Grasshoppers...

Has your garden become a haven for wayward grasshoppers? Are grasshoppers moving in and devouring everything in your garden that you work so hard to make beautiful?

I recently planted some lovely petunias and overnight they disappeared. Not the whole petunia mind you, there is still a small stub left of each plant. At first I thought it to be the snails as they have been known to wreak havoc in my spring garden. Then I spotted him, Jimeny, our grasshopper in residence for the past few years now. I'm not sure of the life span of grasshoppers, but Jimeny has not only stayed in my garden for the past years, but he has grown to a very interesting size. I admit, he is attractive for a grasshopper, green being my favorite color and all, but enough is enough. I made an attempt to capture his likeness on film for you but alas, he has a phobia of having his photo taken, and he leapt off to devour yet another of my precious flowers. (Although the photo I have attached to this post looks eerily like him!) You'd think I had them swarming en masse by the amounts he can eat in one night, so now his antics have prompted me to plan his demise since it appears he has no natural predators dropping by and searching him out.

I have researched and it appears that one of the best ways to rid your garden of insects and grasshoppers is poultry. As much as I'd love to set up a chicken house, I'm certain not only my neighbors (HI Dave and Renee!), but our homeowner's association would frown upon me.

Did you know that some grasshopper facts are that:

They can shed their skin four or five times
There are 18,000 different types of grasshoppers in the world
All Grasshoppers are Herbivores
They have five eyes (all of Jimeny's are eyeballing my new plantings!)
They do not have ears (no wonder my shrieks go unnoticed by him)
They can leap 20 times the length of their own bodies
When picked up they spit out a liquid which is commonly called tobacco juice (UGH I won't be testing this)
They can survive almost anywhere (we'll see about that!)

I have yet to use pesticides in my garden but it appears I am going to have to resort to this if I can not capture Jimeny on my own. Does anyone have any great tips or tricks on dealing with the likes of these creatures? HELP!