It must have been just awful seeing all your plants eaten like that.

OK, I'm getting the hang of squishing them now. Next door doesn't have them, I asked. I think you're correct about the eggs nearby because I didn't have the hoppers around the back when all my herbs were in pots. Only happened since I made my new garden and I had seen large grasshoppers on my hibiscus which is very close.

Aha! I found a grasshopper spray using natural ingredients.


HOME MADE CHILLI SPRAY

Blend together half a cup of fresh chillies with 2 cups of water. Add a dash of dishwashing liquid to improve sticking. If you have no chillies substitute with 2 tablespoons of Tabasco sauce. Always spray a small section of the plant to check for leaf burn. Check in 24 hours and if there is no damage spray all the plants you want to protect. Leaf burn with any spray is more likely to occur during hot weather.

http://www.greenharvest.com.au/pestc...pper_info.html


That site also suggests a garlic spray, but doesn't tell you how to make it. There are other non chemical suggestions listed as well.

Another option is to make a bait. That same site says to use Canola Oil as a grasshopper attractant It's used to make baits more attractive to grasshoppers, combined with organic insecticides to make them more effective and floated as an oil on top of water traps.

Good luck.

Wow. That's such great information, Koala. Thank you very much for all of that.

I do have chilli and I also have Tabasco and I also have garlic.

By the time I'm finished spraying the basil, I won't need to use garlic on the bread when I make my bruschetta. LOL

I've just been outside to check for the little blighters and there's none there this morning. Maybe that's because I killed so many of them yesterday. Kept going back every hour or so. Gosh, they were everywhere.

That's an excellent site that you posted. I'll save that one for sure.

Have a good day there.

Just wanting to post here that my herbs have been doing OK generally.

I now have two different types of Basil growing. Multiple plants.

I bought some Greek Basil as well. It seems to have a couple of different names. Global Basil, Greek Basil. It's really easy to propagate. Take a cutting and stick in a vessel of water and before you know it you have a new plant.

I've placed some in different areas of my garden now and I've noticed that the little leaf eating suckers/hoppers tend to radiate to only one plant at a time so I'm allowing them to do that without chilli spray or constant attention with slapping and killing them.

Strangely enough my Italian Basil is doing fine now even though it lives in proximity to the other herbs. I've decided to allow the hoppers/suckers to feed on one plant at a time as they seem to desire. Seems sort of natural.

I've also planted Marigolds in amongst the herb garden. I figured that would help. Doesn't seem to have an effect on the hoppers that's for sure.