CANOLA QUIZ - Grasshoppers

Grasshoppers are often worse in hot, dry conditions. One big reason is because insects, as cold-blooded creatures, eat more and grow faster in hot weather. This quiz is about grasshopper management.

1. Grasshopper thresholds for canola are 7 to 12 per square metre. The new Pests & Predators Field Guide says to count the immature grasshoppers when counting for thresholds. Why do we prefer to manage grasshoppers as nymphs, if possible?

Insecticides are much less effective on adults.

Despite their size, adults don’t eat that much.

Adults will be dead by the time you get around to spraying.

Nymphs don’t move, so they’re easy targets.

2. While grasshoppers tend to prefer cereals, they will eat a range of crops, including canola and pulses. What two scouting tips does the new Pests & Predators Field Guide recommend as a start point for grasshopper scouting? (Choose the two.)

Check all areas to make sure you find them because grasshoppers often congregate in patches.

Check cereal fields. If they’re not a problem in cereals, they won’t be a problem elsewhere.

Check around wet areas in dry seasons.

Check field margins for grasshoppers moving in from roadsides and headlands.

3. The next four questions are a "Mix and Match". We have four major pest species of grasshopper on the Prairies. Can you identify the nymphs of all four species, starting with this one?