Update On Giant Bug Zapper

Update On Giant Bug Zapper CROPS Miscellaneous 28-1-42 Your article on a giant bug zapper that kills grasshoppers with electricity (Vol. 27, No. 5) brought back many childhood memories of the mid to late 1930's. We lived on a wheat farm in north central Oklahoma, and there were three years with extremely dry summer weather that led to an explosion of grasshoppers. During one of those years, the trees were bare, pastures were all dried up, and the flowers and weeds were nothing but stems by August 1. Grasshoppers were clustered everywhere and would even eat the wood and bark. By hitting a post with a leather strap you could kill dozens. Some farmers used poisoned grain bran to kill the grasshoppers. The live ones would eat the dead ones and in turn be poisoned. Other farmers fabricated screen wire platforms that mounted on front of a tractor or truck. It was similar to the Canadian bug zapper your article described but wasn't electrically charged. The platforms had a screen wire back. Some had a canopy to prevent the grasshoppers from flying over the top. The bottom part had tin sloping down to a trough. The trough was filled with kerosene, coal oil, or used motor oil. One way or another, the grasshoppers ended up dead in the trough. The trough had to be cleaned out regularly and refilled. Similar platforms were sometimes used to harvest tall wild grass seed. (Ivan L. Pfalser, Rt. 1, Box 162, Caney, Kansas 67333 ph 620 879-2938)

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