County may face spring grasshopper outbreak

State monitoring late outbreak

By TY BEAVER

H&N Staff Writer

September 13, 2007

   Growers in the southern Klamath County may want to keep an eye out for grasshoppers early this spring. 

   The Oregon Department of Agriculture is monitoring a late outbreak of clearwinged grasshoppers in the area around Lower Klamath Lake Road . While local agriculture officials said no extensive damage has occurred, it could be a different story in six months. 

   Extension officials Brian Charlton and Chanda Engle viewed the affected area after the state contacted the Klamath Basin Research and Extension Center . 

   Smacked with cars 

   “ You were smacking them with your car,” Charlton said of driving on Township Road . 

   The grasshoppers are laying their eggs, which will hatch in the spring. Helmuth Rogg, state entomologist for Eastern Oregon , said one portion of the affected area had about 24 grasshoppers per square yard. That level of outbreak would be able inflict significant economic loss. 

   No major damage 

   Charlton said the outbreak happened late enough this year to avoid any major crop damage and the severity of next year’s damage would be determined by various factors, including weather conditions and health issues such as mold that can attack the grasshoppers. State agriculture officials will continue to monitor the area and manage density counts of the insects. 

   Rogg said surveys would be conducted beginning in May. Most of the outbreak is on private land so state officials will communicate with landowners to let them know when they’ll conduct surveys. 

   Should next year’s brood prove to be economically damaging, Rogg said growers will be informed of available control methods, which includes a spray that prevents grasshoppers from growing properly. While there is a small time frame to apply the spray, from mid-May to early June, its advantage is that it will not attack beneficial pollinators. 

   This isn’t the first time grasshoppers were a nuisance in Klamath County . Landowners near Fort Klamath sprayed thousands of acres in 2005 to control an outbreak.

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