Riddle: What does a Florida garden in late spring sound like? Answer: CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH! You can take that to be the sound of lubbers dining on your prize plants or the sound of my shoes as I stomp them into the pavement! I hate them, too. But I find the big ones easier to deal with than the little ones which disperse from their clusters in every direction, making it hard to spray or stomp 'em. The big ones are slow because nothing eats them, and they aren't worried. (They don't know about my big shoes coming at them.) They aren't poisonous that I'm aware of, but they do taste bad, apparently. Here's what I do: I reach out slowly and grab them by the elbows (the bent part of their hind legs which stick up above their backs), put them on the ground and...CRUNCH. I am down to finding only 2 or 3 a day now, because I make sure to catch every single one I come across. They are purely awful little guys. Honestly, if I saw that birds enjoyed them, I'd probably learn to live with 'em. But I've never seen or heard of ANYTHING that eats them. I try to think of some other good reason for them to be part of the ecosystem, but I haven't come up with one yet. And they are one critter (along with fire ants) that I do NOT want in my garden. Happy crunching! Marcia

Hey Tom! Could ya give a follow-up on this experiment? The gardens I tend around the little cafe just had a major hatch and I've been catching and snatching baby lubbers. If the UCG did the trick for you last year, it'd be great for us. I wonder if diluted coffee would work if I sprayed the lilies, etc, since people sit and eat outside in the garden. I don't want to apply the nice dark slurry all over the foliage, it might spoil some appetites! But they might not even notice just a sprayed-on application. The area is mulched with pebbles, so I think the grounds all over the white would look quite conspicuous. Susie

I'm so glad I don't have those here! Growing up in Hollywood, we had them all the time. It seemed like a plague, between the lubbers, fire ants, and the poison toads, ( one killed our cat on Mother's Day one year ) it seemed like we had to call with every pestilence known to man. We have the green and brown American Grasshoppers here in north Lakeland, but they are more specific in what they eat, so during the season, I can always go look at the palms when I hunt them down. I had a plant collection even when I was 10 years old. Back then, when I found lubbers on my favorite plant, my monstera philodendron, I would throw firecrackers at them. Gave you a nice warm feeling of revenge seeing them blow up. I guess we are all to old to do that now. There is a winding county road 17 in Polk county, that goes into Haines City that gets 100s of lubbers crossing the road around July every year. I still can't help running a few over on purpose on my way to Haines City! I'm sure the farmers that have groves on that road would thank me.

Wow! What a population... Please try Nolo bait next year. It is a bran mixture (the nymphs would rather eat bran than anything!) which is infected with a protozoa. When they eat the protozoa, they stop eating and die after a short while. Did you know the nymphs are cannibalistic? When they eat an infected one they get the proto too. Best of all.. any who survive into adulthood will pass the proto on to the next generations. It has been COMMONLY known to eradicate them for years!!! The bait must be ordered early in the spring and stored in your fridge. Place bottle caps full, a tablespoon or so, each place you see a nest hatching. Places such as Scotts in Tampa will have it most years but it sells out quick. Because it is a little pricey, try to convince a neighbor to go in with you. That way, they will be treating for them too and you will benefit.