Walking along the property easement in the front woods, I saw what appeared to be black flowers or some sort of plant calyx on a wild adam’s needle plant. Upon closer inspection, I was appalled to see hundreds of black lubber nymphs infesting the plant. They didn’t appear to be eating it. I thought to go have my beau eradicate them, but I suppose I got preoccupied doing other gardening chores.
The University of Florida has a good blog article on these critters. Now that I’ve read it, I will be better prepared to take care of these in the future. It is best to do so while they are most vulnerable at this stage. They are prevalent in the month of March.
I didn’t kill these but I’m sure they will have not problem devouring my plants! Fortunately, these are out in the woods but I did encounter a couple other of these infestations closer to my gardens. They are poisonous to potential predators. According to University of Florida IFAS, favorite foods at are daylilies, daffodils, plumbago, and amaryllis.
Once you have them in your landscape, they are almost impossible to eradicate. I know the lubbers here like my Queen Emma crinum lily and my Angel Trumpet. It is recommended to knock them into a bucket with rubbing alcohol. I’ll have to keep that in mind for next time!
Find out more here: https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/duvalco/2018/04/18/invasion-of-lubber-grasshoppers/
