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Experts: Protect yourself from this pest before its too late
Summer is right around the corner and these massive pests could start covering your yards and anything else left outside. If you don't protect yourself from them now, it could soon be too late. Robert Bowden, the Executive Director of Leu Gardens, told FOX 35 that now is the time to protect your garden from these massive pests.
ORLANDO, Fla. - Summer is right around the corner and giant grasshoppers could start covering your yards and anything else left outside. If you don't protect yourself from them now, it could soon be too late.
Robert Bowden, the Executive Director of Leu Gardens, told FOX 35 that now is the time to protect your garden from these massive pests.
"These hatch in the spring," he explained. "Hundreds and hundreds will come out of the same hole. That's the time you want to control them the best you can."
The ones specifically of concern are the Eastern Lubber Grasshopper, which are native to Florida. They are usually only seen in the spring after they hatch. When they get bigger, they can grow to be more than six inches long and have a voracious appetite.
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"Ivory soap and water, that will sometimes take care of them when they are very small," Bowden said.
Experts also say that one other reason not to use pesticides on the Eastern Lubber is that they do more harm to the bug's natural predators than they do to the grasshopper itself.
Watch FOX 35 Orlando for the latest Central Florida news.
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