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Is this a grasshopper or cricket that's decimating my lawn & is there anything I can do about them?

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  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    A cricket, but I don't think they decimate lawns. They mostly eat insects as far as I know, but someone else will know for sure. 
    What damage is there to your lawn? It's more likely to be chafer grubs or something similar. Bit early for leatherjackets, who can really make a mess of them. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • heather.westheather.west Posts: 5
    Large patches of dead grass - the reason I thought it was the crickets is when you walk on the lawn or mow, they all jump about !!
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    edited August 2023
    Loads of crickets here but no harm to the grass.

    That gets weakened or killed by poor soil, inadequate drainage, inadequate rainfall, other critters that eat its roots, being cut too short so the leaf part can't support a good root system.......
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • bcpathomebcpathome Posts: 1,313
    Of course they jump about ,that’s what crickets do . What they don’t do is eat grass. You must research what else it could be ,it’s definitely not the crickets.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I’m pretty sure that’s a grasshopper. 
    No damage to grass, as fairygirl said,  chafer grubs, you can get nematodes for those. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • ShepsSheps Posts: 2,236
    It is a grasshopper @Lyn
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    If that's a lawn it is on, it crtainly has done a lot of damage.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Despite reading the info, I can still never tell the difference between them @Lyn and @Sheps !
    We never really see them here though - I've only seen one in my entire gardening life, and that was in the last few years. 

    As @Obelixx says - there will be lots of potential reasons for your lawn damage @heather.west so if you can add some photos, and give more info about your site, soil and climate etc, that will help with advice and potential solutions :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • heather.westheather.west Posts: 5
    Thanks for all the comments. At least now I know its not the crickets/grasshoppers eating the grass even though there are so many of them! Its probably drought related so I'll start remedying that!
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    There was a time when we could walk down the quiet lanes and the noise was almost deafening,  rarely hear that now 🥲
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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