I am in the middle of an experiment on several types of soft plants like heliconias, gingers, plumerias, and a few palms that get shredded by grasshoppers. I don't have lubbers, but I have these 4 inch green grasshoppers with the brown wings. I think they are 'American grasshoppers' I am finding through my coffee experiments that some insects, like ants, that are not killed by the coffee, are repelled by the coffee. I have mulched the pots with about 1/2 inch of the grounds, and I took a 50/50 mix of the used grounds from Starbucks and water, and poured the "mud" over the leaves. Most of these plants are in my greenhouse and before the experiment, these were the favorite plants of the grasshoppers to shred, and so far, after 5 days, not the first grasshopper has touched any of the treated plants. Sure, I am putting mud all over the leaves, which doesn't look very nice, but if the plants are still intact after the season is over, I am all in favor of this. I am still playing, but if anyone who is already getting bags of Starbucks grounds wants to experiment a little, I would be interested to hear if this would work for anyone else. Maybe in the last few days, it has only been a coincidence, but what if this works? Anyone game to try it out and report back after a while?

I have been observing that certain insects stay away from certain plants. I have also seen that Asian scale has refused to crawl on cycads that have been mulched with the grounds. I am thinking that these soft plants might take in the alkaloids quickly and might have tissue that would repel certain insects quickly after treatment. Maybe it won't work at all, but I think it is worth trying out to see what happens. Maybe try it on some crinum lillies, or cana lillies?