"Melodie Bond" wrote:
You have to understand that we have been desparately battling
grasshoppers. These guys have stripped our Yaupons completely
in past years. We have lost shrubs to them. Last year as I
watched my roses get eaten up along with the leaves on our
maple tree, I assumed it was Grasshoppers. However, the
grasshoppers didn't seem bad this year, but I began spraying
in early spring before you start seeing the big ones [...]

There is a grasshopper disease called, I believe, _Nosema locustae_.
It is specific to grasshoppers and a few closely related insects, and
one can buy wheat bran infested with it. I've done that and spread it.
It's supposed to suppress but not wipe out grasshoppers, and it's
supposed to linger in the environment for some time, perhaps years.
I can't say that it's made a huge difference: the grasshoppers seem to
be less numerous. Check www.biconet.com and look under the link
Grasshopper Pathogen. I bought 5 pounds of it, spread most of it a few
months ago...it seems to have helped, but then again, my yaupons were
hardly being touched, and there are other things attacking my roses as
well, including deer...

Mark.