Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Grasshoppers are wiping out my Brugs!, 1 by bettydee

bettydee wrote:
The nymphs, of the first grashopper species to hatch, show up sometime in March out in the pastures and appear as adults in my garden about 3 - 4 weeks later. Too late to use Nolo. By late May, several other species have joined the first wave, but these must hatch nearby because they are smaller in size when they descend upon my plants. By late June, grasshoppers of all sizes, from nymphs to 4 inches, form a carpet on the ground. They are everywhere and rise like a plume of smoke when I walk through them. They are so bad they even keep Bermuda grass in check. About the only plant they leave alone is the Sago palm. Some plants will recover because all they lose are their leaves. However, three maybe four of the citrus trees I planted last fall are goners. First, the grasshopppers ate the leaves. Once those were gone, they ate ALL the bark and cambium. The ones in pots are still alive but minus all their leaves, some bark and twigs. The hydrangreas that were safe as long as there were other plants to chew on are now under attack. Roses and Altheas are nude and have been cropped of all the tender growth, but the biggest heatbreak is what they have done to my Brugs. They provide a very expensive meal! Most of my Brugs are relatively inexpensive, but I have paid a fortune for a number of them.

The smaller the Brug the more permanent the damage — fatal to many of this year's purchases. Photos don't convey the horror I see every time I walk into my make shift shadehouse. You get a glimpse of the damage through these photos.

Flirtation: The brown color on the visible branches indicate missing bark and cambium.