By Luke Sumpter


Growing cannabis outdoors comes with moments of pure bliss. Not much compares to tending to luscious plants in the summer sun. However, with this privilege comes a battle between human stewardship and nature.

Many pests will patrol your garden in search of tasty cannabis stems, leaves, and flowers, including grasshoppers. Discover how to spot a grasshopper infestation, and learn what you can do to treat and prevent it.

What Do You Need To Know About Grasshoppers?

Grasshoppers have developed an appetite for fresh cannabis over a very long time. These critters are the oldest living group of chewing herbivorous insects, and they can do serious damage to a cannabis crop given the chance. In fact, these voracious creatures are capable of wiping out entire fields of crops.

Their herbivorous inclination means they take a liking to the juicy stems and leaves of cannabis plants. They use their mouthpieces to tear off chunks of vegetation, and, if left to do their thing, your plants will lose much of the apparatus they depend on to photosynthesise, leading to stunted growth and potential fatalities.

While grasshopper damage can cause harm to your crop, these specimens also play a key role in the ecosystem, serving as a food source for birds and other animals. As with everything in gardening, dealing with grasshoppers revolves around balance and equilibrium.

What Does Cannabis Grasshopper Damage Look Like?

Cannabis growers can tell when grasshoppers are about without physically seeing them. These hungry herbivores leave key signs of damage that serve as telltale signs.

  • Dirt Mounds

Some types of grasshopper leave small, volcano-shaped mounds of dirt around the garden. As they burrow underground, they kick up dirt to the surface that eventually piles up. If you see these popping up near your plants, chances are their root systems are at risk. Plus, these tunnels can adversely impact the structure of the soil.

Dirt Mounds
  • Puncture Marks

When grasshoppers suck into stems, they leave puncture marks in their wake. Stems are a crucial component of nutrient transport and plant structure, and excess damage can lead to plant losses.

Puncture Marks
  • Dry, Brown Leaves

Grasshopper damage can stress plants by impacting nutrient transport systems and reducing the capacity for leaves to photosynthesise properly, leading to a sorry complexion and overall appearance.

Dry, Brown Leaves
  • Increased Wildlife Presence

Just like grasshoppers love to munch on cannabis plants, other animals love to snack on grasshoppers. Regular appearances of birds, foxes, and rats can signify the presence of grasshoppers in your garden.

Increased Wildlife Presence

How To Treat a Grasshopper Infestation

After identifying these signs, you need to take action. A handful of grasshoppers are a fine addition to the biodiversity of your garden. However, if you start to notice significant damage, you need to save your plants.

Pesticides: Many gardeners opt to use synthetic pesticides to deal with pest species. Although they do their job, these chemicals can have a far-reaching impact on your plants and the environment that prompts us to advise against their use. As well as killing other beneficial insect species, they can accumulate in your flowers after harvest.

PESTICIDES

Neem Oil: Neem oil works as a natural pesticide with fewer negative effects than commercial chemicals used for the same purpose. This organic application can help to repel grasshoppers from chewing on cannabis plants, and also prevents them from laying eggs and raising the next leaf-munching generation.

NEEM OIL

Encourage Natural Predators: Attract natural grasshopper predators to help you deal with the problem while fostering healthy biodiversity. Spiders and mantids love to hunt grasshoppers, and you can draw these species into your garden by developing polycrops of plants and natural habitats.

A thick layer of mulch in your garden provides an excellent habitat for spiders to populate. As well as drawing in these beneficial creatures, mulching helps to retain moisture and means you won’t have to water as much. This practice also shields the top layer of soil from sunlight and protects the valuable communities of microbes below.

To attract mantids—the ultimate hunters—plant shrubs such as lavender around your garden to provide a habitat for them to position themselves and lay their eggs. Once you establish some compatible plants, you can also purchase eggs and place them throughout your patch.

ENCOURAGE NATURAL PREDATOR

Build Bird Perches: Birds also love to feast on grasshoppers. Build bird perches and place birdhouses and baths around your garden to attract these expert aerial predators.

BUILD BIRD PERCHES

How To Prevent Grasshopper Damage When Growing Cannabis

As always, prevention provides a better solution than a cure. Before allowing grasshoppers to gain a foothold in your garden, you can exercise the methods below to stop an infestation from happening in the first place.

  • Row Covers

Cover your beds and rows with insect netting. This material allows light, air, and water through while working as an effective barrier against grasshoppers and other hungry insects.

Row Covers
  • Soil Care and Housekeeping

Keep your beds clean and well-kept. Remove weeds, and keep the soil coated in a firm layer of mulch. This will allow your plants to thrive and bring in beneficial insect and animal species.

Soil Care and Housekeeping
  • Companion Crops

Sow beneficial companion species at the same time as your cannabis seeds. Raise species such as lavender, chamomile, basil, and dill alongside your cannabis plants to ramp up biodiversity and provide habitats for mantids and spiders. The best part? You can harvest these plants throughout the season to make herbal teas and garnish dishes.

Companion Crops
  • Keep Fowl and Guinea Hens

If you have space, keeping fowl and guinea hens can seriously prevent grasshopper numbers from getting out of control. These birds will go out of their way to hunt down these protein-rich snacks. They also help to create a closed-loop system. Feed them kitchen scraps and garden waste, and they’ll gift you fertile droppings in return (great for increasing the fertility of your soil).

Keep Fowl and Guinea Hens
  • Try All-Purpose Flour

Grasshoppers really can’t handle all-purpose flour, but they’ll eat it anyway. Scatter some around your plants as a safeguard. If they show up, they’ll gobble it down—a fatal mistake.

Try All-Purpose Flour

Are Grasshoppers and Crickets the Same?

Grasshoppers and crickets are different creatures. Although they seem almost identical to the naked eye, they feature subtle differences. For one, grasshoppers possess short antennae, whereas crickets have longer antennae.

Crickets also make a “chirping” noise by rubbing their wings together, whereas grasshoppers rub their long hind legs against their wings.

Small differences aside, cannabis growers should use different strategies to successfully deal with crickets.

Now You Know How To Protect Your Grow From Grasshopper Damage

There you have it. You’re now equipped with the knowledge to tackle yet another pest species. Aim to implement preventative measures first to avoid having to use time and resources to combat a full-fledged invasion. Happy growing!




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Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

SECTION 5 – COOKIES

Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

5.2 Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

SECTION 6 – SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: