Lou, are you sure it was grasshoppers? I have never heard of that. It sounds like it could be pear psylla to me -- it takes awhile for them to kick in so the first leaves can escape but they infect all the later ones. Google for pictures of pear psylla damage and how to control them. There is also a disease which causes leaves to grow stunted; I can't remember the name now, but if the later leaves are not getting to full size ever you may have that.

Scott

Scott thanks for your input. The leaves grew to full size it's just that as time went on you could see pieces of each leaf being eaten away.
Each leaf effected looked like different areas where cut off in different places on each leaf but always starting from the outside edge inwards.

The leaves on my tree showed no sign of discoloration what so ever. They just looked like pieces where being cut away but not in a straight-line fashion. Damage always occurring from the outer edge inwards.
Lou

Scott thanks for your input. The leaves grew to full size it's just that as time went on you could see pieces of each leaf being eaten away.
Each leaf effected looked like different areas where cut off in different places on each leaf but always starting from the outside edge inwards.

This is what the leaves looked like early on my pear tree. I found this photo on a web site dealing with those critters eating citrus foliage at
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r107304311.html

{{gwi:57658}}
Here is the advice they give.

DAMAGE
Grasshoppers become economic pests when young tree foliage is extensively chewed by large numbers of insects migrating from unmanaged vegetation. Mature trees are not harmed by grasshopper feeding.

MANAGEMENT
Do not take control action based solely on damage. Caterpillars, earwigs, Fuller rose beetle, June beetles, and snails also chew leaves. Some management methods vary depending on the cause. Where abundant, grasshoppers can be observed during the day feeding openly and flying or jumping among plants.

Grasshoppers can be difficult to manage once large numbers move onto young trees. If you believe grasshoppers may become a problem, monitor for them in uncultivated areas near young trees. Before adjacent vegetation dries or is cut, consider applying insecticide combined with bait or spraying border areas to kill grasshoppers before they migrate and start to damage crops.

That tree is next to my garden and only 40 feet from a wooded area.
Lou

What were you spraying with exactly? It's hard to imagine that a good insecticide wouldn't work against grasshoppers. I've got plenty of grasshoppers but they've never done enough damage to matter.

I tried many different sprays. I must admit that I checked
the tree two or three times a day and never found a grasshopper on the tree but there where many hopping and flying about in the area. I did have a battle with Japanese beetles but using three traps manage to keep them in check in my garden.
Those I did see attacking my pepper and eggplant. Never saw those on the tree as well. Towards the end I was spraying early morning and early evening. That may have kept the beetles away.

My theory is that the spray might have been working but first the grasshoppers would have to ingest it by eating part of the leaf so because there where a lot of them I am assuming that they did their damage to the leaves before the poison took effect. Are they known to eat at night as well?

Looking over the tree leaves about noon time at one time with even a magnifying glass I could not see any other critters or eggs on the leaves either on the tops or the underside of them.

Come spring I plan on placing some sort of netting over the whole VERY SMALL tree that has small enough holes to let in light but not the critters. If there is such a cloth or some covering do any of you know what it is called and where I might buy some?

It was one of my first grafts I ever did using scions taken from a tree my old family homestead in another town also done with a lot of help from people on this forum and after getting this far along I don't want to give it up with out a fight.
Lou

Grasshoppers killed two of my apples in 2006. They also caused several trees to have no crop last yr. They did this by completely defoliating the trees. I sprayed with Malathion and Sevin with no effect. There is a biological control called Nolo bait. You have to start early in the yr. I haven't had a bad problem since so don't know if it works.

The Fruitnut

Fruit nut, pleased to see your post. At least I know now that grasshoppers do eat the leaves from fruit trees. The Nolo bait you recommended looks like it might be what the doctor needs.

I did some reading on it but want to look into it a little further. Still would like to build a small sort of screen or cloth house over the tree from the ground level up and over the top of the tree which is only a little over 2ft high. I would build it high enough to allow for new growth.
Thanks Fruitnut
Lou

Insects can be very picky when it comes to which tree they like and which ones they don't. Could be the leaves were more leathery on your other tree, a difference in nutrient levels or moisture in the leaves, or other factors. Hard to tell, but it happens frequently.

It may be the nolo bait, but there are BT pesticides or a bacterial one out there in which you spread the insecticide around the area and the grasshoppers will become infected, then die. Seems like one of them you spread it around in the late summer to infect the grasshopper eggs laid in the fall, greatly reducing the number of hoppers the next year. With these, you wouldn't treat the tree but the grassy/wild areas around you. You'll have to search the internet for these. Where I've heard of them is around the edges of wheat or canola fields and waste areas to control hoppers so they don't invade the fields and require other treatments. Also, grasshoppers are quite mobile so spraying the tree may only actually hit a few hoppers and new ones just move in from untreated areas. You kind of have to spray a buffer area to keep them out.

With the lack of grasshoppers observed on the tree, it may be there was something else working on the tree, too, so keep your eyes open next year for some other cause.

Cheesecloth is often used to protect plants from insects, commonly on cole crops to keep the cabbage worms away. It will cut the light down a bit but still seems to let plenty through for healthy growth.

That sounds like weevils.

A good trick is to go out at night with a torch and see whats eating them.
Sometimes you need to place an empty white ice-cream container under the tree and give the tree a bit of a shake and catch the critters that fall out.

I dont know if you people have the same pests as I do, but if you dont see them in the day, they got to be working at night.
You cant really treat a pest until you find out what it is.

Thanks people--you all came up with very good advice.
I'll start applying what you tought me as soon as the spring season arrives.
Take care
Lou