Post by jgreen1025 on Jun 28, 2023 20:14:56 GMT -5
So... this is a little embarrassing to admit, but according to my family I have an "irrational" fear of grasshoppers. I don't think there's anything "irrational" about it and suspect it comes from a weedy and overgrown alley in my childhood that was infested with them, and being dared to run or ride my bike through it... or something horrific like that. It's creepy the way they jump, and the clacking noise they sometimes make when they fly, and that black stuff in their mouths that we kids always thought was chewing tobacco... <shudder!!!>
So anyway, I thought I'd stumbled into a horror movie when I found a whole bunch of little green rice grains emerging from the soil in one of my pots, and then realized they were baby grasshoppers! I herded as many as I could (with a stick, of course) into my D. rotundifolia Big Lagoon, CA, then started mashing them (with the stick) and sticking them to my D. anglica “CA × HI” and D. x obovata ‘Ivan's Paddle’ (thank you Ivan for the seeds). The rest I drowned in my S. rosea and S. purpurea ssp venosa.
Even after I'd already dealt with 3 or 4 bazillion of them, the alien monsters just kept coming!
I think some of these got away.
No escape for these suckers!
Unfortunately two days later I'm still finding little green monsters arrogantly sunning themselves from the top of pitchers. I'm having to grab them with my hand <double shudder!!!> and, after smashing them a bit, quickly drop them into the nearest pitcher. I have to get them all now since I think I might pass out if I have to grab a big one! But I'm looking forward to some happy growth from my sundews.
So anyway, I thought I'd stumbled into a horror movie when I found a whole bunch of little green rice grains emerging from the soil in one of my pots, and then realized they were baby grasshoppers! I herded as many as I could (with a stick, of course) into my D. rotundifolia Big Lagoon, CA, then started mashing them (with the stick) and sticking them to my D. anglica “CA × HI” and D. x obovata ‘Ivan's Paddle’ (thank you Ivan for the seeds). The rest I drowned in my S. rosea and S. purpurea ssp venosa.
Even after I'd already dealt with 3 or 4 bazillion of them, the alien monsters just kept coming!
I think some of these got away.
No escape for these suckers!
Unfortunately two days later I'm still finding little green monsters arrogantly sunning themselves from the top of pitchers. I'm having to grab them with my hand <double shudder!!!> and, after smashing them a bit, quickly drop them into the nearest pitcher. I have to get them all now since I think I might pass out if I have to grab a big one! But I'm looking forward to some happy growth from my sundews.