I'm so sorry about this. I saw something like this happen years ago. I don't know how many roses you have but I wonder if something like Remay would help. Probably it is too expensive. I was thinking you could throw it over and try to tie down the bottom to serve as a barrier, or would shade cloth work?

Hi Rachel: I'm so sorry for your loss. The deer ate my roses a month ago .. it wasn't easy. I was so sad over the deer, but I found ways to keep them out. Here's an excerpt from the below link on grasshopper control:

â¢Plant the herb horehound (Marrubium vulgare) which is known to repel grasshoppers.
â¢Grasshoppers do not like cilantro which is used by many organic gardeners as a barrier crop.
â¢Plant calendula as a barrier deterrent.
â¢Spray a heavy infusion of garlic oil as a repellent.
â¢Grasshoppers are attracted to monocultures and do not like nitrogen-fixing crops like peas and sweet clover.
â¢Row covers, like Reemay, or screens can be effectively used to keep them from your crops."

The link also listed predator insects that feast on grasshopper. Good luck to you, Rachel. If you want Calendula seeds, I have tons that I throw away in late fall, can mail them to you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Grasshopper control

Rachel, I'm afraid I can't help since we only have a few, which I delight in cutting in half, but just wanted to say how sorry I am. That has to be incredibly discouraging. I wonder what's happened to the predators that normally keep them under control.

Ingrid

Have you considered getting some chickens and putting them in with the roses? I'd be a little concerned with which chemicals you used and what they might do to the chickens, but the little cluckers find grasshoppers mighty tasty.

There are lots of links on the web about using chickens to keep pests in check. Below is one.

Btw, I also have grasshoppers in my garden, but not many (and not for long!). I don't use chemicals in my garden because I eat what I grow (including rose hips!) and my dogs also like to snack on some of the greenery. There are some nice praying mantis populations entrenched, and a new crop seems to hatch about when grasshoppers show up. Goodbye grasshoppers!

Melissa

Here is a link that might be useful: Chickens for pest control

Strawberry's link provided this:

Predators

Blister beetle and ground beetle larvae attack the egg pods of grasshoppers. They are both capable of consuming between 50 to 60% of grasshopper egg pods.

Snakes, toads, cats and skunks feast on hoppers.
Bird predators include bluebirds, brown thrashers, crows, hawks, mockingbirds, meadowlarks and sparrows.
Horse-hair worm, a large nematode up to several inches in length parasitizes and kills hoppers.
Robber flies and spiders will feed on grasshoppers.
Field mice and many types of rodents will dig up and eat the egg pods. They also feed on the adults.
Chickens, ducks and Guinea hens are prolific consumers of hoppers. Muscovy ducks are tops!
Preying mantis love to eat grasshoppers!
Fish: One of our visitors reminded us how fish love to dine on hoppers! He goes on to add that live hoppers make excellent fish bait and that the bigger the hopper the bigger the fish you can catch. Bass are extremely fond of them.

The only predators on that list I see here these days (and I do NOT use any kind of chemical or other pesticide, period) are hawks. The towhees, mocking birds, California Blue Jays, and the usual assortment of brown birds with the occasional canary and oriole are regulars. I, too, LOVE cutting them in half to add to the "organic fertilizer". No cats, we have coyotes, hawks and owls. We do have tons of manitds. There are plenty of rodents but the only evidence I find they've been here are droppings and munched rose shoots and hips. Usually the grasshoppers, katy dids and locusts are seasonal. Every few years, they explode, then shrink back to "normal". Good luck with them. Now you understand "Biblical plagues"! Kim

Grasshoppers are so mobile, I doubt anything you might do to limit reproduction in your own yard would make any difference. I would use netting or row covers until the plague subsides.

From what I've read since I posted, these mass infestations are periodical and have a lot to do with drought. Any of the measures that might help with the normal number of grasshoppers are useless. Whole farms can be devastated, whether it's crops grown for humans or for cattle. It's really rather frightening. This may be another phenomenon we have to face more and more with global warming.

Ingrid

I'm trying these (hairnets) on branches of various plants to see which insects just chew through them and which are stumped. I could even spray them with something if I had to, for the plants that don't have blooms.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321073313115?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

I have some small orchard trees and some baby roses, and the grasshoppers are out of control... AND it's JB season!! If I hope to have foliage left, I have to try what I can, lol.

I have 90% of the predators above in droves. I even have a new flock of big ole crows this year. Unless crows don't eat grasshoppers and scare off what do, I should be covered. Alas, not this season :(

I can tell you sweet clover doesn't bother them. They sit on the heads of it here ;) My cilantro looks good, though, and it kind of smells in the heat. I might try using that idea.

Screen could work in a frame, too, I'd think. My older plants can all take them, but the little ones can't be defoliated for all summer. That doesn't sound good at all.

My preying mantises don't get big as fast as the grasshoppers do, so hopefully they'll catch up sooner rather than later. I do have a bunch of them, but I don't see the big whoppers until late summer here :(

Sympathies on the devastation! It's so hard to feel helpless in the face of this onslaught! You've received some great ideas about how to counteract the grasshoppers directly, but you also asked about how to care for the roses now that they're damaged. Some of the things you can do might help with both - for instance, covering the roses with a shade cloth suspended over garden hoops (or spare lawn chairs) might both keep the grasshoppers out and provide some relief from the Texas heat. Other than deterring further damage from the beasties, the best you can do for your roses is to provide some shade if possible, mulching them and watering them deeply (which probably also means protecting new growth from the beasties), not fertilizing them, and not trimming them back any further than necessary. If the canes are chewed and damaged, you'll want to trim that back to healthy cane to avoid canker further weakening the plant. Otherwise, if the roses are young plants still under 3 feet, you want as much healthy cane as you can to support new leaves that will feed the plants and support their survival. If the brave little roses try to put out some blooms while they're recovering, pinch them off to further strengthen the roots and leaf structure from the damage.

Hang in there, and hopefully there are seasons of these hordes that will pass in time for you and the plants to recover.

Cynthia