Florida is home to at least 70 species of grasshoppers, ranging from tiny lawn-dwellers you barely notice to the massive, brightly colored lubbers that stop people in their tracks. Whether you’re trying to identify one in your yard or figure out how to protect your garden, here’s what you need to know about the most common species, the damage they cause, and how to manage them.
The Most Common Species
The green slantfaced grasshopper is generally the most abundant grasshopper in Florida’s low grasses. Even well-maintained lawns can support a significant population. Its color ranges from entirely green to entirely brown, which makes it easy to overlook. You’ll find the southern redlegged grasshopper in similar numbers, especially in disturbed, weedy areas like vacant lots and roadside margins.
The southern greenstriped grasshopper prefers bare or disturbed soil and is one of the more entertaining species to watch. Both males and females produce a crackling or buzzing sound in flight, and their hind wings have a smoky, translucent look. The wrinkled grasshopper feeds on grasses and occasionally builds up enough numbers to damage pastures in north Florida. Its hind wings flash yellow or rose-colored patches in flight, bordered by a broad dark band.
One of Florida’s more unusual species feeds exclusively on a single native shrub called Florida rosemary. This grasshopper, found nowhere else in the world, is a reminder that not all grasshoppers are generalist plant-eaters.
The Eastern Lubber: Florida’s Most Recognizable Grasshopper
The eastern lubber is the grasshopper most Floridians picture when the subject comes up. Adults reach 2.5 to 3 inches long, making them hard to miss. Their coloring varies dramatically, from almost entirely yellow to almost entirely black, though most display some combination of both. As nymphs, they’re jet black with a narrow red or yellow stripe running along the back. They often gather in large groups during the nymph stage, creating dense clusters on fences, walls, and garden plants.
Lubbers are completely flightless. Their wings are reduced to small, nonfunctional stubs, so they get around by walking and making short, clumsy hops. This flightlessness might seem like a vulnerability, but lubbers have an unusual defense: they spray toxic chemicals from breathing holes along their sides, reaching distances of at least 0.6 inches. These secretions are a mix of compounds the grasshoppers both manufacture internally and absorb from the plants they eat. Birds, lizards, and other vertebrate predators quickly learn to leave them alone. Animals that haven’t encountered lubbers before often gag, vomit, and in some cases die after eating one. Invertebrate predators like spiders and ants, however, are not affected by the toxin.
The linearwinged grasshopper is another flightless Florida species, though far less conspicuous than the lubber. It lives in lush, weedy areas and bears tiny wing pads that are barely visible.
The American Bird Grasshopper: Florida’s Biggest Crop Pest
While lubbers get the most attention, the American bird grasshopper is probably the most damaging grasshopper species in the state. It belongs to a group called “bird grasshoppers,” named for their powerful, sustained flight. These grasshoppers can cover long distances quickly, making them difficult to control once they reach adulthood. Nymphs are normally green, but when populations get dense, their color shifts to orange, a visual signal of crowding that also hints at behavioral changes that make them more mobile and destructive.
The obscure grasshopper is another strong-flying bird grasshopper found in Florida, though it causes less agricultural damage than its American cousin.
What They Eat and How They Damage Plants
Florida grasshoppers feed on a wide range of plants, but lubbers and bird grasshoppers cause the most noticeable damage to home gardens and commercial crops. Lubbers target landscape plants, citrus trees, and vegetable crops. Their feeding pattern is distinctive: rather than consuming an entire leaf, they typically eat holes in vegetation and then move on to another leaf or plant. This means the damage looks scattered and ragged rather than clean-cut. In heavy infestations, though, lubbers can completely strip the foliage from a plant.
Most of Florida’s smaller grasshopper species are grass feeders and rarely cause problems for gardeners. The wrinkled grasshopper is an exception, occasionally reaching numbers high enough to damage pastures in north Florida.
Seasonal Timing
Grasshopper eggs overwinter in the soil inside protective pods. In Florida’s warm climate, nymphs begin hatching in late winter through early spring. Lubber nymphs are among the earliest to appear, often showing up in February and March as small, dark clusters. They pass through five growth stages (instars) over the course of several weeks, getting larger and more colorful with each molt. By summer, most species have reached adulthood. Adults mate and lay eggs in late summer and fall, depositing egg pods in soil before dying off as temperatures cool.
This timeline matters for control purposes, because small nymphs are far easier to manage than mobile adults.
How to Control Florida Grasshoppers
Spring is the critical window. While grasshoppers are still nymphs, they stay close to where they hatched and are much more vulnerable to control measures. Once they become adults, especially strong fliers like the bird grasshoppers, they travel long distances and may not stay in a treated area long enough for any product to work. After the fourth growth stage, mobility increases enough that treatments become significantly less effective.
For lubber nymphs, hand-picking is surprisingly practical. Because they gather in dense clusters and can’t fly, you can collect and dispose of them in soapy water. This works best when they’re still small and concentrated. If your neighbors are also dealing with grasshoppers, coordinating treatment across a wider area produces much better results than treating your yard alone.
Where to Focus Treatment
Grasshoppers breed and congregate in open fields, roadsides, boundaries between yards, ditches, hedgerows, and other weedy areas. These are the zones to target, not just the garden beds where you see damage. Treating the source areas where nymphs hatch reduces the population before it spreads.
Treatment Options
- Baits: Wheat bran mixed with an insecticide is spread through grasshopper habitat. The grasshoppers eat the bait while foraging. This option is selective, meaning it primarily kills grasshoppers and other foraging insects rather than beneficial species. The downside is cost, and baits need to be reapplied after rain or irrigation.
- Biological baits: Some products contain a natural grasshopper pathogen (a microscopic organism that infects and kills grasshoppers specifically). These must be applied during early nymph stages to be effective and work more slowly than chemical options.
- Sprays: Contact sprays are less expensive than baits and adhere to plant material, killing grasshoppers either on contact or when they eat treated foliage. They require a sprayer to apply and are less selective, potentially affecting other insects in the area.
- Dust formulations: Easy to apply but don’t stick well to foliage, requiring frequent reapplication.
For most Florida homeowners dealing with lubbers, the combination of early-season hand removal and targeted bait application in weedy border areas is the most effective and least disruptive approach. The key is timing: catch them while they’re young, slow, and clustered together.