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Los Angeles yards, parks, and hillside stretches are crawling with more grasshoppers than usual this spring — and local entomologists say there's a clear reason why, and a simple message for worried gardeners: relax.
According to LAist, the spike is directly tied to the unusually wet winter Southern California experienced, followed by the recent heatwave. Those back-to-back weather events created ideal conditions for grasshopper eggs to hatch and young insects to thrive.
Eric Middleton, an entomologist with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources who works in pest management and is based in San Diego, broke it down simply. "For a grasshopper population to grow, you need a wet winter or spring so there's a lot of vegetation growing," he said. "Then you need warm conditions, which allow the young grasshoppers to emerge."
Lynn Kimsey, a distinguished professor emerita at UC Davis who specializes in insects, says the same conditions trigger locust outbreaks in other parts of the world. "It's the same thing that triggers locust outbreaks in the Middle East and North Africa, or North Dakota, places like this," she told LAist. "It's pretty common."
Despite the dramatic increase in sightings, experts are quick to pump the brakes on any fears of a full-blown infestation. Kimsey drew a clear line between what LA is experiencing and a true outbreak. "In a true outbreak, they would be, you know, crossing roads by the thousands," she said. Southern California is nowhere near that level.
As Hoodline reported, while standard grasshoppers can technically transform into locusts under the right conditions, what's happening in LA right now is a seasonal population surge — not a catastrophe.
Rocco Moschette, a sales associate at Armstrong Garden Centers in Allied Gardens with a background in entomology, told CBS 8 that soil temperature plays a big role in timing. "It's a little early, but it's the temperature. The soil temperature, once it warms up, that signals the eggs to hatch," he said. Female grasshoppers can lay up to 150 eggs in a single clutch, and populations also tend to spike cyclically every eight to 10 years — which may explain why this spring feels especially busy.
Two species are most commonly spotted across Southern California right now. The gray bird grasshopper, which grows two to three inches long and has larger wings, is probably the most common, according to Middleton. The smaller valley grasshopper — about an inch long — is also frequently seen. Both species are expected to thin out by summer.
"It's not going to be a permanent thing," Kimsey said. "Usually they become bird food or mammal food because everything likes to eat them."
If grasshoppers are nibbling on your garden, experts say skip the chemical sprays. "Usually, they don't do a ton of damage to your garden," Middleton said. The UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program recommends low-impact options like handpicking, setting up temporary netting or floating row covers, and planting trap-border strips to draw insects away from prized plants. The program also warns that many insecticides work poorly on full-grown adult grasshoppers and can harm pollinators and other beneficial insects in the process.
For gardeners who want a product-based solution, Moschette recommends an organic option containing Spinosad — a natural soil bacterium derivative — sold under the name Captain Jack's, available for around $15.
As Middleton put it, the best advice right now may simply be: "This too shall pass."
And if patience isn't your strong suit, Kimsey has one more option to consider. "They really are quite tasty. I highly recommend it," she said of eating grasshoppers. "Like French fries, especially if you fry them."