Imagine with me ok! Grasshoppers like light and they like it warm so this is a simple drawing of my idea. A post & 2 x 4 lumber frame out in the yard, covered on the top, sides and back with clear plastic. It can be any size we want...
Inside along the back wall is the mesh covered hopper cage, any size we want. You have to imagine cage access doors and whether it is attached to the posts or hanging from chains, however you want. Below is the worm bed with grasses planted that grow up into the hopper cage to feed them, or it could be trays or tubs of planted grasses sitting on a shelf. Personally I want worms in either choice.
We want to be able to water the grasses but keep the hopper cage dry as possible. We also want to be able to access the worm bed so the hopper cage suspended from chains or on a cable with pulley system might be in order to raise & lower as needed or the whole worm/grass enclosure can perhaps roll or slide out. Lots of options.
I don't see why this would not work. A roll-up front cover or something may be in order for blowing rain also.
Or I also had the thought of an open-ended hoop style greenhouse with plastic covering. One could do alot inside one of those with this general concept or if one had sufficient funds, one could probably make the entire greenhouse frame screened in and have a huge grasshopper enclosure.
Would be seasonal outdoors of course. Seems from what I've been able to find on breeding/rearing practices it would not be all that difficult to get quite a number going in a season. They lay eggs in the soil or damp sand and hatch out in the spring. Some varieties might lay many times during the summer but I'm not quite the hopper expert yet.
I'm not sure how one would go about doing this indoors unless it was perhaps a dedicated room with grow lights for the grasses. A 1,000 watt metal halide lamp will illuminate a 10' x 10' room fairly well and generate quite alot of heat. Hmmm...
When I was a kid, we used to gather at the local grocery store parking lot at night to play frisbee. I remember the huge grasshoppers that would gather up under the parking lot lights. We used to just walk up to them and pick them up without them trying to escape to use for fish bait so I'm guessing that night harvesting of caged hoppers might be the same???
Now there's no reason for there to not be grasshopper farmers in the US! I suppose I will build one like my drawing out in the back yard and just see how it goes. Probably 4' x 8' with a 2' x 2' x 6' cage. Think I will have the worm/grass bed buried in the ground and the hopper cage suspended on a pully/cable system, really depends on how light I can build it so chains or ropes suspending may be sufficient. :)
Once again, lots to say -- probably too much for just this comment section. First, you're right about the need for GH farming. I think you might have customers some day if you can get this right. But I've seen a lot of conflicting evidence regarding whether or not GH are considerably more difficult to rear than, say, crickets. For one thing, most of the enclosures I've seen for them include a lot of ventilation, rather than sheeting or panes across the sides. Keeping the air from circulating, especially as temps rise, could be problematic. Granted, other designs I've seen utilized do feature a closed-format tank, so it's clear that there's no consensus about that.
ReplyDeleteIf you document every aspect of your operations, I'm convinced that your documentation would be truly valuable. Will you run this operation outdoors or inside; what's the ambient temperature range and light cycle; what kinds of auxiliary lighting will you have [you'll almost definitely want some kind of heat lamp near the cage/tank, since the insects will actually auto-medicate themselves with heat, and thereby cook the pathogens out of their system]; and stuff like this.
I wish I could watch the whole process first-hand.
At this point I'm just tossing out ideas based on what I've been able to find regarding GH requirements. All input is appreciated and considered. I'm hard headed though and have to try my thoughts to know or not. Perhaps something will come of it. I've built and torn down so many things of various interest over the years it's crazy!
ReplyDeleteIf outdoors, my plastic enclosure or tent rather, would be only for keeping rain off and the hopper cage would be mesh, probably 1/8" hardware cloth. The front would be open. Again just tossing out ideas.
If I did it indoors I'm thinking one 1,000 watt metal halide lamp per every 100 sq ft floor space, so a 10' x 10' room would have one lamp in the center and walls would be flat white for reflection.
I read they need 16 hours of light per day, requiring sunlight and do best at around 85 F. A well insulated, climate controlled room would be necessary to keep utility costs to a minimum. A 1,000 watt metal halide generates quite alot of heat and will fairly well heat my whole living room where I illuminate plant starts. would it be sufficient for GH light needs? I have no idea.
Am definitely going to build an outdoor trial setup like I have drawn here and stock it with hoppers I catch with a sweep net or otherwise and just see how it goes. Everything will be posted here. I'm not one who feels the need to keep secrets. Maybe I'm more an idealist than I give myself credit haha.