I've seen them around for years in early spring but I've never noticed any damage that they cause. If indeed they are baby grasshoppers they apparently have to grow up before they can eat a rose bud. The mature ones sure can do some damage. We really haven't had a severe outbreak of Grasshoppers around here in many years. But that usually occurs in late summer/fall. Because Grasshoppers are like many of the pests we encounter that have wings, they move around alot, so there really isn't much a lone gardener can do to curb them (unless he has Moses on his side directing them elsewhere).

ON the drainage again. Two years ago I planted two maple trees for a landscaper I was working with. These were larger trees, I could not pick-up the trees but could drag them. I dug two holes as far down as one can with a sand shovel, including digging down further by digging while on my knees. The holes were about three plus feet wide by the depth of a sand shovels handle. First tree I broke threw the yellow clay to what ever was below as the water drained out of the hole in minutes. The other, with the more expensive and beautiful tree I did not. I told my boss and he said put sand in the bottom of the hole, which was stupid because it was sand bags left over for blocking water from running off I got off of the contractor junk pile and I wanted it for landscaping at home. (beautiful sugar sand). Well as I expected the hole with the more expensive tree did not drain and the tree died. Had he done as I suggested and gotten a power post hole digger on skid steer he could have made a dry well four to five feet deep beyond what I dug out and filled that with sand or gravel or more likely, it would have broken through the clay to the original soil. The first tree lived and did very well. SO? If you plant more trees get smaller hand held post hole diggers with augers apprx. ten to twelve inches wide and dig the holes down as far as you can. Fill the bottom with pea gravel or coarse sand. This will give the water a place to go to. If you still have water problems after this-- punt.

I understand, Seil. More than 25 years ago, I would leave an overhead, oscillating sprinkler going over large areas of my Newhall garden, requesting the community gardening staff to turn them off when they left for the day, on triple digit days. The horse manure mulch disappeared quickly. The foliage was huge, plants even more so, and they flowered amazingly. Water was cheap and plentiful, so not an issue there and then. There were no disease or insect issues. The plants were fully clothed in very dense, durable foliage and there was no such thing as sun scald nor Flat Headed Apple Borers which became great issues once that type of watering had to be discontinued due to availability and cost. Black spot and mites were frequent issues with the own root plants we propagated as volunteers at The Huntington. I learned early when bringing home any new plant such as those to pull off all of the foliage before bringing it into the garden. I had an area in filtered sun under a tree where I kept a pile of horse manure. I'd clump the newly arrived own roots in their pots together, surround and fill between them with the manure, often inside them as mulch, then overhead water until new foliage began developing. No mites, no diseases and the plants exploded into growth quickly. A bit of hardening them off in larger cans and higher levels of heat and light and they were ready for planting once they'd filled the five gallon cans. Growing them up in larger cans also permitted me to move them around to see what position was best to their liking. It often made quite a difference. At the beach, I had a number of customers who regularly used my "proprietary blend" of Ultra Fine and Miracle Grow sprayed every two weeks except between the middle of July through the middle of October. In the Perma Fog, it prevented disease, eliminated the constant aphids and saw flies and kept really terrible things there, like one lady's beloved and hated Paul Neyron, viable. He caught her heart in books and she was determined to grow him. He languished until I suggested the Ultra Fine and MG foliar application. She had severe bronchitis, but made sure she brought me a bouquet of beautiful Paul Neyron from her bush! Used during the heat, that mixture did burn, but when there weren't heat and light intensities to contend with, it worked wonders. NO way I could have ever used it in any garden at home! I tried it once, learned my lesson the hard way right there and then! Anything presented as being even slightly phytotoxic WILL burn here. I am in total agreement with your walking the roses daily. I can't imagine having them unless I wanted to walk them every chance I got. Each has its own personality, likes, dislikes, needs and will quickly let you know if you don't provide them. It's the best way not only to head off problems early, but also to detect sports. They can happen so quickly right in front of you and seemingly behind your back. A big part of the serendipity for me! Kim

Hi! Thanks for all the input from y'all. I appreciate it very much. I've looked closely at the pictures of the woolly aphids and the bugs I've seen just don't look like those. I think these bugs are larger and they run, not walk, over the leaf. They are not coating anything because they're too busy running around the leaves. There are not very many of them. I saw one larger one and two smaller ones on the same leaf and they were all running around. That larger one I tried to catch scooted over the edge of the leaf and underneath then fell off of the bottomside of the leaf. I've got to catch one of them so I can really look at it and wouldn't ya know--Now that I want to catch one, do you think I can FIND one of them anywhere? A Guinea pig is what came to mind when I saw those bugs--One of those with the hair that has all the cowlicks in its hair that makes it go all which way. I know that sounds crazy, but... I haven't seen any wings on these bugs. I'll keep looking for them and see if I can catch one and take a picture of it. Then I will have to see if Mike can help me figure out how to put it on the forum for you to see. I'm sorry some of you have had such a time of it with the Junebugs. I went out late at night and picked them off the fig tree out back and then I went out and wasn't seeing them anymore. We haven't had many around so far this year. I guess, from what several of you have said, we know where they all are. I'm so sorry that they are tearing up your trees like that. Most of you have more trees than I do and it would be impossible to pick the bugs off of all of them. Serena, where do you live that the Junebugs are so bad this year? God bless you and your trees, Vivian