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"Possibility and promise greet me each day as I walk out into my garden. My vigor is renewed when I breathe in the earthiness and feel the dirt between my fingers. My garden is a peaceful spot to refresh my soul." Meems






Welcome to my Central Florida Garden Blog where we garden combining Florida natives, Florida-Friendly plants, and tropicals.

Monday, June 25, 2007

can't we all just get along?


if these guys wouldn't eat my plants in mass quantities i would let them live. they have almost wiped out my amaryllis completely. in the spring they start out as hundreds of very small black grasshoppers. this year i sprayed with an oil and systemic combination. the affect is-- when they eat the plant they die. i think this worked fairly well but obviously a few survived to become adults. i try not to use insecticides but i was at my wits end with dozens of the babies all over the place. i am not the least bit compassionate with these critters. i use my hand pruners to cut their heads off whenever i spot them.


this guy lived long enough for me to take its photo last evening. i snipped out 3 more this morning in short order.

4 comments:

  1. yuck. wish you would be so "kind" to the snakes!

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  2. saw this news spot the other day, where this couple (can't remember where) have thousands of these critters invade their 20 acres every year ... and they won't kill them! they collect them by individuals & put in 2 liter bottles ... don't recall how they disposed of them. guess who is winning the war! there is really nothing to compare with the crunch of a grasshopper under the sole of your shoe though! like snakes, a dead grasshopper ain't going to do any harm to plants or humans. just another garden hazard!

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  3. Should I be worried about this aggression towards the grasshoppers? Since I don't have a yard where they can become pests, my feeling aren't quite so strong. Grasshoppers do remind me of being a kid and visiting my grandfather's ranch. Every step you took sent the grasshoppers a jumpin'. I can almost smell the hay and cow patties. Ahhh...the memories!

    ReplyDelete
  4. jane,
    i don't think you have to worry.remember the snake i let live? it is only when a nuisance such as these 3-4" creepys are destroying my hard work-- then i teach them who has the power of the clippers.

    glad i could stir up some ahhhh memories for you. now that you mention it, my grandfather had hay and cow patties too... not any grasshoppers under foot though.

    ReplyDelete

Have a blessed day,
Meems


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