GARDEN PEST WATCH
Spring locust watch in NSW: what Sydney gardeners should know
NSW is asking landholders across the state to report locust sightings this spring. Most Sydney backyards will never see a locust band, but with a warm dry spring ahead it is worth knowing what to look for and how to protect a vegetable patch.
In late September, NSW Local Land Services again asked landholders to stay alert for Australian plague locusts and report sightings promptly. After a warm dry winter and a mild start to spring, conditions favour locust survival in parts of regional NSW. For most Sydney households this will not change day-to-day life, but if you grow vegetables, keep a large garden or live near the city fringe, it helps to know the signs and the sensible first steps.
Why locusts are in the news this spring
Australian plague locusts have always been part of inland New South Wales. Local Land Services monitors the risk each spring because locust numbers can build quickly when conditions line up: warm soil, rain at the right time and a few consecutive generations of breeding. The advice issued in September 2026 is a monitoring reminder rather than a prediction of a Sydney outbreak. Early reports help biosecurity staff plan control programs before numbers escalate in regional areas.
The practical takeaway for Sydney residents is simple: the season is being watched, not declared an emergency, and a couple of locusts in a garden is very different from a damaging band.
What an Australian plague locust looks like
The Australian plague locust is a medium-sized grasshopper. Adults are roughly 25 to 45 mm long, grey-brown to greenish, with a distinctive dark saddle-shaped marking on the thorax and pale hind tibiae with dark bands near the tips. In flight you may see a pale spot on the wing. Nymphs hatch as small dark hoppers and form dense groups called bands before they develop wings.
A locust is a grasshopper, not a cricket. If you are hearing loud chirping on warm spring evenings, that is crickets — a different, generally harmless garden insect we covered in our earlier Field Notes post.
Ordinary garden grasshoppers are common around Sydney and are not a concern. The trigger for reporting is numbers — dense groups of nymphs, swarms of adults, or mass movement — not a single insect hopping across the lawn.
Do Sydney backyards actually get hit?
Most of metropolitan Sydney is not prime locust habitat. The highest risk areas in NSW are the inland cropping and grazing regions, where open ground and suitable breeding conditions stretch for kilometres. Sydney's coastal suburbs are generally less affected, and dense urban development provides little of the open, low-vegetation ground locusts prefer.
The exceptions are gardens near the urban fringe — toward the Hawkesbury, outer western suburbs and semi-rural blocks — where a locust band moving through an area can strip a vegetable patch or a newly planted lawn. If you have seen unusual numbers of grasshoppers in the garden this month, it is worth noting the date, the area and the count.
Protecting a Sydney vegetable patch
Locusts and grasshoppers eat green plant material, and a young vegetable garden is exactly what they target. If you live in a fringe or semi-rural area, a few practical steps reduce the risk before it becomes a problem.
Cover young seedlings and leafy crops with fine netting or floating row cover while plants are small.
Keep the edge of the garden clear of long grass and dense weeds where hoppers rest overnight.
Check under mulch, around compost and along fence lines for dense clusters of small dark hoppers.
Photograph and note any large group you find, with a rough count and the date, before removing it.
For small garden numbers, hand removal of visible hoppers and netting over crops is usually enough. There is no need for a broad pesticide application across a suburban garden for a handful of grasshoppers.
When and how to report sightings
Local Land Services specifically asks landholders to report sightings of dense bands of hoppers or swarms of adult locusts, so reports can be triaged and control planned. Reporting is appropriate when you see:
- Dense, dark bands of wingless nymphs moving together across bare ground.
- Large numbers of adult locusts swarming or flying together in a group.
- Concentrated defoliation across a paddock or large garden area.
Reports go through the Local Land Services locust reporting page on the NSW Government website, or by contacting your regional LLS office. Include the location, the date, the type of activity and, if possible, a photo. Individual locusts or a few grasshoppers do not need a report.
When to call a professional
A pest management professional can help with the garden insects that actually drive most Sydney callouts — ants, cockroaches, spiders and rodents. For locusts specifically, the first port of call for a suspected band in a fringe area is Local Land Services, because broad-scale locust control is a coordinated biosecurity activity, not a standard residential treatment.
If your garden is under pressure from grasshoppers chewing plants this spring, or you are also dealing with ants and garden pests at the same time, we can assess the site and plan a sensible, targeted approach. Text us your suburb and a rough description of what you are seeing.
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