Grasshoppers

[Smartie]

I have noticed that my garden seems to have more than it's fair share of grasshoppers. (Or crickets, or something - not 100% sure of the difference!)

Can anyone tell me whether these are pests and if they'll do any damage to my plot? Haven't noticed any as yet, so I'm guessing probably not, but a definitive answer would be reassuring...!

Cheers

[dragonz]

grasshoppers will eat anything green plants, trees, brooms, clothing... and unfortunatly as far as I know there is very little you can do about them other than killing them with chemicals, but unless you have swarms of them you should still get a good crop

[Lady Sunshine]

Funny that, I was only thinking today that we seem to have lots more grasshoppers than usual - they are very noisey and mostly in my neighbours garden (in need of a good mow!!). Could they be eating my spring greens along with the slugs!!

[Pestcontrol01]

Yes, they can cause severe damage to your plants as most types of grasshoppers will feed on the foliage of just about any plant; some even lay eggs inside plant tissue; they can eat or destroy tremendous amounts of foliage or crops. Grasshoppers are often confused with locusts, katydids and crickets. They do not “group” like locusts, but some types do have a population explosion every 11 to 20 years.

[chris]

I used to live abroad in Saudi Arabia.. every 4 odd years, HUGE swarms of locii (is that correct?) flew over, then died either from heat / exhaustion, or finally via huge plumes of poisionous gas they used to spray in the air to kill them.

Many of the local population then ran around with trays, scoopping them up to BBQ them.. So if you have a lot, perhaps you could BBQ them?

Failing that, if you don't fancy it - I have read a brief bit of info about biological control - but it seems it only really affects the larva, rather than the adults.

I'd pop over and mow next doors