They have been hatching for me on and off since Jan. :o( Now we are killing 10 to 15 a day every day! Hate them, hate them, hate them.

I did a lot of yardwork a couple weeks ago. I saw a few of the little buggers, at first I thought "Aww, cute little grasshoppers" then I yelled, "Eek, baby lubbers! Kill them! Squish them! Die you merciless plant eaters die!" I'm sure my neighbors think I'm nuts but then again we passed that milestone long ago.

I have been catching them in big numbers recently as well...They hatch in huge numbers and grow very fast. Miss one or two, and a week later they are molting into bigger beasts...
Yucky bugs

Squish 'em !
Squish 'em dead !
Now !
Ack !

My dog was attacking a lubber in Rickys yard today...I didn't want her to eat it because I have no idea yet if its dangerous for her. How great though if she could I could just let her out and she can get exercise chasing lubbers and rid my yard of pest at the same time. Of course I have never seen a lubber in my yard ..not yet anyway.

I don't think it would be a good idea to let a dog eat the lubbers, if racoon or possums eat them they get deathly ill. They know not to do it ever again. There is one bird, I think a gackle, that will peck to kill them, let the toxin drain out for a few days and then come back and eat the carcus. But that is the only thing that will eat them! Or even try to kill them.

Two years ago, I saw one in my yard and killed it. Last year I got 3 of them. This year, I've killed two batches of babies already!!! They must be moving further north every year. They were all over my muhly grass and then I found a ton of them hiding under the rim of a pot of snapdragons.
I just started grabbing them and squashing.

Julie

Are you guys talking about the big Black grasshopper like things that grow to hUGH in one day? Has a yellow stripe on it? HATE 'EM HATE 'EM HATE 'EM. I'm not "bug-a-phobic"
but those and the horned things on the tomato plants SCARE me! I take my pruners and cut 'em in half.

I have so many that we're using Spectricide Hornet and Wasp spray on them. I just sprayed at least 30 of them in a Yucca. The ones on the ground, I squash, but when they group together in a plant, chemicals are more efficient.

Ricky, that hornet spray KILLS them? I didn't think anything did. I'll run right out and buy some now if it does. lol Last year I killed well over a 1000 and I am not kidding. Between 50 and 100 in one day. So far this year it's better.

You can watch them die. Takes a few seconds, but it works.

Haven't seen any around my place yet, but now that I now you all have I'll start keeping an eye out for them.

.....Alan.

Females lay eggs in the ground - about 2 inches deep . We are seeing these now hatch .

The lubber nymphs start out as tiny black insects with a yellow stripe that soon turns red . Now is the time to squish them while they are soft and small.

This type of grasshopper is not nearly as destructive as smaller grasshoppers that are quite different from lubbers in appearance .

That's them!!! Thanks to GWebbers I knew what they looked like. I hate grasshoppers to begin with, any kind.

Do you mean that there are more destructive ones than lubbers? I thought lubbers were the worst. I'll just kill any ones I see and solve that problem.

Julie

I also thought Lubbers were the worst until I did some research on the UF site - www.solutionsforyourlife.com

I see lots of other grasshoppers particularly in my citrus grove and those small buggers are the ones who do the most damage - NOT the big lubbers .

Ya learn somethin' new every day !

We are totally infested with those things. My husband calls them "crush bugs" because when he sees them, he crushes them.

I have the impression that lubbers are actually picky eaters, that they specifically eat amaryllis and rain lilies, and...? This may not be entirely true, I don't know. I do know that I have seen the bulbs actually die from lubber damage - they will eat the bulb itself, not just the leaves. The bulb damage is enough for me to "exert mechanical control methods" on them.
Avalon

I have so many lubbers in my yard that I carry around a can of Raid Ant and Roach killer. I also use malathion in a pump up sprayer. They congregate in such large groups that squishing them isn't always possible. They do love bulb plants the most but they will go after other plants too.

never knew what they were until today. Saw my first one last week and just realized that they came in on some orchid plants I picked up at an estate sale. Real bargain, huh. This link shows them. Read the part about controls. Ugh.

Here is a link that might be useful: american orchid society

We had so many in our yard one year that I got out a very long extension cord and the shop vac and sucked 'em up. No kidding.
Avalon

avalon2007 , that sounds like a great way to handle them! I have had so many this year, it is frustrating, trying to catch them by dozens

I think lubbers are interesting and let them do their thang....

I had these baby lubbers on my liriope this year. I put rubbing alcohol in a bowl next to the lubber-covered-liriope. Then I put on some gloves and hand picked each of them from the plant, dropping them in the bowl of alcohol while I gathered their siblings. They are not quick movers at this life stage. Seconds in the alcohol and they are nearly immobilized. Minutes in the alcohol and they are dead, no squishing involved. This is the first time I've had lubbers in my yard in 7 years.

I've been stomping and spraying my yard for weeks!

~~~dang lubbers~~~

Kim

I have a lot of these too. I wasn't sure what they were until I saw the picture at the link above. Will they damage my vegetable garden plants (tomatoes, peppers, zuchini, swiss chard, etc)?

In my garden, they eat everything including the veggies. I am still killing 5 to 10 a day. Now many are the green/yellow adults.

They have been attacking my poor Avocado seedling. It was finally getting big and full enough to put in a bigger pot and now its leaves are all holey. I'd been knocking them off and squishing about 2 a day but there are always some to replace them the next day. I had it on a table on my porch close to my lawn but I moved it a bit further back to see if it would keep the lubbers from finding it. I didn't think avocado was in the family of plants that they like to munch on.

Something has been at my bird of paradise again and I didn't see any lubbers on it but I found an orange caterpillar with brown bristles. Not sure if that was a good or bad caterpillar but he certainly looked like the culprit.

A couple of days ago we killed 37 adult lubbers in one day. We are back to 5 to 10 now. Sickening.

That orange cat might be the one that turns into the Oleander moth. It looks like a wasp, black with red and some pot-a-dots, if I remember correctly. In great numbers they can do considerable damage, if it's just a few I leave them alone. I think the moth is cool.