Baby grasshoppers

I found a cloud of baby grasshoppers eating one of my milk-jug-covered tomatoes, today. I don't know that I'd ever seen grasshoppers eating tomatoes before (they must have hatched right under the milk jug and had nothing else to eat but the contents of the jug, unless they went out through the vent at the top, which they seemingly weren't doing). They usually just eat weeds and leave the garden alone (or if they do eat some of the garden, it's not much). To be fair, they were eating the weeds under the milk jug, too. Anyway, I lifted up the jug and waved my hand so they would all jump away (and they did).

I was pretty surprised to find them, though.

[rxkeith]

chickens love grasshoppers.

they like tomatoes too, just so ya know.



keith

[Worth1]

I have had them eat my tomatoes and garden alive.
They were so bad one year I put out Sevin Dust,
The next day there was an inch of grasshoppers all over the ground maybe millions this is no BS it was biblical proportions.
The whole garden was covered in them they became mulch they were so thick.
Worth

Originally Posted by Worth1

I have had them eat my tomatoes and garden alive.
They were so bad one year I put out Sevin Dust,
The next day there was an inch of grasshoppers all over the ground maybe millions this is no BS it was biblical proportions.
The whole garden was covered in them they became mulch they were so thick.
Worth

What kind were they? Ours appear to be the Two-striped Grasshopper (Melanoplus bivittatus). It's one of the jumping species. Other kinds besides the Two-striped type are rare in our garden by comparison, but occasionally show up. Grasshoppers aren't as common in our garden as they used to be. I blame my neighbor's cats (who apparently hunt and eat them a lot) and maybe the mosquito truck.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by shule1

What kind were they? Ours appear to be something like the Two-striped Grasshopper (Melanoplus bivittatus). It's one of the jumping species. Other kinds are rare in our garden by comparison, but occasionally show up. Grasshoppers aren't as common in our garden as they used to be. I blame my neighbor's cats (who apparently hunt and eat them a lot) and maybe the mosquito truck.

We jut call them jumbo grass hoppers they are frigging huge.
They migrate like they show on TV at times in the summer and run across the road.
They will strip a rose bush over night.
I learned a long time ago to mow away from the garden not towards it.
Towards it drives them into the garden.
I live in Africa as in Egypt in so many ways.
Worth

Originally Posted by Worth1

We jut call them jumbo grass hoppers they are frigging huge.
They migrate like they show on TV at times in the summer and run across the road.
They will strip a rose bush over night.
I learned a long time ago to mow away from the garden not towards it.
Towards it drives them into the garden.
I live in Africa as in Egypt in so many ways.
Worth

Wow. That's pretty wild. Do they like the scent of cut grass?

[Gardeneer]

We have native grasshoppers, and lots of them. There are more of them out in the pasture than around the garden. I think the birds that have nests nearby just take care of them.

[SteveP]

It seems the grasshoppers really get bad after a wet spring followed by a hot, dry summer. Last year we had intermittent rain throughout the summer and the lawns stayed green. I don't remember seeing a grasshopper. Most summers the grass is brown by mid July and it seems
grasshoppers are everywhere.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by shule1

Wow. That's pretty wild. Do they like the scent of cut grass?

The mowing drives them away from the mower so you have to drive them away from the garden, start at the garden and mow out.
I dont have them like that here but elsewhere I have.
Worth

[Nan_PA_6b]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I have had them eat my tomatoes and garden alive.
They were so bad one year I put out Sevin Dust,
The next day there was an inch of grasshoppers all over the ground maybe millions this is no BS it was biblical proportions.
The whole garden was covered in them they became mulch they were so thick.
Worth

Hmmm... I smell a new and easy mulching method...


Nan

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Nan_PA_6b

Hmmm... I smell a new and easy mulching method...


Nan

The small garden had a bunch of toad frogs in it too.
I had to round all of them up and move them to a safe place before I put out the dust.
Worth

[Nan_PA_6b]

Whoa. I love toads. They eat bugs, and they're the reason I'm not overrun with stink bugs & etc. constantly. I have two tiny ponds, and in spring the American Toads start singing & making toadpoles. Got a mess o' toadpoles out there now. Okay, back to the old way of mulching...

Nan

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Nan_PA_6b

Whoa. I love toads. They eat bugs, and they're the reason I'm not overrun with stink bugs & etc. constantly. I have two tiny ponds, and in spring the American Toads start singing & making toadpoles. Got a mess o' toadpoles out there now. Okay, back to the old way of mulching...

Nan

I have loads of toads in my garden but they haven't made a dent in the stink bugs the last two years. I haven't seen very many this year but they usually go from just a few to a plague overnight. Here's to hoping the toads will eat them up.

Bill

[bower]

Grasshoppers are pretty rare around here - years go by and i don't see one. Got a pic of this guy last september, all by his lonesome, it seems.

Originally Posted by bower

Grasshoppers are pretty rare around here - years go by and i don't see one. Got a pic of this guy last september, all by his lonesome, it seems.

If you want more, plant amaranth and comfrey.