I have way too many katydids in my yard. They really loud at night and at first I thought they were tree frogs. But when I go out after dark looking around, I’m finding these giant green grasshopper like katydids all over my shrubs and now in my garden. I also started finding damage to some of the leaves on my plants and I think they’re eating some of my plants. They don’t seem to eat the whole leaf. Just little bits but its getting worse. What can I do?
Katydids can certainly be loud and they randomly feed so they can cause plant damage. Typically they’ll target large, leafy foliage and damage can be minimal but consistent. You’ll spot their damage as holes in plant leaves or in some cases, where small sections of the leaf just disappear.
Katydid young do more damage than adults. And they tend to stay active on plants they target unlike adults which are more likely to move.
There are a few ways to get rid of them from the yard. If you just want to repel them from specific plants, treat with NBS. This is nothing but a repellent so it won’t kill them. Using plant essential oils, NBS can be safely applied to any plant, the homes siding, trees and more.
Add 3 oz per gallon of water and expect to get 500-750 sq/ft of coverage per gallon. Treatments should last 2-4 weeks so plan on renewing applications through their active season.
If you want to kill off the local population from the yard, go with ACEPHATE 97. Its highly active on katydids and you only need 1 oz per 5,000 sq/ft.
To apply Acephate 97 requires a lot of water so our 20 GALLON HOSE END SPRAYER is the best way to get it applied.
Add 1 oz of Acephate to the sprayer and then fill it to the 5 gallon line. Shake it up good, hook it to your hose and then spray it out over 5,000 sq/ft of lawn, plants, shrubs and trees. Acephate won’t kill them quickly; it takes about 2 days to kick in. But within 1 week, they will be gone. Now if you still see or hear some 2 weeks later, spray again.
Lastly, if you need to treat vegetables or fruit gardens, use EVERGREEN PYRETHRIN. Using the naturally occurring pyrethrin active, its safe enough to spray on plants yielding edible fruits and vegetables.
Add .5 oz per gallon of water when using it in a PUMP SPRAYER.
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