been a problem that costs growers more money to grow crops because they have to use pesticides.

"It's not that we're running them out, they're coming out of the desert," Negroni said. "We are spraying for them because they do chew and eat the lettuce and the produce."

But isn't a bad situation with grasshoppers, Negroni said. It just really depends on the weather conditions.

Ian Watkinson, professor of environmental science at Arizona Western College, said these grasshoppers we're seeing around are normally feeding on desert vegetation. But this year, a lot of monsoon rains in Yuma County caused them to find other areas with growing vegetation.

"The grasshoppers are selectively plant feeders so they're dependent upon whether the plants grow or don't grow. Under normal circumstances they are not a pest or problem at all," Watkinson said.

"The problem that we have here is that when they get common in the desert, they are very attracted to light. What people are seeing is when they turn on their patio light at night, the grasshoppers are attracted to the patio. And in the morning when they go to the patio, they see all these grasshoppers there."

In recent evenings, swarms of grasshoppers have been seen in the parking lot of the Fry's Food Store at 4th Avenue and 24th Street.

Watkinson said these grasshoppers are at adult stage and they are not necessarily breeding in people's garden. They're just attracted to any lighted area from wherever they're feeding.

Rick Rademacher, a Yuma-based farmer who also serves as president of the Yuma Fresh Vegetable Association, said these insects come out annually to eat the small lettuce seedlings that are at least two to three days old.

"It's always been a problem and we always just deal with it. It can be pretty devastating if we don't do anything about it."

Rademacher said farmers will only apply pesticides on these insects if they know the problem could get out of hand.

"Yet experience tells us to watch for it, to know that it's going to be there. So we prepare when the scouts find them in the field and we take care of it. It's no worse than previous years," Rademacher said.

Other residents just have to learn to deal with them by avoiding them, like Jessie Hanna, a sixth-grade math teacher at Gila Vista Junior High School on Arizona Avenue. She says grasshoppers have been near her classroom door and along the sidewalk.

"Kids kind of freak out a little bit but it's OK," Hanna said. "They just stand, point and scream."

Watkinson said these grasshoppers are not dangerous to people.

"Some of them have pretty colors on them, particularly on their hind wings. The front wings are the part that we usually see folded along the body and usually that's a pretty dull color like brown or green but often they have red, orange or blue on their hind wings.

"We don't get to see that until they fly. So most people don't realize how very attractive their hind wings are."

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Stephanie Sanchez can be reached at ssanchez@yumasun.com or 539-6847.