Grasshoppers bouncing around Gardnerville

Drive down Buckeye Road and you can see the grasshoppers taking flight and even hit your windshield.

Immature grasshoppers were a topic of conversation when they were covering the Martin Slough Trail near Zerolene in Gardnerville.

Those nymphs have reached adulthood and are starting to make a nuisance of themselves.

A Gardnerville resident said they are infesting the backyards where Chichester Estates is bordered the surrounding ranch land.

Nevada Department of Agriculture Entomologist Jeff Knight is scheduled to appear at the Gardnerville Town Board on Tuesday to discuss the swarming insects.

The outbreak started on the land around Mountain View Pond and into the Heybourne Meadows, but they’ve made their presence known over a much larger range.

According to the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, the grasshoppers consume small grains and grasses.

“A population with a density of 20 adults per square yard will consume the entire available yield of forage grasses on rangelands of interior British Columbia,” according to a bulletin issued by the Department. “Swarms may invade vegetable crops and feed preferentially on onions, lettuce, cabbage and peas.”

Egg beds can hatch 3,000-10,000 larva per square foot in 2-4 days once soil temperatures hit 80 degrees. Because hatching can be done in just a dozen days, grasshopper nymphs seem to appear all at once. Older nymphs will march in cohesive bands.

On hot sunny afternoons, swarms of the grasshoppers can fly for hundreds of yards on a gentle breeze.

Entomologists believe above normal temperatures in spring and summer and enough rain to keep fescue, bluegrass and wheat green appear to support population growth.

“The species can remain virtually unseen for 5-10 years, then increase gradually over 3-4 years and reach peaks in the following 2-3 years,” according to the bulletin. “During the period of increase, a population may spread from a few acres of rangeland to more than 2,000 square miles.”

They don’t fare very well in drought or below normal spring and summer temperatures. Low soil temperatures in winter can kill the eggs.

Infestations Mormon crickets in Eastern Nevada of have made international news.

Clearwinged grasshoppers are closer relatives to actual crickets than the big smelly katydids infesting Elko.

They are believed to be one of the oldest species of chewing herbivorous insects dating back to the Triassic.